Finding The Bait

Electronics are a huge help.

Watch for shad "flickering" on top of the water. Look for dead bait fish floating on the surface (can be a sign of active feeding below).

It's a very important part of fishing successfully.

Understanding the normal lifecycle of typical bait fish and their movement in the body of water depending on water temp, oxygenation, and time of year is important.

This is shallow water, deep water, open water, near structure, in spawning areas, etc. You need to know where to start looking.

After that you use available patterns to predict where inside of those areas the bait fish will freely move or be pushed.

This is current, shade, wind, bottom substrate, and available food sources like vegetation.

Finally you actually look for signs of baitfish in the form of birds, oil slicks, dead floating baitfish, baitfish flickering/busting on surface, the smell of large groups of baitfish, and electronic signature of baitfish.

With experience you begin to identify which groups of baitfish are actively being pursued by game fish and then it all aligns and your line gets tight.

plenty of literature out there. For general understanding of game fish and bait fish life cycles and patterns use the internet and start by learning all you can about your target gamefish species and then expand through that fishes primary food sources.

For learning how weather, temperature, wind, and water influx affect a body of water there are lots of limnology texts you can reference. Applying that to a fishing outing takes some experience.

For learning how the above knowledge applies to fishing, magazines, fishing shows, and fishing guides are a great resource.