Being a tournament angler, I spend a lot of time on the water practicing and looking for new water trying to gain an advantage over my fellow competitors.  This often leads to traveling all over the lake to find those secret spots. 

One thing I have figured out over the years is there is no secret spot.  If you think you have one, you are just kidding yourself as someone else out there surely would come across it if they haven't already.  The other thing I learned is that there are fish very close to the boat launch and very often are over looked by the majority of anglers.  I recall one tournament on Big Rideau Lake and it was minutes before check-in time.  The launch location was in the no wake zone by Rideau Ferry.  Many anglers have speculated a bass tournament could be won by simply fishing the no wake zone though I don't believe anyone has ever had the bones to try this yet.  As minutes ticked by and boats started to come in, teams started to fish the no wake zone as a last ditch effort to upgrade their bag.  As luck would have it, one team fishing right under the bridge, a stones throw from the launch managed a 4+ pound fish with barely any time left to get the fish in the live well and check in with the tournament director. 

You don't need to be a tournament angler to take advantage of the great fishing by the boat launches.  This past fall I had a few hours to get out on the water with my wife without the kids.  It had been a while since we were able to get out on the water together so I didn't want to spend too much time driving to a lake and than driving around the lake or river as the case may be.  We ended up just heading 5 minutes down the road and fishing on the Rideau River.  To further maximize our fishing time we ended fishing right across from the boat launch and proceeded to have a very productive couple of hours catching bass on senkos.  Picture below was a typical bass you caught that day.

While the fishing has proven time and time again to be very good right by almost any boat launch, fishing these areas has additional benefits; you maximize your fishing time on the water and you save money on gas for the boat.  More fishing time, catching fish and saving money!  Sounds like a recipe any angler can agree with.