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Message Subject: Learning new water? | |||
Team Rhino |
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Posts: 512 Location: Appleton | When learning new water is it best to jump spot to spot? or is it better to pick a spot you feel has a good chance of holding fish and then working it over and over at various depths and baits? Just wondering about others thoughts. Thanks in advance. | ||
AFChief |
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Posts: 550 Location: So. Illinois | I like to run and gun. This allows me to see as much of the water as possible and check things like structure, depth, water temp in relation to inflows, find baitfish, etc. I then will slow down after selecting a fewe spots that I feel have the best chance of producing. | ||
Willis |
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Posts: 227 Location: New Brighton, MN | If you haven't seen the whole lake, it's hard to realize what is "outstanding" structure vs. what is "common" structure. Usually the structure type that is least common, and most unique, will hold the most fish. But you'll never know until you take a look around the lake. run and gun for sure. | ||
sworrall |
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Posts: 32890 Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | I pick 'em apart. The first time I fish a lake, unless it's absolutely huge, I select a portion to learn and fish it very carefully with a Creature. Teaches me all I need to know about bottom composition, weed types and where they are, where the rocks are and are not, the contour lines, and more. | ||
jlong |
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Posts: 1937 Location: Black Creek, WI | One thing I've been doing is "spot checking" areas first before ever wetting a line. If I see something with potential.... crash it.... graph it... and mark it (GPS). That way when you do come back to fish it.... you know the structure well and have waypoints to guide you for optimum boat control. With that strategy... it doesn't take to long to confirm a spot as a fish holding area. Usually you can tell a good spot before you even fish it. Then its just a matter of figuring out when the fish use it... and what it takes to get them to bite (cast angles, lure types, etc). Thus, you may need to fish it several different times before making contact with a fish.... so the initial investement to crash it, graph it, and mark it really speeds up the learning curve. Good Luck. | ||
Donnie3737 |
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I do what JLong does ...I run ALL over the lake, unless of course it's the size of LOTW, Eagle, Georgian Bay, etc. I mark a bunch of spots, and the type of structure underneath. I then will become Worrall! I will work each spot very methodically and slowly!! Donnie | |||
bn |
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there was a good thread about breaking down and learning new water but I did a search and couldn't find it...some good stuff in that thread if anyone can find it, I think it was this past fall or winter | |||
jerryb |
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Posts: 688 Location: Northern IL | I've fished and mapped a bunch of lakes so I guess I have some experience with new waters. A new body of water takes a about a week to learn depending on it's size, natural lakes go quicker than reservoirs. 1st, I personally can't "feel" anything about a spot I've never fished . The only way to know "exactly" whats there is to put a lure on it. We can tell somethings about the area by looking at the shore line, but many times it's only 1/2 the story. Putting a lure down and mapping the area gives us all the answers we need, it eliminates the guess work. What's there is there and it will remain relatively the same a hundred years from now. Once we "know" what we have then we can concentrate our efforts on the best areas. This is why "spots" that were good when our Grandfathers fished it are still the same good "spots" today. Spoonpluggers have literally mapped thousands and thousands of what most call "spots" we call "structure situations" there are NO 2 ever the same but the "good ones" all have the same thing in common. 1st day on a new lake: If a map is available, mark it up before arriving. I'll then go to work trolling the various depths. I'll troll from a shallow as I can go to as deep as the structure allows. Throwing markers at any unusual features, clean spots, brakes, sharper breaks ect. After locating what I believe is the 1st place the school of fish will make contact when becoming active on the structure, I then put a marker on it and get a riffle site. If no site can be obtained then I'll punch it in on my $100 cheapy hand held..... Buck Perry said it took him about 4 days to put a lake in his back pocket, (no cameras, no gps, no $1800 sonar ect) it takes some of us a little longer even with all of our short cuts. Jerry Borst Spoonplugger/Instructor Lure Retrievers [email protected] Edited by jerryb 5/16/2007 8:55 AM | ||
jlong |
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Posts: 1937 Location: Black Creek, WI | jerryb, I appreciate and respect the benefits of the spoonplugging method. Same goes for Worrall's creature technique. However, I do feel that GPS is a MAJOR asset that not enough anglers are properly utilizing. Heck.... combining the meticulous probing with spoonplugs and creatures with a trail of GPS waypoints marking all the significant "spot on the spot" and "corners" and "turns" to guide your boat position... you have the best of both worlds. So... I think there is benefit from speeding up the learning curve with todays luxuries (graphs and GPS) to get you into the game faster... and then master the spot with the slower, more meticulous methods proven over the past century. Learn the structure (GPS waypoints create new visual markers for better boat control) and THEN learn how the fish utilize that structure. How many musky fisherman literally "cast to their dots"???? Those that are doing that... are probably catching more fish. Just my opinion, of course. | ||
Mauser |
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Posts: 724 Location: Southern W.Va. | If you've never been on the water before , drop the trolling motor and start fishing. Don't know how many fish I've seen, caught or raised right near boat launches. Check maps and mark a few areas that you think would or should hold fish but if you have no map or have never seen the water before , start fishing right out of the gate. Move a fish or 2 , then pick that area and others like it apart. Just my $.02 worth Mauser | ||
ulbian |
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Posts: 1168 | In theory GPS technology would help cut that learning curve down on new water....and it does, however there is a happy medium with it. Alot are underutilizing it and then others are relying too heavily on it. A waypoint is fine if you know HOW to fish that spot, if you don't know how to fish it then you've just got another dot on the map. Even on the water I am most familiar with there is still an element of learning going on, looking at it from different angles. On water I have no prior experience on I'll try to put pieces of the puzzle together first by looking for stuff that is similar to the water I know and branching out from there. | ||
MuskieMedic |
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Posts: 2091 Location: Stevens Point, WI | I fish on average about 4 new lakes a year, I always try to obtain a map first if possible and study it for potential spots. I usually make my milk run based off the spots on the map and other conditions like, time of year, weather, water clarity, etc... If I am not successful picking apart the best looking spots I then go to the run and gun looking for active fish. Edited by MuskieMedic 5/17/2007 3:07 AM | ||
Beaver |
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Posts: 4266 | It all depends on how much time I have. If I have 3 or 4 days, and the lake isn't overly huge, I will spens a few hours just taking a nice slow ride on, over and around lake structure. I'll look for suspended baitfish. I'll find where the primary weedline ends and look for fringe weeds. I'll look at every corner on the lake, since they seem to concentrate fish of all sorts. It's a little "getting to know you" kind of ride. I think that if you try to dive right in and start hitting spots that you have marked, you might rush the whole process and miss areas that are not properly mapped or you'll hurry through one spot to get to the next. I like to take my time, and look for areas that resemble areas where I've caught fish on other lakes. | ||
boost |
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Posts: 40 Location: Canada, Eh! | troll. it's the best way i know to cover a lot of water and learn the lake. along your travels, you will find obvious and not-so obvious spots that you can cast later. | ||
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