Post by sam on Dec 27, 2008 17:43:56 GMT -5
Approching a new lake
Myself, I am going to head for the "open water" with the weed and rip-rap cover.
Why? Mainly because I can "read" that part of a lake better than the timber area. To me, every standing tree, log, and stump looks good, but I haven't fished that type of cover enough to be able to look it over and eliminate a lot of it as being mostly non-productive. Due to the many hang ups, it also eliminates my trolling and/or drifting as a search method.
I am not sure I could explain what I am looking for on the weed lines, and even if I could, it would be way too long to write down. All I really know, is that I will recognize it when I see it. Varying water coloration and wave action can also tell you a lot about depth and underwater points..etc.
Most people do head for the "timber", so you don't have a lot of competition in the open water areas. (No, lets not mention the speed boaters, skiers, and jet skiers...lol)
How often I expect to fish the lake also affects how I approach it. If I plan on fishing it this one time or maybe every once in a great while, naturally "active" spawn beds are going to be my primary target, followed by trolling and/or drifting in order to locate the fish.
If I plan on fishing the lake a lot, I will stay with the open water area, but approach it differently.
When I intend to fish the lake quite often, I will select a section of either a west, northwest, or north bank and draw a rough outline of it on a note pad. Now I will position the boat in the 2 to 3 ft depth range, and slowly work my way from one end of the selected section to the other looking for spawn beds. Its early summer, and there is likely to be both "active" and "inactive" beds (you will be able to locate these by looking for the "nest craters".) When I find a spawn bed, I make a note of it on my sketch. If it happens to be an active bed, I will note it with an "A".
Now that I have the spawn beds located and noted on my sketch. I will select one of the beds, normally an inactive one, and go back to it. Once again, in about the 2 foot depth, I estimate the approximately center of the spawn bed and drop a marker buoy. From this point I head straight out toward open water, and drop a buoy at the 5, 10 15 and 20 levels.
Then return to the first buoy, and on either side of it, follow the 2ft water until I am about 25 to 30 yards from the first buoy, and drop another buoy. Once again I head out toward the open water and drop a buoy at the 5, 10, 15 and 20 ft levels. I repeat the above procedure on the other side of the initial buoy. Mark the location of each buoy on my sketch, and then draw a line from the 3 buoys on each depth level. Now by looking at the sketch, I can tell if the contour line is straight, or has a curve in it, and by the spacing of the buoys at each depth, tell if the bottom has a gentle slope to it, and/or if there is a drop off between the two contour lines. The last thing I do is to slowly make however many passes it takes to cover the space between each contour line, watching the locator, and noting any turns in the contour lines and any structure, rocks, humps, logs..etc.. thats on the bottom.
I pick up the buoys and go to the next bed and repeat the procedures until I have eventually done this to each bed. If after doing one or more of the beds, and I decide to fish for awhile, I do. I have my locations marked on the sketch now, and can take all the time I want to fill it all in. If I decide to fish for a while, those "active beds" that I noted on the sketch is a good place to start fishing. If I eventually want to fill the space in between each spawn bed, I just create an imaginary bed and handle it the same way as above, until I get all the spaces filled in.
As we all know, there are likely to be some blue gill spawning through out the summer, so while fishing, if I find a new bed, I follow the above pocedures on it.
Its not an "overnight" happening, however if I follow the above procedures, I'm surprised at how fast my contour map from 0 to the 20 foot depth, complete with bottom structure, will start to take shape.
**Personal Note -- Based on tidbits of information picked up here and there, and from my own observations. It's my believe that individual blue gill don't roam large areas of the lake, but remain mostly in an area roughly 70 yds square. I use the spawn bed as a starting place to roughly lay out that area.
As for the rip-rap area and the remainder of the open water, I mostly just troll and/or drift fish it searching for suspended fish when I can't locate them anywhere else.
Don
This was sent sent to me by Don "rebg38" from the panfishingus yahoo groupwhich he is the founder. Don is one the smartest Pan Fishing folk I have come across yet. I have a question, I go to him. He is my mentor. Great info here Don and Thank you...Dave
Myself, I am going to head for the "open water" with the weed and rip-rap cover.
Why? Mainly because I can "read" that part of a lake better than the timber area. To me, every standing tree, log, and stump looks good, but I haven't fished that type of cover enough to be able to look it over and eliminate a lot of it as being mostly non-productive. Due to the many hang ups, it also eliminates my trolling and/or drifting as a search method.
I am not sure I could explain what I am looking for on the weed lines, and even if I could, it would be way too long to write down. All I really know, is that I will recognize it when I see it. Varying water coloration and wave action can also tell you a lot about depth and underwater points..etc.
Most people do head for the "timber", so you don't have a lot of competition in the open water areas. (No, lets not mention the speed boaters, skiers, and jet skiers...lol)
How often I expect to fish the lake also affects how I approach it. If I plan on fishing it this one time or maybe every once in a great while, naturally "active" spawn beds are going to be my primary target, followed by trolling and/or drifting in order to locate the fish.
If I plan on fishing the lake a lot, I will stay with the open water area, but approach it differently.
When I intend to fish the lake quite often, I will select a section of either a west, northwest, or north bank and draw a rough outline of it on a note pad. Now I will position the boat in the 2 to 3 ft depth range, and slowly work my way from one end of the selected section to the other looking for spawn beds. Its early summer, and there is likely to be both "active" and "inactive" beds (you will be able to locate these by looking for the "nest craters".) When I find a spawn bed, I make a note of it on my sketch. If it happens to be an active bed, I will note it with an "A".
Now that I have the spawn beds located and noted on my sketch. I will select one of the beds, normally an inactive one, and go back to it. Once again, in about the 2 foot depth, I estimate the approximately center of the spawn bed and drop a marker buoy. From this point I head straight out toward open water, and drop a buoy at the 5, 10 15 and 20 levels.
Then return to the first buoy, and on either side of it, follow the 2ft water until I am about 25 to 30 yards from the first buoy, and drop another buoy. Once again I head out toward the open water and drop a buoy at the 5, 10, 15 and 20 ft levels. I repeat the above procedure on the other side of the initial buoy. Mark the location of each buoy on my sketch, and then draw a line from the 3 buoys on each depth level. Now by looking at the sketch, I can tell if the contour line is straight, or has a curve in it, and by the spacing of the buoys at each depth, tell if the bottom has a gentle slope to it, and/or if there is a drop off between the two contour lines. The last thing I do is to slowly make however many passes it takes to cover the space between each contour line, watching the locator, and noting any turns in the contour lines and any structure, rocks, humps, logs..etc.. thats on the bottom.
I pick up the buoys and go to the next bed and repeat the procedures until I have eventually done this to each bed. If after doing one or more of the beds, and I decide to fish for awhile, I do. I have my locations marked on the sketch now, and can take all the time I want to fill it all in. If I decide to fish for a while, those "active beds" that I noted on the sketch is a good place to start fishing. If I eventually want to fill the space in between each spawn bed, I just create an imaginary bed and handle it the same way as above, until I get all the spaces filled in.
As we all know, there are likely to be some blue gill spawning through out the summer, so while fishing, if I find a new bed, I follow the above pocedures on it.
Its not an "overnight" happening, however if I follow the above procedures, I'm surprised at how fast my contour map from 0 to the 20 foot depth, complete with bottom structure, will start to take shape.
**Personal Note -- Based on tidbits of information picked up here and there, and from my own observations. It's my believe that individual blue gill don't roam large areas of the lake, but remain mostly in an area roughly 70 yds square. I use the spawn bed as a starting place to roughly lay out that area.
As for the rip-rap area and the remainder of the open water, I mostly just troll and/or drift fish it searching for suspended fish when I can't locate them anywhere else.
Don
This was sent sent to me by Don "rebg38" from the panfishingus yahoo groupwhich he is the founder. Don is one the smartest Pan Fishing folk I have come across yet. I have a question, I go to him. He is my mentor. Great info here Don and Thank you...Dave