Making The Transition

[Slefler]

My fiancée and I are picking up our new boat next weekend hopefully. It's a 2015 Nitro Z6. What advice or tips do yall have for someone getting off the bank, whether it be boating or fishing related? Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance.

One of my biggest concerns is learning how to use a depth finder to locate fish since I've never done it before. I've always read articles and read on the forum on trying to learn about their patterns and such but actually getting out there and doing it will be a challenge.

[Fishing Rhino]

The most important thing to do is to take a safe boating course.  Learn how to navigate and learn the "rules of the road (waterway).  Secondly, before you venture forth, make sure you have all the required safety equipment, and know how to use it.  Make sure you thoroughly read all the owner's manuals that come with the boat and are familiar with all the controls.

 

When you are ready to get on the water, be sure you know how to properly break in the engine.  Take it easy, and learn how your boat handles and how it responds to your steering input, as well as the throttle and gear shift.

 

The electronics and other fishing accessories should be at the bottom of your list.

[A-Jay]

Congrats on the new boat.

 

If you've never done any maneuvering with a truck, boat & trailer, before you hit the boat ramp a little practice somewhere else will help.

 

Find a large, open, and preferably lined space (empty parking lot) and practice every maneuver you can think of - especially backing in a straight line.  And if you've not done it, you'll soon find out that backing with an empty trailer is different than doing it with the boat.

 

A-Jay

[desmobob]

A BIG +1 on Fishing Rhino's post above....

 

 

Tight lines,

Bob

[BassinLou]

Congrats on the boat purchase!!  Your fishing experience will definitely be enhanced. I agree 100% with Rhino's post. Become comfortable with navigating, trailering and everything else in between before you begin focusing on fishing and electronics. 

[Trek]

The most important thing to do is to take a safe boating course.  Learn how to navigate and learn the "rules of the road (waterway).  Secondly, before you venture forth, make sure you have all the required safety equipment, and know how to use it.  Make sure you thoroughly read all the owner's manuals that come with the boat and are familiar with all the controls.

 

When you are ready to get on the water, be sure you know how to properly break in the engine.  Take it easy, and learn how your boat handles and how it responds to your steering input, as well as the throttle and gear shift.

 

The electronics and other fishing accessories should be at the bottom of your list.

That's very good advice. I remember when I was younger and went from a row boat with a 40hp to a Champion with a 200hp. I ran across the lake to a bridge at full speed and jumped off the gas. The boat glided all the way past and under the bridge till it stopped. I was lucky that day and learned a lesson to respect the power of a high performance outboard. Take lots of time and learn the performance of that boat. Going from bank fish to this is a whole new world. I personally believe a person should have to take a drivers test just like you do with a car.

[BassnChris]

X2 on everything posted here. Especially the boater safety course....here in OK it was free.

Remember.....you can't see everything in the water.....stumps, rocks, old pilings, ect.

In my opinion you should be very careful until you have learned the waterway. I have been fishing my home lake for 3 years now from a boat. Still find a new stump, rock, ect every time out.

I strongly suggest a hot maps card or something similar to aid in navigation.......I won''t go out without one.

I was blazing across my home lake the first day I got the boat......I was in 30+ feet of water.....then all of a sudden I was in less than 3 feet.......couldn't see the flat in the middle of the lake!

I use the hot maps card and then allow for error ......things change and the channel or stump field lines might be a little off.

Congratulations and enjoy your boat safely. Remember your kill switch.

[Slefler]

Thanks guys for the advice! We have completed the boaters safety courses and made a run to Bass Pro yesterday to get all the gear to make it water legal. We got our electronics with lake maps already and plan on practicing manuevering the boat and trailer before actually hitting the lake.

As it pertains to fishing what steps or processes do yall use to locate the fish?

[Wayne P.]

Thanks guys for the advice! We have completed the boaters safety courses and made a run to Bass Pro yesterday to get all the gear to make it water legal. We got our electronics with lake maps already and plan on practicing manuevering the boat and trailer before actually hitting the lake.

As it pertains to fishing what steps or processes do yall use to locate the fish?

Learn the species you are after, their whole life cycle.

Once you learn that and where they are likely to be and when, check those areas with your sonar unit. Fish if they are there or move on if they are not.,

[Trek]

Learn the species you are after, their whole life cycle.

Once you learn that and where they are likely to be and when, check those areas with your sonar unit. Fish if they are there or move on if they are not.,

That's an old Indian saying. " To find the owl you must know the mouse "

[starcraft1]

The most important thing to do is to take a safe boating course.  Learn how to navigate and learn the "rules of the road (waterway).  Secondly, before you venture forth, make sure you have all the required safety equipment, and know how to use it.  Make sure you thoroughly read all the owner's manuals that come with the boat and are familiar with all the controls.

 

When you are ready to get on the water, be sure you know how to properly break in the engine.  Take it easy, and learn how your boat handles and how it responds to your steering input, as well as the throttle and gear shift.

 

The electronics and other fishing accessories should be at the bottom of your list.

X 2!

Can't express how important this is!

[Bluebasser86]

Don't forget the plug! 

 

Don't worry, you'll still forget it at least once while you own it.

 

I agree with the boater safety course as well. I had a few years of boat ownership under my belt when I took mine and it taught me a lot.

 

If you haven't already, get your boat insured and make sure that it covers all the gear in your boat that isn't bolted down. 

[rhino]

My condolences go out to you.

[starcraft1]

That's very good advice. I remember when I was younger and went from a row boat with a 40hp to a Champion with a 200hp. I ran across the lake to a bridge at full speed and jumped off the gas. The boat glided all the way past and under the bridge till it stopped. I was lucky that day and learned a lesson to respect the power of a high performance outboard. Take lots of time and learn the performance of that boat. Going from bank fish to this is a whole new world. I personally believe a person should have to take a drivers test just like you do with a car.

X2 on the boaters Lic. I've seen to many stupid things happen on the water, not just the idiots drinking, but the "I didn't know" people! Remember boats are like trains. They both take a lot of room to stop.

[ClackerBuzz]

great boat safety advice.

i wish i better documented my transition but i remember most of it. i went from walking the banks to paddling to trolling w/ sonar. a lake can seem like a big ocean at first but after awhile you can rule out 90% of it. w/o addressing sonar i'd say the easiest way to have fun and catch fish is to stay shallow and work the shoreline. you have tons more shoreline real estate from a boat compared to bank fishing. make sure to have a spinning rod w/ a wacky senko rigged. you'll be able to catch easy bass just by skipping docks and overhanging tree branches/bushes. working visible cover is fast and easy. but i would recommend to not fish forward.  take the time to troll 1/4 mile of shoreline and then back track to the best spots. you'll save time and 1000's of casts by being more productive. fishing blindly forward, even with 'search' lures is time consuming (although it catches hogs in spring!).  

 

working shallow cover along the shoreline will get boring fast so then i'd move to weeds.  weeds are ur friend.  shallow weeds hold smaller fish. the deepest weeds in the lake hold much bigger fish. you could spend an entire season just learning weeds. the bottom composition/structure underneath is most important. the weed wall that touches deep water produces well.  when you catch one bass in weeds there will be more. learning where the bass are holding in the weeds during any given day can be a puzzle in itself.  when all else fails, i head for the weeds.

 

i mentioned skipping trees and fishing weeds b/c it's a great back up plan while learning ur sonar units. learning sonar is a multi-season, ongoing process. this is my second season and i consider myself a newbie.  my first season w/ sonar i made the mistake of studying structure when in reality baitfish are most important. someone just posted the indian proverb 'to understand the owl you must study the mouse'.  bait balls are key so only fish around them when using ur sonar. side imaging makes it easier to find them.  i always keep a crappie rod handy so i can catch/identify the bait i'm seeing on my unit. it's easier to catch bass that are feeding on bait balls that are relating to structure. vs it's hard to catch bass that are feeding on suspending bait.  now that you have sonar stop blindly casting search lures (http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/139745-whats-the-best-search-lure/).

last week every ball of bait in my reservoir was between 13-23 fow.  i won't bother trying to fish bait balls suspended at that depth over 40 fow.  it's too advanced for me right now. so i found bait balls that were relating to the bottom (15ft). i found several but w/o bass arches.  the magic starts to happen when you find bass feeding on bait at that depth.  catt talks about identifying the biomass depth and relocating to structure in that zone ie fish 15ft ledges or creek channels even if there is NO bait present.  i'm sure it works but i didn't experiment yet b/c i have a hard enough time catching them when bait is around  

Image Interpretation/screenshot threads are invaluable (including anything posted by Wayne P  ). learning how to read sonar is like learning a foreign language.  Fish ID alarms are extremely accurate now so make sure you turn it on (I have my HB set at 7). a small fish icon generally represents 1lb, medium icon=2lb and large icon=3lb+.

on Humminbirds a blue fish is smaller and orange/gold is bigger.

i believe these are Waynes pix where he scanned a brush pile on different days.  he won't stop to fish the brush unless the Fish Id shows bass on it.

if i was hunting any other animal for 8 yrs i'd be a semi-pro. yet i consider myself at best an intermediate angler.  i laughed the other day b/c i realized the reason is you can see deer, birds, foxes etc and immediately learn their behavior.  but you can't see bass b/c they're underwater. sonar is a game changer b/c you can see the fish, understand why they are in a location, how they are relating to it, if they are feeding etc. unfortunately it's not a magic bullet that's going to allow you to instantly catch bass. so have fun in ur boat and catch shallow bass with ur confidence techniques while ur learning bigger water w/ sonar.

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/127481-screenshots/

 

[Wayne P.]

On 10/27/2014 at 10:30 AM, ClackerBuzz said:

great boat safety advice.

i wish i better documented my transition but i remember most of it. i went from walking the banks to paddling to trolling w/ sonar. a lake can seem like a big ocean at first but after awhile you can rule out 90% of it. w/o addressing sonar i'd say the easiest way to have fun and catch fish is to stay shallow and work the shoreline. you have tons more shoreline real estate from a boat compared to bank fishing. make sure to have a spinning rod w/ a wacky senko rigged. you'll be able to catch easy bass just by skipping docks and overhanging tree branches/bushes. working visible cover is fast and easy. but i would recommend to not fish forward.  take the time to troll 200 yds of shoreline and then back track to the best spots. you'll save time and 1000's of casts by being more productive. fishing blindly forward, even with 'search' lures is time consuming (although it catches hogs in spring!).  

 

working shallow cover along the shoreline will get boring fast so then i'd move to weeds.  weeds are ur friend.  shallow weeds hold smaller fish. the deepest weeds in the lake hold much bigger fish. you could spend an entire season just learning weeds. the bottom composition/structure underneath is most important. the weed wall that touches deep water produces well.  when you catch one bass in weeds there will be more. learning where the bass are holding in the weeds during any given day can be a puzzle in itself.  when all else fails, i head for the weeds.

 

i mentioned skipping trees and fishing weeds b/c it's a great back up plan while learning ur sonar units. learning sonar is a multi-season, ongoing process. this is my second season and i consider myself a newbie.  my first season w/ sonar i made the mistake of studying structure when in reality bait fish are most important. someone just posted the indian proverb 'to understand the owl you must study the mouse'.  bait balls are key so only fish around them when using ur sonar. side imaging makes it easier to find them.  i always keep a crappie rod handy so i can catch/identify the bait i'm seeing on my unit. imo it's easier to catch bass that are feeding on bait balls that are relating to structure. vs it's hard to catch bass that are feeding on suspending bait.  now that you have sonar stop blindly casting search lures (http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/139745-whats-the-best-search-lure/).

last week every ball of bait in my reservoir was between 13-23 fow.  i won't bother trying to fish bait balls suspended at that depth over 40 fow.  it's too advanced for me right now. so i found bait balls that were relating to the bottom (15ft). i found several but w/o bass arches.  the magic starts to happen when you find bass feeding on bait at that depth.  catt talks about identifying the biomass depth and relocating to structure in that zone ie fish 15ft ledges or creek channels even if there is NO bait present.  i'm sure it works but i didn't experiment yet b/c i have a hard enough time catching them when bait is around  

Image Interpretation/screenshot threads are invaluable (including anything posted by Wayne P  ). learning how to read sonar is like learning a foreign language.  Fish ID alarms are extremely accurate now so make sure you turn it on (I have my HB set at 7). a small fish icon generally represents 1lb, medium icon=2lb and large icon=3lb+.

on Humminbirds a blue fish is smaller and orange/gold is bigger.

i believe these are Waynes pix where he scanned a brush pile on different days.  he won't stop to fish the brush unless the Fish Id shows bass on it.

if i was hunting any other animal for 8 yrs i'd be a semi-pro. yet i consider myself at best an intermediate angler.  i laughed the other day b/c i realized the reason is you can see deer, birds, foxes etc and immediately learn their behavior.  but you can't see bass b/c they're underwater. sonar is a game changer b/c you can see the fish, understand why they are in a location, how they are relating to it, if they are feeding etc. unfortunately it's not a magic bullet that's going to allow you to instantly catch bass. so have fun in ur boat and catch shallow bass with ur confidence techniques while ur learning bigger water w/ sonar.

 

http://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/127481-screenshots/

 

 

 

The part about the FishID color is incorrect.

 

The Blue fish are what the 83 kHz sonar pulse is seeing and there are three sizes of those.

The Gold fish are what the 200 kHz sonar pulse is seeing and there are three sizes of those.

Blue fish will be farther from the boat and gold fish will be closer to the boat.

[200racing]

i would stick to what has been working from the bank and just expand it to all the new water you have. dont be discouraged bybeing skunked. it happens to the best. 

 

save the offshore game for later. when you do decide to tackle it,dont forget a few marker buoys http://www.basspro.com/Tournament-Buoy/product/1595/

 

not sure if was covered in your safety course or not but the trim plays a big part in how your boat runs and handles. start with your trim low to get on plain then as you get up trim out. when you get to high with the trim it will porpoise or bounce up and down. trim down a little till it stops and you have found your sweet spot.

[ClackerBuzz]

i would stick to what has been working from the bank and just expand it to all the new water you have. dont be discouraged bybeing skunked. it happens to the best. 

 

save the offshore game for later. when you do decide to tackle it,dont forget a few marker buoys http://www.basspro.com/Tournament-Buoy/product/1595/

 

 

x2. yup i forgot to mention marker buoys.  use SI to find bait, 2D to examine it more closely for feeding bass (don't be afraid to criss-cross over bait many times; they won't spook), and finally drop a buoy when ur ready to cast. you'll be amazed how fast/far a 9 mph wind can blow you 150 ft off a spot.

 

Wayne, thanks for the clarification

[RyneB]

If time isn't a concern and im on a new body of water. I follow the steep contour lines and drop offs on my map. Look for any structure, irregularities, bait etc. If time is a concern, I basically just run points. I start deep and work my way in. Looking at my graph most of the time, looking for anything down there that would hold fish. The one thing I have learned since fishing schools and offshore once I got a boat was don't be discouraged by rough fish. When I first started fishing points and deep structure during a tournament, I would see bait and fish on my graph. Start fishing and catch drum. I would leave and figure the fish down there were drum. Then I watched a video on youtube, I cant remember what pro was doing the tutorial, but he said drum are good because bass feed and hang around with drum. So I spent more time on a spot where I was catching drum, it may have taken a few drum or an hour or 2 of fishing, but eventually id hook into some bass.

 

Like any type of fishing, its about confidence. If you have no confidence fishing offshore, then your odds of being successful aren't good. I have confidence, so I can fish deep on points and drop-offs all day. But to a bank beater, its torture, they need to see the structure and work it. Its very intimidating, but once you catch fish and gain confidence, its a lot of fun. Good luck