Fishing Blind

[FunkJishing]

If you are going to fish out of a 10' jon boat and paddle here and there, before you buy another rod & reel, lure, tackle box, whatever, you need to invest in some decent boat gear.

 

To start with, a set of oars beats paddling, by a whole bunch.  A shorter set of oars works better in brushy conditions, a longer set gets you more power per stroke, getting you across the lake faster and work better in the wind.  I'd get a longer set of oars ( 7.5 to 8 feet) and keep the paddle for maneuvering in brushy areas.   Maybe lose the big paddle and get a sculling paddle.  Sculling is for the most part a lost art.

 

A Hummingbird Fishing Buddy is around $100 give or take. You will be amazed at how much time that tool will save you.

 

A transom mount electric trolling motor is another upgrade to consider.  The basic one, a 30 lb thrust BPS model is $100 in the 2014 BPS catalog - don't forget you'll have to buy a battery & charger also.  Spend more and get more as far as trolling motors go.

 

Should you decide to stay physical and not go electric, a sturdy push pole is a good idea.  Mine is 6' which extends to 10 feet or so, cost around $40, including the duck foot option, which is necessary.

 

The polarized glasses suggested previously are a good idea.  My 2 cents worth.

yea man I'm actually looking at getting a trolling motor and an actual bass boat all togeather. and when i get the boat I'll get the fish finder. good info man, thanks.

[FunkJishing]

If the water is ever really low, take that opportunity to go and check things out. See what's down there that you don't normally get to see.

         

everything you said was great man but this piece of info is GOLD. I'll be sure to make a note of anything new i see due to rize and fall of water level.

[FunkJishing]

Great thread btw! Even I have learned a lot here I can add to what I already know about how I fish w/out electronics!

 thanks man, and yes i learned so much from you guys!

[VtGr0wn]

I have an 11 foot john boat with 55lb thrust electric motor i have no depth finder or electronics (dont plan on geting any either)... polarized lenses are a must..... just slowly troll the banks of ur pond or river casting at the bank,downed trees,brush cover etc etc as far as fishing blind you should be standing up and "sight fishing" looking for beds underwater root piles rock beds ledges( with your polarized lenses on a good day you will be able to see as far as 8 to ten feet down) i catch loads of bass with out fancy electronics and with my flat bottom john boat i can get into places big bass boats would never dare to go....

get your self a minn kota and youl b styling

good luck

[FunkJishing]

thanks^ and yes standing up definately helps. lol

[Snakehead Whisperer]

get your self a MotorGuide and youl b styling

 

Fixed that for you.

[Texas Hawg Hunter]

I never use a depthfinder.  I always look for cover along the banks first, or points, or otherwise something "unusual" about a particular spot.

[Brian6428]

I have no depthfinder or "electronic eyes". I have no high/good quality bass boat. just a john boat, no motor at the moment...so i paddle. Every time i go fishing I have to fish based off of what has worked in the past (or patterns) and what looks promising. What would your advice be as to finding and catching more fish in this situation? (other than invest in a boat and depthfinder...im working on it).

To be perfectly honest with you, a fish finder isn't all it's cracked up to be. I have a nice boat with an HDS8 Gen 2 (side scan) and I use (I mean actually use to find structure, it is always on) it on maybe 1/5 of my trips. Most of the lakes I fish, the fish just don't seem to relate to deep stuff as well. 

 

You know what I do use EVERY trip though? The temperature setting on the fish finder. That tells me most of what I need to know for the day as to where the fish will be. I get to the lake, turn on my fish finder and check the temp. This tells you where the fish will be, what lures they will be hitting, and how active they should be. You can get a thermometer made for an aquarium for under $5, and it will definitely make you no longer "blind" on the water.

 

Even if the temp is really hot or cold and you think they will be deep, you can still fish deep without a fish finder. Points, bluff cuts, creek channel bends, and humps (you said you have a topo map) can all be fished without a fish finder. Additionally, back in my day of being fish finder-less, I found a few brush piles by talking to bass boats going by or just dragging a c-rig in places I had seen crappie fisherman sit before.

 

Give these things a try, but remember that in some lakes fishing deep just doesn't work as well. I know that on this site fishing deep is all the rage, but all lakes are different. Give it a try on your lake, but never leave fish shallow to try and find fish deep.

[FunkJishing]

To be perfectly honest with you, a fish finder isn't all it's cracked up to be. I have a nice boat with an HDS8 Gen 2 (side scan) and I use (I mean actually use to find structure, it is always on) it on maybe 1/5 of my trips. Most of the lakes I fish, the fish just don't seem to relate to deep stuff as well. 

 

You know what I do use EVERY trip though? The temperature setting on the fish finder. That tells me most of what I need to know for the day as to where the fish will be. I get to the lake, turn on my fish finder and check the temp. This tells you where the fish will be, what lures they will be hitting, and how active they should be. You can get a thermometer made for an aquarium for under $5, and it will definitely make you no longer "blind" on the water.

 

Even if the temp is really hot or cold and you think they will be deep, you can still fish deep without a fish finder. Points, bluff cuts, creek channel bends, and humps (you said you have a topo map) can all be fished without a fish finder. Additionally, back in my day of being fish finder-less, I found a few brush piles by talking to bass boats going by or just dragging a c-rig in places I had seen crappie fisherman sit before.

 

Give these things a try, but remember that in some lakes fishing deep just doesn't work as well. I know that on this site fishing deep is all the rage, but all lakes are different. Give it a try on your lake, but never leave fish shallow to try and find fish deep.

knowing the water temp of the ponds and rivers i fish would help a lot. got any clue where i can get a thermometer for on the water use thats accurate?

also the water i fish is really clear, and only dirty after heavy rain. there aren't any largemouths, only smallies. i can honestly say that most of the smallmouth i've caught have been in 10 feet of water or deeper. do largemouth like shallow water more than smallmouths?

[WRB]

Look around, what is above the water extends below the water, the terrain doesn't change.

While your are paddling around going from one spot to another cast out a deep diving crank bait and troll it behind the boat, good fish finder and it' something you should already have.

Shallow bass are easy to find, they are near the bank. Deep water bass are more difficult and trolling is a good method to locate them.

Soft plastics fished on and near the bottom like plastic worms rigged Texas with a sliding bullet weight and Carolina rigged will also work as a depth/structure and fish finder.

You have a topo map of your lake, start making notes with visual landmarks to return to areas you have caught bass or located isolated structure or cover.

Good luck.

Tom

[J Francho]

Surface temps don't do much for me, other than making comparisons to other lakes when looking at local reports, even then it's a piece of data I only really pay attention to in spring and fall, when temps are changing.  A pool thermometer will usually be close enough.  I have one that I sometimes tie off on the kayak.  I usually let it sink about 6-10 feet.

[FunkJishing]

Look around, what is above the water extends below the water, the terrain doesn't change.

While your are paddling around going from one spot to another cast out a deep diving crank bait and troll it behind the boat, good fish finder and it' something you should already have.

Shallow bass are easy to find, they are near the bank. Deep water bass are more difficult and trolling is a good method to locate them.

Soft plastics fished on and near the bottom like plastic worms rigged Texas with a sliding bullet weight and Carolina rigged will also work as a depth/structure and fish finder.

You have a topo map of your lake, start making notes with visual landmarks to return to areas you have caught bass or located isolated structure or cover.

Good luck.

Tom

yea man thats exactly what i use the map for and thats true, crankbaits are good search baits.

[FunkJishing]

Surface temps don't do much for me, other than making comparisons to other lakes when looking at local reports, even then it's a piece of data I only really pay attention to in spring and fall, when temps are changing.  A pool thermometer will usually be close enough.  I have one that I sometimes tie off on the kayak.  I usually let it sink about 6-10 feet.

word, pool thermometer it is. lol it'd also be good to know the water temp for my fishing log.

[Brian6428]

knowing the water temp of the ponds and rivers i fish would help a lot. got any clue where i can get a thermometer for on the water use thats accurate?

also the water i fish is really clear, and only dirty after heavy rain. there aren't any largemouths, only smallies. i can honestly say that most of the smallmouth i've caught have been in 10 feet of water or deeper. do largemouth like shallow water more than smallmouths?

Yeah, that's definitely quite a bit different. In general, largemouth live shallower than smallmouth. Most of what I said catered to largie fishing, which is all I do.

[FunkJishing]

Yeah, that's definitely quite a bit different. In general, largemouth live shallower than smallmouth. Most of what I said catered to largie fishing, which is all I do.

lol well in that case I'll use what applies to both species and tweak things that dont.

[hatrix]

I don't know how deep of water you sit in usually but find a way to anchor your self in a spot quickly and easily. Take a old broom handle a push pole or something with enough length and rig something up to the boat you can slide it through and jam it down in the ground on a spot. I do it all the time when i am on the jon boat and it makes a huge difference to really fish a spot easily. I use a Purdy extend a pole for painting to anchor shallow so I can anchor in like 10' and it doubles as a push pole when you need one. I wouldn't want to fish without something like that on a jon boat now. The difference it has made is really dramatic IMO. 

[papajoe222]

I take a couple of trips up north every summer and rent a boat rather than tow mine. No electronics, just an outboard.  Two things I do even though I always either purchase or download a topo map;  I'll  measure the light penetration depth by lowering a white coffee mug into the water until I loose sight of it. That's the depth I'll start out from by setting my anchor rope at the same depth and slowly motoring over a point or spot I've marked on the map. When the anchor catches, I'm at the depth I want to be.

Another thing I do is attempt to find the depth the weeds are from the surface.  I use crankbaits that I know the exact running depth of, when I start picking up weeds on one I know, not only the depth, but the type of weeds. 

I'm the type that has to have a place to start, or a point of reference.

[ColdSVT]

Ive been fishing blind my whole life....never had electronics...but i will come spring lol

Trial and error has kept me going for years...

[PersicoTrotaVA]

A "fishfinder" will help to a certain degree.  I used the depth reading and temp reading more than actually finding fish when I finally got one.  I pretty much know the lakes I fish by now so I don't really use it much anymore.  Before I got a depthfinder I would always have a jig or a pegged texas rig tied on to feel around.  You can draw a map of a lake doing this and mark key spots.

[QUAKEnSHAKE]

Look on aeriel satallite maps to find spots google bing others they might show some things of interest.

Like on my lake here see the road that connected the two points its now about 7'-10' under. In another area you can see underwater points a pillar and some tree limbs

 

[EmersonFish]

QuakenShake is right. Google Earth is a great tool, and it can really help you plan an outing in advance if you are less familiar with a body of water. I find it particularly useful when I know I won't have enough time to do a lot of running around, or when I'm in my smaller boat, and have to move about as efficiently as possible.