how many spots do you mark on a map?

[WRB]

Egypt lake Illinois, 18 miles long, 2,300 acres. Anyone have a more detailed map?

The 86 way points marked can be used for reference are the pink highlites are the OP choices? 

I will take a look tomorrow.

Tom

[ethan-333]

yes thats the lake. trying to find another map of it but not having any luck. and the pink highlights are areas i think could hold fish based off the structure i see and i how im interpreting it. hopefully next week wednesday ill be able to get out there for a few hours and try it out. thanks

[WRB]

Where do you plan to luanch so we can look around that area first.

Tom

[webertime]

This is what I do, and it works well.   Navionics on my Phone and I just look at the lake and mark stuff that looks good.  Then when I head out I will use it as sort of a shopping list.  If a spot works, then I mark it on the boat's electronics.  If after checking it a couple times over the year, I delete it from my phone.

 

 

This is Lake Champlain...  lol

[scaleface]

Clitty creek and Beaver creek look pretty good . Dry fork not so much .

 

[riverbasser]

10 hours ago, ethan-333 said:

yes thats the lake. trying to find another map of it but not having any luck. and the pink highlights are areas i think could hold fish based off the structure i see and i how im interpreting it. hopefully next week wednesday ill be able to get out there for a few hours and try it out. thanks

Go to webapp.navionics.com

Find your lake and zoom in on it, then post the link on here. I couldn't find it myself but that doesn't mean its not there.

[webertime]

52 minutes ago, scaleface said:

Clitty creek and Beaver creek look pretty good . Dry fork not so much .

 

AWESOME... lol

[ethan-333]

https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@10&key=ekldFfeu}O

the contours are worse but it does have channels marked better

[webertime]

51 minutes ago, ethan-333 said:

https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@10&key=ekldFfeu}O

the contours are worse but it does have channels marked better

 

Make sure you go to the icon in the lower left and switch it to Sonar Chart.  Way more detailed.

[riverbasser]

my eye immediately went to some pinch points like the market street point and the other long point on the opposite side of channel. there are many old roadbeds right there as well. Then just south a hump labeled "Indian mound". also where sugar and bald eagle points meet. Just a few I noticed quickly

[ethan-333]

44 minutes ago, webertime said:

 

Make sure you go to the icon in the lower left and switch it to Sonar Chart.  Way more detailed.

how did i miss that

[webertime]

I hide in the bathroom from my kids a lot.  I figured out a lot of navionics functions.

[WRB]

Egypt lake has other predator fish; hybrid stripers*, walleyes and largemouth bass.

This lake is also a power plant cooling lake therefore the water temperatures support Threadfin Shad year around. Not sure where the power plant is located looking at the attached paper map?

Hybrid stripers change the predator prey relationship as they dominate off shore structure, however Egypt lake appears very narrow with little off shore structure outside of the river channel, which is important, several points that drop into the channel, a few islands and the Indian mound hump.

I think the OP did a good job marking some areas. My focus during the winter is in the ski zone areas as it offers deep water that locals may over look. I also believe that the 15' break line where it creates small flats on the points maybe good year around do to the warm water created by the power plant.

So tell me where the power plant is located?..found it the blackout area near the dam!

Tom

* state record hybrid striper.

 

[WRB]

Here is my short list;

Map#2, hook shape point across from the power plant.

#11, 15' flat on sunset point.

#14, S channel bend.

#19-20 points with 15' flats.

#21, road bed and C channel bend.

#23, 15' flat

#34, points near islands.

All the marked pink areas in the ski zone and the Indian mound.

Any Staging areas (10' to 15' point flats) near spawning bays starting in March.

The next few months I would focus where schools of Threadfin Shad are located near or on the spots you have marked and the few I added.

I don't have a Navonics map of this lake and Webertime has pointed out 1' elevation details to study, start with the spots listed during the next month. According to fishing reports available for this lake the relate to milfoil. Don't know how deep it grows in Egypt lake? when milfoil gets established the weed lines near the deeper breaks should be good. 

Good luck.

Tom

[WRB]

Just rambling, power plant lakes with the plant intake in deep water near a dam tends to turn the lake over by creating deep current. The river bed becomes a source of cooler water when the plant is operating.The fact this lake has both Threadfin and Gizzard Shad gives the larger hybrid stripers a large baitfish and crappie, walleye and bass have Threadfin to target. This is why I think the 15' small flats on point near the channel become import isolated structure features...just a guess without being able to check out this lake.

For this reason structure spoons, tail and under spins, dart head jigs, drop shot that work where Threadfin populations are prey fish should work.

Tom

[RoLo]

The number of trial sites I pre-select depends on the length of my paper route.

In every case though, I'll pinpoint more trial sites than I actually need

because several sites will be rejected during Field Study due to subpar cover,

which is something you cannot evaluate at home.

 

Roger

[ethan-333]

thanks for the replies everyone. yes i know a couple guys that fish egypt and theyve gave me a couple spots to look at as well.. might be selling my boat and upgrading here real soon so not sure when ill be able to get out next. but yes the spots i have marked im going to run over with the graph just to see if there is any shad hanging around or any bottom cover. thanks again

[WIGuide]

Here's a little better look at the lake for anyone else interested

[A-Jay]

19 hours ago, webertime said:

I hide in the bathroom from my kids a lot.  

 

 You're a pretty big Dude  ~  So if you're hiding, Your Kids Must Be HUGE ~ ! 

A-Jay

[RoLo]

9 hours ago, ethan-333 said:

thanks for the replies everyone. yes i know a couple guys that fish egypt and theyve gave me a couple spots to look at as well.. might be selling my boat and upgrading here real soon so not sure when ill be able to get out next. but yes the spots i have marked im going to run over with the graph just to see if there is any shad hanging around or any bottom cover. thanks again

 

 

Sadly, the best bathymetric charts available are never as accurate as you'd wish them to be.

For this reason, I always begin the Field Survey by comparing my 'alleged' sweet-spot

to the real-world depths and contours displayed on my 3D sonar.

Unless you plot your own charts, disappointment is very common.

Only 'after' I've confirmed and pinpointed the presence of structure would I bother to evaluate the cover.

Lastly, I might look for a wad of baitfish on the 2D sonar (not 3D), but seldom would I look for

largemouth bass directly, which in Florida are usually shrouded in vegetation or blended into the bottom.

 

Roger

[Catt]

Each of the dozens of coves have two points...just saying!

 

Where's the creek channels?

[WRB]

The 7 areas I suggested look better looking at the Navonics map posted, definately check them out.

Tom

 

[webertime]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

 

 You're a pretty big Dude  ~  So if you're hiding, Your Kids Must Be HUGE ~ ! 

A-Jay

7 year old girl...  4'8" 77lbs...

3 year old girl...  (Avatar background) that was thrown out of an ISIS training camp with a sternly written note.

[A-Jay]

24 minutes ago, webertime said:

7 year old girl...  4'8" 77lbs...

3 year old girl...  (Avatar background) that was thrown out of an ISIS training camp with a sternly written note.

 

I can see that happening . . .

Good Luck Sir.

A-Jay

[ethan-333]

2 hours ago, WRB said:

The 7 areas I suggested look better looking at the Navonics map posted, definately check them out.

Tom

 

thanks for the help. i will definitely give them a look. only 1 way to learn.

 

3 hours ago, RoLo said:

 

 

Sadly, the best bathymetric charts available are never as accurate as you'd wish them to be.

For this reason, I always begin the Field Survey by comparing my 'alleged' sweet-spot

to the real-world depths and contours displayed on my 3D sonar.

Unless you plot your own charts, disappointment is very common.

Only 'after' I've confirmed and pinpointed the presence of structure would I bother to evaluate the cover.

Lastly, I might look for a wad of baitfish on the 2D sonar (not 3D), but seldom would I look for

largemouth bass directly, which in Florida are usually shrouded in vegetation or blended into the bottom.

 

Roger

ill keep this in mind as well. i noticed when switching from sonar to navionics and back and forth some of the depths of areas had a difference in 15 feet