Tips on fishing a new lake

[bma3]

Hi everyone, 

Just started fishing at a new lake called Lake Chabot in the Oakland area and was wondering what you guys have had success on in that lake specifically or if you have any tips when fishing a new lake. It is a relatively large lake with deepish water in certain areas. Stocked with trout but has bass and catfish as well. Thanks for the help! 

[RoLo]

I know nothing about Lake Cabot, but looking at the cavernous backdrop,

it would seem that shallow food-shelves are at a premium.

[bma3]

Thanks for the quick response!

[WRB]

Lake Chabot produced a 19 lb LMB recently on a black blue jig!

Tom

[RoweBoatRVA]

@bma3 You're lucky man. That's a beautiful lake.

[Raul]

What I do when I go to a new lake ? Easy, I look for the spots that look like the spots that produce fish in my lake, it works all the time.

[ww2farmer]

No info on your lake OP.....sorry, but I am on the other side of the country.

 

But as to any tips on hitting new water..........this is just me, but I look for stuff similar to what I have on my home lakes, and branch out from there. 

 

For example, I am right at home fishing milfoil in 5-15 feet of water, both in it, and on the edges....and am also very comfortable fishing shallow cover like laydowns, boat docks, matted grass, etc....

 

If I go to a new lake and see these things, I fish them. If that's not the deal on this new lake I look else where, but I always go to a "comfort zone" first and see what's happening. 

 

If I go to a new lake and DON"T see things I am familiar with, I put the boat on the trailer and go home.............LMAO...just kidding....that's when electronics come into play, and I might spend half the day looking at them before I wet a line.

[WRB]

Chabot is a typical clear deep structured Califonia lake stocked with both rainbow trout and a experimental stocking of Florida bass in the early '80's. Thisclakecdoesn't get a lot of bass fishing pressure because private boats are not allowed, only rental boat and shore fishing.

With the 19 lb bass caught in Late Oct 2016, pressure will increase. 

The first thing you need to determine is where the bass tend to spawn in wind protected coves with some brush in 3 to 8 feet of water, the bass will be close by.

Tom

[WRB]

What needs to be studied for a 315 acre lake! You simply fish all the points that drop into the main lake river bed adjacent to coves where bass stage the next 2 months. 2 trips and you should have this small lake dialed in.

Tom

[J Francho]

19 hours ago, bma3 said:

It is a relatively large lake

 

Relative is definitely a relative description for large.  In my neck of the woods, that is a big pond.  At any rate, I'd break a lake that size down into sections, and fish each thoroughly.  I don't know if you'd be dialed in, in just two trips, but after a couple weeks, you should be able to locate fish by trial and error, and then apply what we know of seasonal patterns to investigate new spots.

[bma3]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

 

Relative is definitely a relative description for large.  In my neck of the woods, that is a big pond.  At any rate, I'd break a lake that size down into sections, and fish each thoroughly.  I don't know if you'd be dialed in, in just two trips, but after a couple weeks, you should be able to locate fish by trial and error, and then apply what we know of seasonal patterns to investigate new spots.

 

The pic doesn't give it any justice. That's just a small area of the lake!

[J Francho]

6 minutes ago, bma3 said:

The pic doesn't give it any justice. That's just a small area of the lake!

 

It's 318 acres.  That's not big.

[bma3]

Just now, J Francho said:

 

It's 318 acres.  That's not big.

 

Yeah I know, just not small either 

[J Francho]

I grew up on Port Bay, NY.  It's 460 acres.  Shouldn't be that hard to figure out.  I can cover most of the fishable areas by kayak in a single day.  You can do it.  Don't overthink it.