What do you target on new water?

[WRangler506]

WHen you go to a new lake or river, how do you determine where to start?

 

I have a hard time deciding between: THere are no fish here VERSUS there are fish here I just dont know what they want yet".

 

Im big into using aerial maps for hunting, and locating what I think are the best spots. Would this work well in a new lake or large body of water? I'm looking for points going to deeper water, river mouths especially those into shallow bays, large weed beds, flats next to channels,  gravel flats, etc. Is this in the ballpark?

 

I usually struggle with what to try first though, especially when the water is still cold. I usually start by looking for walleye and smallmouth. For largemouth and pike I can do pretty well fishing structure I can see, or what I know starts from the shore. Its the SM bass and walleye I dont seem to have the clear instincts for yet. I usually fish bigger water, and sometimes has much lower population or scattered fish.

[CroakHunter]

I'm a visual fisherman. I always look for some type of visible cover and start There. Also aerial maps will help a bunch. You can get a good lay of the land before ever launching

[Glenn]

 

[BuzzHudson19c]

1 minute ago, CroakHunter said:

Also aerial maps will help a bunch. You can get a good lay of the land before ever launching 

Yup. If you are trying a new lake for the first time study maps prior. Unless you are trying a small lake, then you can just screw around and cover the whole darn lake.

[WRangler506]

6 minutes ago, CroakHunter said:

I'm a visual fisherman. I always look for some type of visible cover and start There. Also aerial maps will help a bunch. You can get a good lay of the land before ever launching

Im the same way, I like to fish what I can see and do fairly well. ITs the things I cant see I struggle with. What things are you looking for on the maps first?

 

[CroakHunter]

Valleys, points, ditches, anything changes in the shoreline etc.. I try to visualize how they look going into and under the water. 

[scaleface]

I'm going to fish cover , structure or a combination .

 

I'll hunt classic structure . I really like   major points , humps and saddles . 

 

Then  visible cover . If   a map is available   I will look for an area    with a lot of zigzag contour lines and hit the cover there . 

[Graham]

Fishing cover or burning grass lines and shallow points are my favorite places to start!

[Hez]

Structure....

 

Fish structure.  

[NittyGrittyBoy]

I'm a structure guy. The more structure I can flip to the better. After that I'm going deep water structure

[Sam]

First, obtain the water temperature.

 

If cool, go to the north or west bank where the sun will warm the water the fastest.

 

Hit all docks, piers, boathouses, wood, points, coves, creeks, marina's, rocks, bridges, grass pads, and anything else that looks like it can hold bass.

 

If the water is warm you can go to the south and east bank and do the same thing as you did with the north or west bank.

 

Throw a buzzbait and a popper for starters. Have a Senko tied onto a spinning rig to throw in case a bass misses your buzzbait or popper.

 

Your goal is to find the pattern. Note the depth and where you get your strikes and fish those areas. You now are ready for your spinnerbaits, crankbaits, creature baits, jigs, swimming jigs, Shad Raps, Carolina rigs, Senkos, trick worms, finesse worms, creature baits, Chatterbaits, jerkbaits, Banjo Minnows, and shaky heads, Texas rigs, Mojo rigs, drop shots and the list goes on and on and on.

 

But once you find the pattern you are set, for at least an hour. Then you start all over when the bite goes away.

 

This is the fun of bass fishing. Every cast brings you one step closer to the nut-house.  

[papajoe222]

I fish mostly natural, northern lakes and I do a few things when targeting a new one. First, I get a topo map and look for points, pockets, changes in bottom composition and areas where contour lines bunch together.  Then I check out Google Earth to get an idea of the weeds. I target, in order, points with weeds or changes in bottom composition, weeds and docks with quick access to deep water and flats with an adjoining drop off.

On rivers, I look for bends, indications of depth changes and any areas of slack water, current seams, or current eddys.

[geo g]

I will usually start on the outside edges, especially when they are associated with a significant depth change.

[Catt]

On 4/30/2018 at 2:35 PM, WRangler506 said:

WHen you go to a new lake or river, how do you determine where to start?

 

I have a hard time deciding between: THere are no fish here VERSUS there are fish here I just dont know what they want yet".

 

Im big into using aerial maps for hunting, and locating what I think are the best spots. Would this work well in a new lake or large body of water? I'm looking for points going to deeper water, river mouths especially those into shallow bays, large weed beds, flats next to channels,  gravel flats, etc. Is this in the ballpark?

 

I usually struggle with what to try first though, especially when the water is still cold. I usually start by looking for walleye and smallmouth. For largemouth and pike I can do pretty well fishing structure I can see, or what I know starts from the shore. Its the SM bass and walleye I dont seem to have the clear instincts for yet. I usually fish bigger water, and sometimes has much lower population or scattered fish.

 

When I was a teenager my dad would get topographical maps of the areas we deer hunted. 

 

I would shade in areas that were White Oak, Live Oak, Pin Oak, Conifers, Soy Bean fields, rye grass fields, & other food sources. I also marked thickets, swamps creek bottoms, marshy areas, & other possible bedding areas.

 

This knowledge of reading structure was easily applied to bass fishing!

[Glaucus]

I have 2 lakes and 2 rivers that I fish outside of ponds. So new water for me is almost always a new pond I've discovered, was told about, or that I finally got time for. So that being said, I always look for the shore with the most weedline, downed trees, dock, etc. 

[ClackerBuzz]

On 4/30/2018 at 3:35 PM, WRangler506 said:

I usually struggle with what to try first though, especially when the water is still cold.

Cold water changes my entire approach to new water.  It means no weeds which is what I normally look for on a new lake.  No weeds means by default I start fishing structure.  No weeds i.e. cold water generally means they haven't moved shallow yet.

 

Not sure about ur water clarity but clear water (I define 5-6 ft +visibility) means I don't start fishing structure until that depth or loss of visibility has been met.  They start getting aggressive and bold there b/c it protects them. 

 

Basically cold water>no weeds>prespawn I'll add ~1/4+ oz weight to every lure so I effectively fish structure 6+ ft. 

 

The last variable I add into the structure mix is steep shoreline b/c fish love to move vertical i.e. deep to shallow year round.

[WRB]

Today you have both paper and digital maps, some 1' elevation gradients and sat maps that make it a lot easier to study lakes you have never been to.

Back in the years that I was traveling around the country and fishing unknown water good lake maps were hard to find, topographic maps in 20' elevations were readily available, the 5' contour maps harder to find. If I could find a 5' elevation map it was golden and would study it before fishing.

Usually fishing unknown lakes I was with a local friend or rep who liked to fish, so I was a passenger or guest and could only observe and make a few suggestions, if asked, usually just went along with what the boater like to fish and adapt my skills to whatever was in front of me based on seasonal periods and current conditions.

I always like start with presentations and lures that worked for me under similar conditions and usually caught bass.

Watch for animal activity around the lake, if it's dead still with no activity, no surface swirels or birds working baitfish like a Blue Heron or grebes that tells me to slow down.

I like to fish points with rock or rip rap and brush, the further off shore the better, and start there to get a feel of the new water.

If I have my sonar my routine is survey the marina to determine water temps and what depth the bait and bass are at and confirm the seasonal period before starting out.

Tom

[J.Vincent]

New bodies of water are always exciting to explore, and sometimes its easier to pinpoint a few key areas on the Map a day or two ahead of time, where you think the Bass should be, based on the season. Personally for Smallmouth, I'm always looking for high percentage situations in shallow water first (1-5ft). If there are no signs of Bass and no activity after a half hour to an hour, then I slowly move my way back out to secondary points and primary points (6-10ft) and then I look for deeper structure bass (12-30ft) off and away from those points. Wherever I'm finding concentrations of baitfish, is where I focus more of my attention. For Smallmouth I also like to cover shallow water with JerkBaits and RattleTraps first and if I find fish , I will spend more time in the area or similar areas, otherwise I will look offshore with CrankBaits and Plastics. But I have found most of the time when an angler isn't getting bit, its because the fish are heavily pressured by other anglers or the external conditions , or the fish are not in the area. And as easy as this sounds, there are plenty of times when I get skunked, especially new water . 

[WRB]

Smallmouth usually prefer rocky reef areas with wind current in lakes and rocky current breaks in rivers. Hard verses soft bottoms.

My experience with walleyes is limited to Ontario Canada, there they prefer very similar areas as smallmouth bass with more aquatic weeds nearby that minnows can hide in.

Look for islands with reefs nearby and coves with sandy or gravel shores and weed beds for walleyes, same places that musky like and you will find them.

Tom

[Catt]

First thing I want to know is where's the river channels & creek channels?

 

Where do these river/creek channels intersect?

 

Where's the closest shallow water?

 

Is that shallow water offshore or is it the shore?

 

If it's the shoreline, how close is the channel?

 

While everyone is busy looking for points, I'm busy looking for cuts & drains on shallow flats.

 

Aint even got to cover...yet!  ?

[Bluebasser86]

I usually look for stuff that is similar to what I'm used to fishing, that way I have confidence right from the start and I have an idea how to fish it.