Google Earth As A Fishing Tool

[Harold Scoggins]

I love using Earth when scouting for new waters and even for getting a different perspective on known waters. They closed one of the lakes on our local wildlife refuge for maintenance about four years ago and it was reopened two years ago. Earth was very helpful when seeing what was done by the earth moving equipment. First picture shows the lake drained and under maintenance. The other picture shows what it looks like today. There are a lot of four pounders being caught these days from yaks.

[the reel ess]

I've used it to chart the distance of some kayak float trips. Rivers in this area flow an average of 3 miles per hour so you can estimate a float time if you know the distance.

[jbmaine]

Same here, It's great for picking up all the shallows.

[Russ E]

it will also show weedbeds and submerged timber in reservoirs.

[Way north bass guy]

Up here most of the lakes are very clear water, I use it a lot, especially on lakes with no depth maps to see all the rock shoals. Helps to find good spots and save lower units!

[Eric86]

If you have android you can download an app called maps ruler that you can measure distance with a Google earth view.

[Harold Scoggins]

2 hours ago, Way north bass guy said:

Up here most of the lakes are very clear water, I use it a lot, especially on lakes with no depth maps to see all the rock shoals. Helps to find good spots and save lower units!

 

2 hours ago, Russ E said:

it will also show weedbeds and submerged timber in reservoirs.

If there was a good Sun angle when the image was taken you can find spawning beds also.

[NHBull]

On a side note, it is also cool to see your own boat on the dock...

[the reel ess]

8 hours ago, NHBull said:

On a side note, it is also cool to see your own boat on the dock...

For the longest time my dad's lakehouse on Google Maps had my truck and trailer backed into the water with the boat off. I was gone fishin'.

[Troy85]

I use to find areas that generally have cleaner water when the rivers get high.

[gnappi]

We use Google maps all the time, but oftentimes small waterways are obscured by trees growing on both sides of the canal and it looks like a dead end. It's GR8 for finding State, county and city boat ramps which you'd never find otherwise.

 

Recently I started using my car GPS to find waterways to hand launch my tinny from roads, parking lots and industrial areas where there are no ramps. That's working out pretty darn good and the GPS shows the whole waterway without trees to obscure the water.

[Bluebasser86]

I found a couple hidden ponds on public land that are bass fishing gems that produce numbers and some very large bass. It's great for finding long points and high spots too. 

[Bankbeater]

I've been looking at local lakes and pond from a few years back when we had a drought.  I'm finding all kinds of creek beds and rock piles that I didn't know were there.

[N Florida Mike]

The second biggest bass I ever caught was directly because of google map. I checked out the area on it  while eating lunch and found a big pond behind a target store. 15 minutes later....

[Boomstick]

I use google or bing map's aerial views often to find shore access spots. It's been quite effective for me.

[BassNJake]

I use it all the time as lakes around here are dropped 20-30 feet for the fall draw down.

I can go thru the maps and see what cover/structure will be available at whatever the water level is.

There are some areas that have 20 feet of water over them at full pool.

I love hitting these areas when they have 3-5 feet of water in them.

 

Although they traditionally say that falling water pulls the fish out.

I have found good numbers in the shallows leading to some awesome topwater action.

 

An ole timer told me that when they drop the water the craw fish get exposed then they have to move.

When they do its only down a couple feet at a time, which keeps the bass looking shallow even as the water is falling.

Made sense to me.

 

[WRB]

Looking at overhead sat views gives you information not available with maps for lakes you haven't fished before. For example members ask for help with thier lake and if they include the location and name a sat map allows anyone to look for aquatic plant growth, docks, water clarity, soil make up and transitions, rocks, laydowns etc that are not included on contour maps. If no map is available the sat map gives you an overview to determine the shape of the topography around the lake or pond and if the water clarity is good you can see underwater structure features including everything else mentioned.

Sat views of lakes drawn down exposing the underwater terrian are priceless.

Tom 

 

[Mn_Moose]

I use sat photos for searching shore structure. I look for westward facing sandy shores. Helps to know where the rock / sand transitions are. 

[BigSkyBasser]

I've found 50% of my best fishing spots via Google Earth.

 

Here, most of our rivers and reservoirs create some epic flood waters during the spring that have proven amazing, and you would never know they were there during any other time of the year without sat images.

 

Found this pretty little creek that turned out to be a trophy holding slough for hidden largies and Northern Pike.

 

 

[Smalls]

I live in the Detroit metro area. For a while I lived directly in the city, with a 5-20 walk to 4 different spots on the Detroit river, and a 10 minute drive to lane St Clair. But I recently moved to the ‘burbs, and the big lake and river became inconvenient, more often than not. 

 

I thought my “before work scratch” to the itch was over. You wouldn’t believe how many good, unpressured ponds I have within 15 minutes of my house. I used google maps, city tax accessor sites to find property lines, and a couple other tricks, but I’ve had a better season (number wise) than I’ve had in a while. 

 

Another example. I’m moving to Albuquerque in a week. I literally thought I was gonna have to travel days to find a bass. While water obviously isn’t as common as it is here in Michigan, I’ve found places to scratch the itch during the week, and plenty of water within just an hour or so. 

 

Sometimes you you have to really get creative with finding water, but google maps has helped, or at least put me on the right track to finding some really awesome spots. Hell, this year I pulled a 6 lb’er out of a pond That I don’t think more than a handful of people know is public.