What can you tell from this satellite image?

[EGbassing]

This is a google maps image of part of the pond I fish. I know it's hard to tell from the picture, but I'm seeing a lot of darker spots, grainy looking spots, etc. Is there any structure/anything that would hold winter bass? 

 

[Troy85]

Download the google maps program on your computer. They have a timeline feature where you can see satellite images from different dates, I use it to find grass in summer and find deep water on low tides(tidal marsh). It may have some other satellite images that give you some info.

 

i can’t really tell much from the above photo. Other than I bet that concrete drain at the top has probably carved out some sort of hole or ditch where it flows into the pond.

[EGbassing]

21 minutes ago, Troy1985s said:

Download the google maps program on your computer. They have a timeline feature where you can see satellite images from different dates, I use it to find grass in summer and find deep water on low tides(tidal marsh). It may have some other satellite images that give you some info.

 

i can’t really tell much from the above photo. Other than I bet that concrete drain at the top has probably carved out some sort of hole or ditch where it flows into the pond.

I'll try that. Thanks. I actually just realized that that picture may have been taken while it was frozen. Something about it just looks frozen, and it was taken in December.

[IgotWood]

Without being able to pinpoint any real structure in this photo, I would position myself to be fishing the Lee side of that big point. In other words, the downwind side. If that doesn’t work, try fishing the side that gets the most sun throughout the day. 

[EGbassing]

37 minutes ago, IgotWood said:

Without being able to pinpoint any real structure in this photo, I would position myself to be fishing the Lee side of that big point. In other words, the downwind side. If that doesn’t work, try fishing the side that gets the most sun throughout the day. 

Thanks. The point is the part of the bank in the bottom of the picture, right?

[Catt]

What can you tell from this satellite image?

 

Not much ?

[flyfisher]

Doesn't that web address say Sam Rayburn on it?  That is a pretty big pond...

[CroakHunter]

4 minutes ago, flyfisher said:

Doesn't that web address say Sam Rayburn on it?  That is a pretty big pond...

You win comment of the week! 

[EGbassing]

1 hour ago, flyfisher said:

Doesn't that web address say Sam Rayburn on it?  That is a pretty big pond...

I searched on Sam Rayburn to view it on satellite, then scrolled back over to this pond so it still says Sam Rayburn. 

1 hour ago, CroakHunter said:

You win comment of the week! 

^

1 hour ago, Catt said:

What can you tell from this satellite image?

 

Not much ?

Yeah, people always say to use google maps to find structure underwater but I can never see anything.

[Bluebasser86]

I'm not sure what those dark and light spots are, but it's something to do with the camera and not the lake. I've seen similar things on lakes I've fished for years where there is nothing where those spots show up. 

[EGbassing]

9 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

I'm not sure what those dark and light spots are, but it's something to do with the camera and not the lake. I've seen similar things on lakes I've fished for years where there is nothing where those spots show up. 

Thanks. That's what I wondered. Guess I'll have to get in iBobber. ?

[J.Vincent]

Lowrance makes Castable sonars which will work great for this scenario. Or you could go Old School and spend an hour or two casting a Texas rig and counting the lure down , eventually you will be able to approximate the deeper areas. 

[BigSkyBasser]

Your state fisheries website might have a lake/pond section that includes topos. I found mine this year and it had topo maps of surprisingly small bodies of water.

 

For example

[Deleted account]

Am I the only one that sees the angry bird?

[jcdogfish]

Get your most sensitive rod, spool with braid and put a 1/4 to 1/2 oz tungsten depending on the depth and drag the bottom.  You will find what you are looking for, it will just take a little time.

[Paul Roberts]

It's not frozen.

 

My guess is those dark areas are patches of low vegetation. In between are areas of silt/muds. I see those in sat. images of my shallow waters too, and have checked them with sonar, video, and fishing.

 

In fact, it looks a lot like my waters here -gravel pits and small retention reservoirs that are mostly "dishpan" contoured. I see little in the image that would concentrate bass. Does not mean they won't use the area, if the rest of the pond is the same.

 

The little drainage ditch coming in on the right might wash in some nutrients, and there appears to be an outwash plume (point-shaped) with low veges growing on top of it. It's darn small though and may not interest mature fish. However, I know of a couple such small drainage influxes that actually attract mature bass: 

-One has good, and isolated, complex cover at its mouth in an otherwise "swimming pool" of a pond where bass regularly cruise shorelines.

-The other such drain has created an outwash "point", similar to yours, although mine happens to end as a drop off into the main basin at the mouth of a cove. Perfect. I couldn't have designed it much better.  It is scarcely noticeable -no "cover" on it, it's just an object that stands out, a "lump" of sand, silt, and mud in the right place. Although the pond is regularly fished, I've never seen anyone else purposely fish it. I believe I catch more bass off of it than any other single spot on the pond.

 

The two standing trees on the shoreline next to it could potentially serve as objects for fish to relate to. But, again, they are small, the ditch and outwash are small, and they are surrounded by "dishpan" contours. Underwhelming.

 

I'd look wider, for something -habitat elements- that stand out more that might concentrate fish. Again, fish may use such dishpan areas, if little else is available, but it can be tough to find concentrations fish over them. And those fish will likely be transient.

 

Best I can do from 1000mi away.

 

Oh yes, in dishpan waters, objects of interest to bass, can be darn small. Bass, LMs in particular, have an innate love of objects. Some waters just have larger objects than others. So, if your truly water is a dishpan, look close; The bass do. And... sometimes, too much of a good thing is just too much of a good thing, for predators like us. Nothing like a small isolated oasis of awesomeness in a veritable desert.

[Koz]

As someone who fishes from the bank I use Google Earth to scout potential fishing locations. Here are a few things I look for when scouting:

 

• Lagoons are by far our most widely used stormwater control measure and we have thousands of man made lagoons in our area. So one of the first things I look at is is the historical satellite imagery. If the lagoon is less than ten years old I won't fish there unless there is an active fishery program in place. If a lagoon is less than ten years old with no fishery in place it's less likely to hold the bigger bass that I am looking for.
• I look for places where I can park my car near the lagoon or if I will have to park my car and bike to the lagoon.
• If the lagoon is in a residential area I have to find access points without having to cut through someone's yard.
• We have a lot of lagoons seemingly in the middle of nowhere with lots of wooded vegetation surrounding the basin. I look for areas that look like they are clear enough to fish and paths or trails leading around the basin. Granted, some of the satellite photos are outdated, but it gives me a place to start.
• I look for points, coves, aquatic vegetation above the surface, spillways, feeder streams, outlet structures, or other man made structures within the basin.
• The satellite photos usually reveal if the water is heavily sedimented (stained) or relatively clear.

In most cases, any coloration you see close up on the water are image artifacts. However, on some in my area there may be a noticeable ring within the basin that shows the shallow water dropping off to deeper water. But these are lagoons and not big lakes or other bodies of water.

 

Google Earth has been an invaluable tool in helping me find places to fish. For example, check out the image below. This is one small section of where my father lives in Sun City Hilton Head. How many lagoons can you count? Every single one of these holds bass 3 pounds and up. 5-7 pounders are frequent, and some of the lagoons have 10+ pounders. Unfortunately, my personal best is still just under 7 pounds.

 

 

 

 

[bagofdonuts]

On 11/26/2018 at 9:21 AM, jcdogfish said:

Get your most sensitive rod, spool with braid and put a 1/4 to 1/2 oz tungsten depending on the depth and drag the bottom.  You will find what you are looking for, it will just take a little time.

This, and go ahead and tie a couple feet of leader and a hook with a lizard on it. Cheapest sonar ever.

[EGbassing]

1 hour ago, bagofdonuts said:

This, and go ahead and tie a couple feet of leader and a hook with a lizard on it. Cheapest sonar ever.

I tried that before and I could barely feel anything but that was with my old rod which wasn't sensitive at all.

[Mr. Aquarium]

I find humps, steep drop offs, holes and flats when using google maps its awesome! I'll post some pictures

A lot of my lakes and ponds dont have fishery info or depth maps. so google maps is what I use. The first 3 pictures are the same pond. the 4th picture is a different pond

The first picture you can see an island with a long point, at the end of the super shallow point it drops right to 20 feet. There is a channel that separates the  2 small deep basins on the north and south side of the island.  The south basin is 40 feet, north basin is 30 feet.   These 2 basins are separated from the big deep basin by a shallow  weedy flat that runs the length of the pond.  The drop off on the long flat on the main basin side drops off very steep into 40-50 feet of water.
The very south end of the pond along the southern shoreline has a deep hole, it looks like a crater from a meteor. Its a big circle in a super super shallow flat. It drops down to 15-20 feet in the hole but surrounded by 1 to 3  feet of water. 

2nd picture is a long tapering point on the west side of the pond. That drops down but you can see theres a narrow band of shallower water that connects each point the western and eastern points. The hump rises to 15 feet with 25-30 feet on either side, north and south side.  mussel and weeds on this hump.  On the north side of the western point there is also a smaller deeper hole drops to about 15 feet. 

3rd picture you can see a shallow hump surrounded by deep water. The hump rises to 8 feet of water with 30 feet around it. Its rocky and weedy.  You can also see 2 coves. The left cove is bigger but separated from the deep water by a 5-10 foot shallow flat, but inside the cove it drops  down to 10-12 feet. With shoreline trees and weeds. The right cove is deeper 15 feet deep and immediately connected to the deep basin. The eastern side of this cove has a shallow flat that drops down, the western side is where the deep water is. Its drops quick along the shore. It also has standing trees in 10-15 feet of water, but you cant see them from the surface.  The 2 coves are separated by a rocky point. On the western cove out side of the cove the shoreline drops very quick to 20-30 feet of water.

4th picture, not much to talk about but you can see a big rocky flat, it drops off pretty quick to 20-30 feet deep 

 

[Brad Reid]

I used your markers, found the pond easily on Google Earth.

 

Normally on large lakes, what you can do is work back through time with images, find the lake at its lowest water level, spot all sorts of interesting places.

 

Not so on this pond; there aren't any images of it without about its current level of water.

 

No, what I think you have there is likely a man-made pond to catch water from the neighborhood. I bet it is generally featureless, just dug out with a tractor. I see multiple concrete drainage ditches off of a series of cul-de-sacs in the neighborhood where run-off from rain and sprinklers ends up.

 

On that note, these drainage points into the small pond? My guess is they'd represent solid places for fishing. Fish often set up in such areas awaiting a meal floating into the pond.

 

Brad