Triangulation

[Mobasser]

On a small lake I've fished for years, I always noticed a tree on one bank that someone had painted a 6" circle with red paint years ago.                                                        I never gave it much thought until I realized someone had painted this red dot to line up this spot with other markers on the shoreline as a way to locate a fish holding area.                              Triangulation is nothing new. Some writers have said American Indians used this method hundreds of years ago, as a way to mark productive fishing spots.                                                      If I'm understanding this correctly, once you catch fish in a certain spot, line up with three objects on the shoreline. These can be anything. Pick something to your right, to your left, and directly in front of you.                  Figure the length of your cast to reach the triangulated spot, and try different depths in the water column.                                           If your limited to bank fishing, or fishing a lake where boats are not allowed, it would pay to learn to do this.                                   There's something down there that consistently holds fish. You may never know exactly what it is, or why the fish hang around this area, but there's some structure or objects in this area that they like.                                                         It's an old school way to locate productive spots, and by " triangulating" these areas, you can keep these spots locked in for future fishing trips, and hopefully help your catch rates improve along the way.      

[Jig Man]

I used to do that until I got a gps.

[TnRiver46]

How else would I be able to find the sweet spot in all this? I can find it by smell while blindfolded

[MickD]

I used to do this before GPS, but never got it accurate enough.  I guess it would depend on the water/distances involved.  Obviously, GPS is the way to go now.  

[A-Jay]

Yes Sir ~

 Being able to get back on a small but productive spot without electronics is a "Art".

 And if you think that's fun, try it on the blackest of moon-less nights.

Add some wind and now you've really got a good time going.

Made me very good at "precision" anchoring. 

The little 363 HB unit I have on the canoe has 'GPS'.

However the +/- error of 25 feet or so, makes that deal mostly useless. 

https://youtu.be/r6E1WCWedPc?t=636

A-Jay

[J Francho]

I use triangulation quite a bit.  Staring at a GPS can help, but it makes my head spin.  Out in the big lake, there aren't really 3 points to use, so we use depth and two points on shore.  Not very precise, as I found when first using GPS, but it gets you in the zip code.

 

That's Canada in the background, lol. 

 

[scaleface]

I have a deep spot on a small lake that I do this with . I line up a road that disappears in a valley then reappears . I line up one side where it vanishes too the other side when it reappears , That keeps me in  line . Then when I reach a point of bank to the side , I am there . 

[Team9nine]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Yes Sir ~

 Being able to get back on a small but productive spot without electronics is a "Art".

 

A-Jay

 

An art that has now mostly been lost on today’s anglers. Once upon a time, there were reasons why certain anglers were simply better than others. Technology has erased or replaced much of that now days.

[Mobasser]

1 hour ago, A-Jay said:

Yes Sir ~

 Being able to get back on a small but productive spot without electronics is a "Art".

 And if you think that's fun, try it on the blackest of moon-less nights.

Add some wind and now you've really got a good time going.

Made me very good at "precision" anchoring. 

The little 363 HB unit I have on the canoe has 'GPS'.

However the +/- error of 25 feet or so, makes that deal mostly useless. 

https://youtu.be/r6E1WCWedPc?t=636

A-Jay

A-Jay, it's an art for sure and sadly a lost one. I think this was used by fisherman years ago, before so many huge impoundments were made. I can still see it working on smaller lakes today.

[fishwizzard]

I do a lot of bank fishing and spend part of each winter walking my spots and looking for cover/structure that is normally hidden due to sav or water clarity.  I try to take a picture with a good landmark in the background when I find something good.  The issue, of course, is remembering to “favorite” the pictures so I can find them again. 

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

 

An art that has now mostly been lost on today’s anglers. Once upon a time, there were reasons why certain anglers were simply better than others. Technology has erased or replaced much of that now days.

 

1 hour ago, Mobasser said:

A-Jay, it's an art for sure and sadly a lost one. I think this was used by fisherman years ago, before so many huge impoundments were made. I can still see it working on smaller lakes today.

May be lost but not forgotten.   Those of us with a little salt in our veins and who know a little about dead reckoning, might say they enjoy the challenge. 

And don't make me break out my sextant.

A-Jay

[Catt]

Just now, A-Jay said:

 

May be lost but not forgotten.   Those of us with a little salt in our veins and who know a little about dead reckoning, might say they enjoy the challenge. 

And don't make me break out my sextant.

A-Jay

 

I can do it anyway y'all want! 

 

 

[Bankc]

I use it mostly when looking at a map of a new lake at home, and then trying to find it later when out on the water.  I'll use the satellite image to set up three points as a reference and then try to find them on the water. 

 

By the way, GPS is a form of triangulation only with geosynchronous satellites instead of land markers.  Cell phones use triangulation too.  If you look at a cell tower, you'll notice they have three mini poles at the top, which they use to triangulate the location of your device.  

[Logan S]

Used to do it all the time before GPS was common....It's gone the way of the dinosaurs for me along with marker buoys (which made triangulation easier too) .  If my electronics died or something (and couldn't be fixed within an hour or two) I'd be able to dust off the cobwebs...

 

Even basic electronics these days makes it obsolete.

[Team9nine]

20 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

 

May be lost but not forgotten.   Those of us with a little salt in our veins and who know a little about dead reckoning, might say they enjoy the challenge. 

And don't make me break out my sextant.

A-Jay

 

18 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

I can do it anyway y'all want! 

 

 

 

Yeah, but you’re both as old as I am ? Probably older, even ?

 

When we pass, it will then be both lost AND forgotten. Had this very same conversation about Spoonplugging with a bunch of us NSOA members not long ago. 

[roadwarrior]

Old School

 

[J Francho]

32 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

And don't make me break out my sextant.

This is a family site.

[A-Jay]

30 minutes ago, Catt said:

 

I can do it anyway y'all want! 

 

 

 @Catt This brought a tear to this old man's eye . . . 

A-Jay

[TnRiver46]

14 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

 

 

Yeah, but you’re both as old as I am ? Probably older, even ?

 

When we pass, it will then be both lost AND forgotten. Had this very same conversation about Spoonplugging with a bunch of us NSOA members not long ago. 

I wouldn’t be so certain, every piece of electronics and computers I’ve been around breaks at some point. I had an interesting conversation with a TVA guy once. Apparently there will always be a need for someone handy with math and a slide rule in this region because every single TVA dam is unique (and he might have even said every turbine is unique). They can’t just get a new one made at a factory, they have to design it themselves every single time they fix something. But they have a top notch highly paid staff and their math is solid to say the least. They have to do it all using old school methods but their methods are “dam” good (see what I did there)?

[WRB]

When you fish over the horizon shore visual points are worthless, you need some type of fixed point to triangulate.

Back in the day before GPS fresh water anglers used shore line points like Preachers house , Rock wall, Towers, Green House, Eagles nest etc. would get you close. Flasher sonar could get you closer using depth and structure combined with a good topo map for off shore area. 
Most anglers today use visual way points unconsciously and sonarGPS to pin point locations.

Older anglers who learned to triangulate  using visual can get close to areas without electronics and continuously are looking at terrain changes to read structure, we don’t totally rely on a sonar screen. We are not lost when the battery goes dead?

Tom

[J Francho]

I recall my uncle's charter boat using LORAN for navigation.  That was radio based tech from WWII.  Not sure if it's still around.

[A-Jay]

4 minutes ago, J Francho said:

I recall my uncle's charter boat using LORAN for navigation.  That was radio based tech from WWII.  Not sure if it's still around.

I used Loran A & Loran C

and at the time - they were high Tech.

The Loran A  unit was Huge - Loran C it's replacement, was 90% smaller, more accurate and considerably easier to use. 

They are both long gone, and no one's sad about that.

A-Jay

 

[J Francho]

The unit I remember fit on the dash, so it must have been C.  At the time, it could get him back to the outlet from the lake and back to his dock in the bay in the thickest fog.  

[A-Jay]

3 minutes ago, J Francho said:

The unit I remember fit on the dash, so it must have been C.  At the time, it could get him back to the outlet from the lake and back to his dock in the bay in the thickest fog.  

Sounds about right.

Bet he used a little card to plot 'between' the lines ?

A-Jay

 

[Team9nine]

27 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

I used Loran A & Loran C

and at the time - they were high Tech.

The Loran A  unit was Huge - Loran C it's replacement, was 90% smaller, more accurate and considerably easier to use. 

They are both long gone, and no one's sad about that.

A-Jay

 

 

Kind of like the old Beta vs VHS days. I think I still have a couple magazines with articles arguing the merits of each when they were both on the scene together - debating which technology would win out ? The walleye guys were way ahead of the bass guys in this regard, which was why I always subscribed to their magazines and followed their tourney circuits.