Graphing a small lake

[GoneFishingLTN]

800 acres is the size of lake I’m talking about. 
 

ok so here’s my issue I don’t get to fish much so when I go I target the key areas according to seasonal patterns but don’t really graph the areas. My graphs are turned on and I’m looking at them but I don’t know exactly what to mark because if it’s a hump for example I see the hard spots and nothing else there do I just keep graphing around the hump?

 

also how do you know when to fish instead of graph? 
 

do I just graph until I see baitfish and fish and if not move on?

[@reelChris]

I think graphing is more about finding structure than fish.  It's great if you see fish, but chances are they're gone by the time you see them.  You're better off locating structure and marking it as a waypoint and then fishing it a different times in different ways to determine if it holds fish.  This video should get you started.

[Team9nine]

Just my opinion, but graph the entire lake to understand what it would look like if drained. Once you understand and interpret the bottom, it makes fishing the lake much easier. Most days, I’d rather stay off spots and just fish them and not risk spooking fish by driving over the spot to see if I see anything. Easier to do when you know exactly what’s down there and what specifically should be the key spots on a structure. Deeper fish it might not matter as much, but a lot depends on the exact lake and time of year.

[GoneFishingLTN]

3 hours ago, Team9nine said:

Just my opinion, but graph the entire lake to understand what it would look like if drained. Once you understand and interpret the bottom, it makes fishing the lake much easier. Most days, I’d rather stay off spots and just fish them and not risk spooking fish by driving over the spot to see if I see anything. Easier to do when you know exactly what’s down there and what specifically should be the key spots on a structure. Deeper fish it might not matter as much, but a lot depends on the exact lake and time of year.

Now what do you suggest when you see a brush pile or something similar do you mark it no matter where its at?

[Team9nine]

18 hours ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

Now what do you suggest when you see a brush pile or something similar do you mark it no matter where its at?

 

Yep - mark everything you find, no matter depth or location. Develop a waypoint or icon system that makes sense to you.  You can always delete them later  for whatever reason if necessary.

[GoneFishingLTN]

1 hour ago, Team9nine said:

 

Yep - mark everything you find, no matter depth or location. Develop a waypoint or icon system that makes sense to you.  You can always delete them later  for whatever reason if necessary.

That’s been my problem then I haven’t been marking everything because it wasn’t in the “right” area 

[Team9nine]

2 hours ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

That’s been my problem then I haven’t been marking everything because it wasn’t in the “right” area 

 

Yeah, not your job to tell a fish where he’s supposed to be. Yours is to systematically fish and eliminate the alternatives until he tells you, “here I am” ?

[Darth-Baiter]

Instead of graphing a lake. I’m gonna try using google earths historical maps, mark structure I find in drought years and transfer those to my graph.  
 

I just found out my local lake used to be two smaller lakes separated by a levee. They simply knocked down the levee but I found it and marked it!  Plus some trees.  I just converted the points to a GMX file and will put it on my SD card.  The next challenge is to learn how to access the data.  
 

Fun stuff it I’m no tech wizard. It’s challenging for sure. 

[MN Fisher]

1 minute ago, Darth-Baiter said:

Instead of graphing a lake. I’m gonna try using google earths historical maps, mark structure I find in drought years and transfer those to my graph.  
 

I just found out my local lake used to be two smaller lakes separated by a levee. They simply knocked down the levee but I found it and marked it!  Plus some trees.  I just converted the points to a GMX file and will put it on my SD card.  The next challenge is to learn how to access the data.  
 

Fun stuff it I’m no tech wizard. It’s challenging for sure. 

Jonny does a good job of going through this - including getting the data to your finder.

 

[J Francho]

On 5/1/2021 at 7:31 AM, GoneFishingLTN said:

also how do you know when to fish instead of graph?

I fish whether I'm graphing or not.  Unless there's some super compelling reason not to fish, not fishing that water is a mistake.

[desmobob]

1 hour ago, J Francho said:

I fish whether I'm graphing or not.  Unless there's some super compelling reason not to fish, not fishing that water is a mistake.

For sure.  I put my Garmin Striker Plus into a split-screen mode so I can fish and graph.  I try to graph even on familiar water.  The published maps for a lake can have a lot of big errors in the bathymetry.

 

I was using on-line lake maps as references for ice fishing and when I noticed my Marcum flasher was showing much different depths than I was expecting, I bought the 5" Striker Plus with mapping capability.  It is sized right to put on my kick boat and float tube as well as for bringing out on the ice in the winter.

[Darth-Baiter]

4 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Jonny does a good job of going through this - including getting the data to your finder.

 

thanks.  TRUE he does a great job.  I copied him right to the two files. KML and GMX.