Finding Fish Offshore

[BassinCNY]

18 minutes ago, KSanford33 said:

I live a little east of the finer lakes, but I grew up in Elmira, so I've fished Seneca, Keuka, and Cayuga a lot. I've always found them incredibly hard to fish offshore unless you're trolling.

We were trolling that day. I fish out of a kayak so I normally don't get that deep. 

[Catt]

Y'all got all the common most obvious structures listed but the devil is in the details.

 

I don't see any mention of roadbeds, shell beds, changes in bottom composition, creek/river intersections, grave yards, house foundations, where farm land meet forest. 

 

Take @Team9nine advice get your hands on a complete copy of Buck Perry's books & read em through at least twice.

 

For manmade lakes it would behoove you to study the surrounding area. 

[Dogface]

On 2/25/2022 at 10:55 AM, Team9nine said:

This book has all your answers whether natural lake or man made reservoir.

 

Hint: Natural lake structural features (bars, humps, saddles and reefs).

 

 

A friend just gave my son a complete set of Spoonplugs. They look like they have never been wet. 

 

I may have that book and if I do I'll read up on fishing the Spoonplug. 

 

 

[Catt]

I still do a lot of paper map study & not your typical map y'all get from tackle warehouse. I get mine from USGS, they are survey maps. These are maps of the topography of the body of water before it was flooded. 

 

Today's electronic mapping was done after the lake was flooded. I take what I find on the paper maps, locate it on the electronic map, & then take it to the lake.

[WRB]

Some folks have a difficult time trying to read topographic maps. My wife just couldn’t “see” the elevations until I got her a 3D topographic map of our area, then the lines had clarity.

Tom 

[txchaser]

Couple of things come to mind

Google Earth (the download version) will show older satellite images, and often you can find one or more with a low-water view of the lake. Compare that to a topo map, or if on a bigger lake there's a web app linked around here somewhere that has free maps. It'll help you translate the topo maps to the real world. 

 

Most of the time bass don't like sameness, they want something different, be it a hump/road/saddle/etc. 

 

When you hear people talk about bass relating to something, think of it like they have vertigo sometimes...probably most times... this means they need to see or otherwise be aware of something to keep their point of reference.

 

If you can figure out a good spawning spot you are halfway there, just keep looking deeper. Find the changes/differences and fish those.

 

While there are some guys who can do it without a depthfinder, that makes it really hard.  Even the simplest depthfinder gets rid of a lot of guesswork. Name-brand depth finders start at $100 and are a bigger upgrade than any rod you can buy. If you can get one with mapping, even better. 

 

[FishTank]

Find the channel,  find baitfish on the fish finder, look for some bigger fish around or under the bait fish, mark the spot,  troll past this spot and repeat if possible,  come back and fish the spots you marked on the graph at different depths. 

[BassNJake]

2D sonar and map study

the 2 work together like peanut butter and chocolate

They are each pretty good on their own, but used together and WOW

(just had a couple reese's eggs)

 

Sonar provides so much information and most anglers only use it for a depth finder.

All of those little bumps, nooks, crannies, color changes and squiggly lines tell the story.

 

I drop a waypoint on almost everything I see that is abnormal

After checking the spot out I'll keep or delete it

I then will change the waypoint name to indicate what I've found.

[KSanford33]

1 hour ago, BassNJake said:

the 2 work together like peanut butter and chocolate

They are each pretty good on their own, but used together and WOW

(just had a couple reese's eggs)

Now you're speaking my language! I'd actually be in shape if it wasn't for chocolate and peanut butter. Well, maybe not.

 

So that raises another question: What's the best way to learn how to get the most out of your sonar? I have a Garmin Striker Plus 4 (I know, entry level) and want to find something online to get the most out of it.

[Tennessee Boy]

I recommend this guy and his YouTube channel.  Lot of good info on electronics and offshore fishing.  He’s young but knows his stuff.

 

https://fishthemoment.com

 

[MickD]

The real challenge is to fish big water that is like a big saucer, with little to no significant depth changes.  Think Lake St Clair.  Think Saginaw Bay over most of its area.  

 

At some times of the year it may be easy, but not for the full open water season.

[KSanford33]

45 minutes ago, Tennessee Boy said:

I recommend this guy and his YouTube channel.  Lot of good info on electronics and offshore fishing.  He’s young but knows his stuff.

 

https://fishthemoment.com

 

Excellent recommendation. I’ve watched a few of his interviews with Rick Clunn and learned a bunch. 

[BassNJake]

21 hours ago, KSanford33 said:

Now you're speaking my language! I'd actually be in shape if it wasn't for chocolate and peanut butter. Well, maybe not.

 

So that raises another question: What's the best way to learn how to get the most out of your sonar? I have a Garmin Striker Plus 4 (I know, entry level) and want to find something online to get the most out of it.

I've got a Garmin on my boat as well.

It has down scan but I rarely use it as I'm more comfortable with the 2D sonar.

I mark any abnormality I see on the bottom, sometimes it's weeks before I get a chance to go back and check that area out. 

when I do I like to drive over it and then come back over at a 90 degree angle that way I can see it from different sides. (I also zig zag a lot) I find lots of underwater laydowns this way. You cross over one way and its just a bump on the screen, but come back the other way and now you can see the branchs/top of the tree. Sometimes it's a little depression but coming back across it I can see it's more like a ditch. Dragging my bait over the structure allows me to then also make a note of what I am feeling compared to what I am seeing. I find a lot of stray boulders on rocky points this way

 

Just like reading a break on the green, practice is where you pick up the nuances.

This is where you learn the size of the cone relative to depth, how long something stays in the cone at what speeds, boat control and boat how far off the structure you need to be to still hit it, how to use the wind/current to move you/the bait to where you want it to be,

 

Can I tell on my sonar if that little blip next to the bump is a bass or not? Not at all

sometimes in my gut I'm pretty sure but I will drop may bait down to try and find out