Off season scouting, what do you use?

[Fishin Dad]

Happy New Year!

 

It is finally cold here in Minnesota and the holidays are over.   My Navionics App has expired so I am looking for ways to look at lakes and plan some fishing areas for next season.   I fish natural Midwest lakes.   
 

just wondering what everyone uses to do their scouting before fishing lakes.  

Thanks,

 

Fishin Dad

 

 

[Jar11591]

I use Google Earth a lot to scope bodies of water that I may not know exist. It doesn’t show contours of course, but the NYSDEC has contour maps of a lot of the lakes in the state. I also email the DEC sometimes if a particular lake doesn’t have a topo map, they may have an unpublished topographical survey or gillnet or electro fishing survey. This can provide a lot of insight. The state environmental agencies are a good, free, and often underutilized resource for scouting bodies of water. You just may have to wait a day or several for a response. 

[Swamp Girl]

Like Jar, I use Google Earth. Sometimes I take a drive to stand on the snowy shore and imagine me on the liquid lake/pond/bog. I also use the depth maps done by Maine Game & Wildlife. Sometimes I'll find a YouTube video of someone who's fished the lake/pond/bog.

[A-Jay]

This one's pretty good ~ 

https://usa.fishermap.org/depth-map/

Just zoom in on a spot on the map 

and you should be good.

A-Jay

[Jar11591]

@A-Jay well I know what I’ll be doing for the rest of the day. Thanks! 

[casts_by_fly]

Navionic online is free.

 

https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@9&key=kaoxFh|ggM

[RipzLipz]

Navionics Chart Viewer. Exact same maps as shown on their SD cards. Free to use, no ads & includes community edits (click/tap onscreen & select the question mark). To see HD surveys (1 ft. depth increments), tap the icon on the lower left corner & make sure SonarChart is selected. Play around with it - lots of features including search, safety depth & measuring.

 

https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en

[A-Jay]

43 minutes ago, Jar11591 said:

@A-Jay well I know what I’ll be doing for the rest of the day. Thanks! 

You're welcome ~ 

Also if you have Auto Chart - it's very interesting to chart out an area

and then compare it to what's published.

Many times it's right on the money.

But every once in a while - there's an anomaly.

I like those.

A-Jay

 

[king fisher]

I watch all of AJ's videos, hoping to find a clue that will lead me to the location of Lake Menderchuck.  I have tried Google Earth, it is not there.

[A-Jay]

15 minutes ago, king fisher said:

I watch all of AJ's videos, hoping to find a clue that will lead me to the location of Lake Menderchuck.  I have tried Google Earth, it is not there.

I've been flying all over Mexico looking for your kayak as well . . . 

No Luck.

A-Jay

[LrgmouthShad]

Dave Mercer asked the question if Google Earth is the unsung hero of tournament bass fishing. I use it and Navionics to learn about a body of water. 

[WRB]

The modern topography maps using elevation lines in 1 to 5 foot increments may not be available for smaller isolated natural lakes. Try looking for US geological bathymetry sounding maps, they exists for most smaller inland lakes.

Tom

[Fishin Dad]

2 hours ago, A-Jay said:

This one's pretty good ~ 

https://usa.fishermap.org/depth-map/

Just zoom in on a spot on the map 

and you should be good.

A-Jay

Wow, thanks A-Jay!   That is a great site.  Those maps of the lakes I know look accurate.  I appreciate it.  

[Log Catcher]

I too want to thank @A-Jay for posting this. I have it bookmarked so I can check out several lakes.

[NorcalBassin]

I can't count the ways living in CA drives me crazy, but for 50ish years now the no off season for fishing has continued to just barely make it worth it. Thinking I couldn't live here if I wasn't able to fish year-round.  😆😆

[A-Jay]

9 hours ago, NorcalBassin said:

I can't count the ways living in CA drives me crazy, but for 50ish years now the no off season for fishing has continued to just barely make it worth it. Thinking I couldn't live here if I wasn't able to fish year-round.  😆😆

I bet you could.

You might not like it, sort of like all the other stuff about living in Cali.

But one things a common theme. Having only 1/2 a season certainty fosters a deep kind of different love for the sport. 

Happy New Year.

A-Jay 

[Alex from GA]

Thanks A-Jay.  Your site has most of the places I fish in FL.  

[king fisher]

19 hours ago, A-Jay said:

I've been flying all over Mexico looking for your kayak as well . . . 

No Luck.

A-Jay

Thanks for the warning.  I may have to paint my kayak camo colored, and hide in the bushes when I see a plane.

[MIbassyaker]

The publicly available depth charts on fishermaps and navionics are pretty good for more popular places, but I have found some wild inaccuracies on lesser-known and smaller lakes compared to my own Garmin quickdraw maps .  It's still the case that not every place has been well-mapped... and the lesser-known a lake is, the more I want to go there!  

 

I still rely pretty heavily on Google earth and google maps, and MI DNR info on public launch sites, lake surveys, and maps of public land. 

 

And often, I just have to get in the car and and go see the place myself.  It has happened more than once that something I saw on a satellite image, but could find no other information about, turns out to be accessible if you can find the right road. 

[Functional]

I dont have a freeze out but I have less time in the winter to get on the boat so I do like most and spend the time planning new approaches or places for the spring.

 

Navionics and Google Earth here as well. I'll also look into the fishing studies (electrofishing, general wildlife) for some of the new lakes or updates to the ones I fish. 

[casts_by_fly]

On 1/1/2024 at 3:02 PM, LrgmouthShad said:

Dave Mercer asked the question if Google Earth is the unsung hero of tournament bass fishing. I use it and Navionics to learn about a body of water. 

the only issue for me is that the rewind time feature only works on a computer, not an iPad. I can’t install Google earth on my work computer and I only use an iPad for myself. 

[Fishin Dad]

I have looked at Google Earth many times, and from a computer so I can go back to older maps.  The problem is, with natural lakes, there is not nearly as much fluctuation in water depths to be able to see lake bottom in low water times.  How else, and what else do you look for on Google maps if you fish natural lakes??   I have tried to see points, weed lines, etc.   I just didn’t feel I got as much out of Google Earth as I should.  What am I missing??

 

 

[Functional]

13 hours ago, Fishin Dad said:

I have looked at Google Earth many times, and from a computer so I can go back to older maps.  The problem is, with natural lakes, there is not nearly as much fluctuation in water depths to be able to see lake bottom in low water times.  How else, and what else do you look for on Google maps if you fish natural lakes??   I have tried to see points, weed lines, etc.   I just didn’t feel I got as much out of Google Earth as I should.  What am I missing??

 

 

A good topography map like WRB said would do wonders for those lakes. If you cant find any try and shift the view around to see if you can see how the above water terrain moves. Should give you a good indication if there is a sharp bank/drop off or if its relatively flat its likely shallow (unless its on the outside of a river bend). You can also use Google Earth to see if you can spot any bare ground right in front of the water....looking for big downed trees or chunk rock. 

 

The topography map will make short work of taking educated guesses on how the below water layout will be. 

[Bankc]

Google Earth or maps.google are good for general scouting.  I usually do the normal, view for hunting and then go the satellite view for more information (it's usually easier to identify water in the normal view). 

 

From there, I'll go to the regular old Google and search "Lake Boblaughblaw Depth Chart" and see what it brings up.  More times than not I wind up at gpsnauticalcharts.com.  If I'm not finding anything there, I'll try https://webapp.navionics.com/#boating and see if they have anything.  If I strike out again, I'll go to https://www.genesismaps.com/SocialMap and check their user submitted data of various lakes.  It's often not a complete chart, but it's better than nothing.  And they usually have better maps for the smaller lakes that are ignored by the big companies.  

[MIbassyaker]

I find satellite images from google earth or maps useful for a few reasons. As a kayaker, I can sometimes see where a shoreline is clear enough put in, and I can see two-tracks and parking areas on public land that don't show up on other road maps.  On lakes themselves, I can see cover elements and vegetation, and the degree of clarity/stain. And I can see the extent of backwaters and how connecting waters chain together often better than from other maps.

 

If the water is clear, satellite images can be especially useful in combination with a depth map to see subsurface objects, weedlines, and substrate transitions that would be worth checking out. Even on a Lake I know pretty well, perusing a google maps image can give some insight.

 

Here are Google Maps satellite and Fishermaps depth maps of a section of the eastern basin of Gun Lake, in Barry County MI:

 

On a good day -- esp. early and late in the year-- I can see down to about 15 feet from my kayak. Notice in the satellite image there are variations in shading, at areas of more-or-less constant depth -- many of these are substrate and vegetation transitions that can be worth checking out. Especially at certain times of the year, and depending on their position and proximity to other structures in the depth chart.

 

Looking at this sort of thing during the off-season gives me some time to process what I'm seeing, put 2 and 2 together, make connections to my prior experience, and plan where and when to prioritize my time when I next get back on the water.