Approaching a way point

[GoneFishingLTN]

First, you line up according to the wind. But when do you turn off the big motor and switch to the trolling motor? On average, how slow are you moving when heading to the waypoint on the trolling motor?

 

[Swamp Girl]

I no longer fish with a boat with a motor, but when I did, I cut my engine far before most anglers do and when possible, I used wind to finish my approach. I think many anglers are too cavalier about the noises they make. 

[Tennessee Boy]

It depends on how much I’m worried about spooking the fish.  That’s a judgement call based on depth and how quiet the water is.  If there are jet skis run everywhere I’m not to worried.  I would say I typically troll the last 50 yards or so.

[Catt]

IDK 😉

Research shows some bass are affected by the outboard, some are affected by the trolling motor, & some are affected by the first cast. Depth of the water had little to do with it. 

 

Watch this series of videos 

https://youtu.be/PYYmscMNg0E?si=EjyJtNuGkUZTeELv

[J Francho]

This is for Lake Ontario, fishing 15-40 FOW. Most of my waypoints are over deep water where there aren't three points to triangulate. In the past, I used two points on shore and depth to get a general sense of the spot. Once there, I typically trolled, with the big motor. Those fish didn't seem to care since I caught when I started marking them. If I caught three in a single pass, I anchored up and fished vertically. This was developed back in the 90s. I still use it, sans the trolling on other lakes fishing deep structure. The motors, electric or gas never made much difference. 
 

Pulling into a shallow, quiet, still cove is a different story. I like to cruise in at a decent clip, with no power. Moving around, keep the trolling motor on low speed and use steady, controlled bursts. If it's shallow or I know the bottom layout, there's little sense to have the sonar pinging so that's off, but I still run the GPS, since I mark any notable catches to develop a long term record of spots. 
 

I think it's important to know the water your fishing, but I'm not so sure the negative cues are the same everywhere. Places where pleasure boats and jet skis are zooming by all day don't seem to be as critical. It reminds me of people that live near a freeway. They don't even notice the traffic noise. But someone that lives out in the country can hear a twig snap a half mile away 

[A-Jay]

After a recent electronics package change on my rig,

I took the opportunity to not import hundreds (maybe more) of previously saved waypoints.

So since the end of last season and all on this one, I have been fishing 'with a clean slate'.

Sort of unnerving at first.

However, as I've started to drop the new pins on places I want to return to,

I've committed to only placing way points that indicate BOAT POSITION.

No more marking cover or structure.

I know the waters I fish well enough, that as I approach and get to a spot,

and look at the contour mapping, I know where I'm going to cast; without ever getting my rig anywhere near the fish.

I believe stealth and not being detected is a big deal, this helps in that regard.

A-Jay

[gim]

6 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

I think many anglers are too cavalier about the noises they make. 

 

That used to be me.  I found out the hard one one spring when I plowed into shallow water and I knew there was a nice school of slab crappies there.  I didn't cut the main motor soon enough and I spooked them all out.  Eventually they trickled back in and I caught some, but I learned a valuable lesson that day.

 

Now I cut the main outboard much further away and creep in to my starting position to fish.  Regardless of what the target is.  Certainly some fish are used to specific noises and it may not matter as much, but I aint taking those chances anymore.

[Swamp Girl]

11 hours ago, Catt said:

IDK 😉

Research shows some bass are affected by the outboard, some are affected by the trolling motor, & some are affected by the first cast. Depth of the water had little to do with it. 

 

Watch this series of videos 

https://youtu.be/PYYmscMNg0E?si=EjyJtNuGkUZTeELv

 

Catt and @gimruis, I fished yesterday morning and I've shared anecdotes of bumping into bass because they didn't hear me coming. Yeah, I'm the Queen of Stealth, but I was dethroned yesterday because I could see a rock that's familiar to me, just under the water, leaving perhaps five inches of water atop it and my primary concern was to not run aground, for there are ruts in the rock that permit passage and I was focused on finding one of those, but when I reached the rock, about three bass bolted, all bass I could have caught if I wasn't so stupid to think they wouldn't be that shallow. My point, regarding the thread, is that once they detect you, it's game over, so I'd rather err on the side of caution, i.e. stealth.  

[jbmaine]

Spooking fish with the noise we make. In my experience this ( like many things in life) is a sometimes yes and sometimes no answer. I've seen it go both ways. I've fly fished waters for native trout where a bad cast resulting in excess line splash will shut the fishing down for some time, and I've caught many fish right by the boat. My PB LM was caught 5 feet from the boat, in five feet of water, with the TM and sonar both going.

 In some water I fish there is so much boat traffic on a summer weekend that if bass were spooked every time they heard a noise, they would die of exhaustion by days end.

[Functional]

If it's a very busy area of the lake I get closer than i would a very calm area. Very early and late evening into night I hardly ever even start my outboard. When I do I shut it down a long way off. 

[JayMac89]

16 hours ago, A-Jay said:

However, as I've started to drop the new pins on places I want to return to,

I've committed to only placing way points that indicate BOAT POSITION.

No more marking cover or structure.

I know the waters I fish well enough, that as I approach and get to a spot,

and look at the contour mapping, I know where I'm going to cast; without ever getting my rig anywhere near the fish.

Has anyone ever told you that your a genius? If not, then let me be the first. 

 

I just started using electronics in a kayak in the past month or so. One of the main learning curves for me has been approaching a waypoint and knowing when I'm close enough or to far based off the screen I'm looking at... if that makes sense.  Marking position is a slick move. Granted I'm still finding some points of interest depending on the lake. So I'll still mark the structure/cover. But I'm stealing this tactic. Absolutely genius. 

[Susky River Rat]

I tend to barrel in hard. I mean coming off plane a few boat lengths of where I want to fish. Mainly because I am in current and it will take me a long time with my TM on high to get in somewhere. I also do not really way point in the river much. It’s more of fishing an area if that makes sense. 
 

now I do have a habit of barreling in on lakes which I am trying to break. Honestly with as much boat traffic and wake that is on that lake I really doubt it matters in most area of it. 

[GRiver]

15 hours ago, ol'crickety said:

once they detect you, it's game over, so I'd rather err on the side of caution, i.e. stealth.  

I’ve said this before, when I’m going into an area and hunting the big ones. I shut down everything, all electronics, lift trolling motor and I push pole in.

 

22 hours ago, GoneFishingLTN said:

when do you turn off the big motor and switch to the trolling motor?

When I’m just regular fishing,….I really don’t have waypoints, I have more of what I call routes, section of shoreline or cover. I might be too cautious but I slow down, idle in until about 100 or so yards. I just sit for about five minutes, re-rigging, getting things ready, taking in the sights. Then slowly troll in, motor on two, and start my route. 

[A-Jay]

3 hours ago, JayMac89 said:

Has anyone ever told you that your a genius? If not, then let me be the first. 

 

I just started using electronics in a kayak in the past month or so. One of the main learning curves for me has been approaching a waypoint and knowing when I'm close enough or to far based off the screen I'm looking at... if that makes sense.  Marking position is a slick move. Granted I'm still finding some points of interest depending on the lake. So I'll still mark the structure/cover. But I'm stealing this tactic. Absolutely genius. 

Thanks ~I certainly appreciate the kinds words and the support.

However, in this case I am willing to admit that I did 'learn the hard way'.

Not knowing which WPs were marking boat position and which were making potential fish holding areas probably cost me some fish.  I could have used different icons to mark the different spots 

but I'm an OG and I am still working on keeping up with getting the most out of my graphs.

Either way, I had an opportunity to 'fix it', so I did.

Good Luck

A-Jay

 

[Catt]

Some of y'all would be very surprised what radio telemetry & FFS revealed.

 

When a waypoint was approached with the outboard then "ran" over with the electronics. A percentage of the bass spooked but a large percentage did not.

 

A percentage of the bass after being stealthy approached spooked from the first cast.

 

A percentage of the bass did not spook even after sitting on top of them dropshoting in shallow water. 

[Pat Brown]

I think how spooky the bass are depends on the lake and the bass and the structure and how good the food is around there AND if they' happen to be guarding beds underwater - they aren't going nowhere.

 

I spook fish a lot.  Comes with the territory of bank fishing the same hammered ultra clear shallow public ponds every day.

 

AND I'm really good at being sneaky.

 

I think what @Catt is trying to say and I agree with somewhat - when it's 'Time' for them to be caught - they'll be caught and you just gotta slow down and *fish* an area you know they're in sometimes.  WAY WAY slower than most people fish.

 

Yeah sometimes we spook fish but in a matter of moments - if we aren't repeatedly bombarding them with casts or being obnoxiously loud, or moving around all over the place visibly, they'll resume whatever it is they're doing and we might catch one or two if we just hang around and slow down and do less with our bait.

 

I even sometimes arrive at my spot.  Spook the fish without casting at all and then I just find a good hiding spot in my spot and then I chill there for 10 minutes doing nothing.

 

Another way is to arrive - anchor or hide or whatever - make that first cast that's gonna spook a few probably.  Then let that bait sit.  10-15 minutes.  Let them forget you made a cast and forget that you're there.  THEN begin your retrieve.  Amazing how well this can work.  A lot of times they'll plum eat it while you're waiting for the spot to calm down a bit.

 

Usually I wait til I can see them doing their thing like I'm not there again and then I make my first cast.

 

This is all strategies for targeting incredibly finicky fish that can literally see and be seen 100% of the time.

 

All applies to boat positioning and stealth on lakes and fish that are deeper but aware of your presence.

 

 

[Catt]

What Biologist gathered from the research is that we're spooking a percentage of bass regardless what we do. That doesn't mean we throw caution to wind, it means we accept a percentage will spook

 

@A-Jay mentioned deleting his waypoints because:

On 9/8/2024 at 7:19 AM, A-Jay said:

Not knowing which WPs were marking boat position and which were making potential fish holding areas probably cost me some fish

 

I generally mark structure with at least 3 waypoints. Wind & current determines from what direction I position my boat. 

[J Francho]

28 minutes ago, Catt said:

I generally mark structure with at least 3 waypoints.

This is how I do it.  ESPECIALLY FOR SPOTS THAT AREN'T ON MY MAP CARD!!!! I think I learned this notion from @Catt more than a decade and half ago.  There's stuff you can only find being there, watching the graph and paying attention.  It can also be a patch of weeds out in the desert of deep, featureless rocky bottom that is the Great Lakes.  There's some reason weeds are growing in a spot - bottom composition, light penetration, nutrient make up - and while their growth can ebb and flow, they'll almost always be there, unlike other softer bottom areas in a more nutrient rich lake.  They always hold bait, and always hold fish.  I want to know all the boundaries of that patch, even if it's just a couple hundred square feet in the middle of nowhere.  Same might go for some sunken  wood, a boat or even better barge wreck.

[Fishing_Rod]

Greetings All,

A very interesting topic. Since I'm a kayak and shore angler I've got no motor(s) to deal with. Still, minimizing disturbances has maximized opportunities for successful angling.

 

Using that theme has been helpful as it is about all aspects, noise, visual appearance, and such. Also minimizing the fuss factor helps with the recreational tranquility too! As a recreational angler I'm there to simply enjoy.

 

Yeah, so doing what I can to prevent a startled fish is helpful. One of the reasons supporting my use of Ultra light gear, presenting a lower signature profile.

 

When in the yak, I'm keeping in mind my presentation of where my shadow is casting if I'm approaching a particular area. Since I fish mainly in shallow water areas I do what I can to simply glide in or let the breeze work me, when available, into position for a precision cast. On the shore, I'm considerate of how I approach the area I'll be casting from and towards. I'm trying not to drag or scuff my feet making alerting sounds. All simple and deliberate actions to maximize success.

 

If you've spent time in the water you can tell how easily sound carries. So I simply do what I can to minimize it. No, I don't get crazy about it as there are some things that can't be avoided, such as having to paddle to avoid crashing into something from a wicked wind gust. In those cases where there is a wind challenge, then I'm forced to allow for additional distance to be able to get in a cast before having to deal with the wind and kayak positioning.

 

Also in the yak I minimize the amount of gear that is not stowed or secured. There is a primary safety aspect to avoid issues with unsecured stuff, it also minimizes the sound of something clunking or such.

 

None of this is difficult to do and it does appear to be significant in helping to catch fish. Again, let's be careful out there. Be well and Cheers!

 

[J Francho]

I'm like a bull in a china shop in my kayaks, lol. Some of my best fish were sight fished from a kayak though. Might be there's a bigger margin of error there.