how old are your hotspots?

[blanked]

how many years have you been finding fish in your hotspots due to the lake aging and changing??

[preach4bass]

I've been fishing the same hot-spots for about 3 years now.  Granted, that's as long as I've been fishing the body of water at all, so I don't know how long they'll last.

[Yankee_Bassman]

I've been fishing my lake for 50 years, and they're right where they've always been, just a lot more wary.  White perch are gone, hornpout (bullheads) are all but gone, eels are a lot more prevalent, pickerel and yellow perch are nowhere near as big...shoreline is all developed now, mostly year-round homes.....lots of changes, but bass fishing is still pretty good there.

[Michael H]

my grandpa used to fish quite a few of my hotspots when he was young

they have always been there and i think they will be there for quite some time to come

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I first camped on the land at our lake 27 yrs ago.

There were 4 houses then,..close to 20 now but still nowhere near being "over developed"

The only dilemma I have is that it is a "landowner access only" lake and people have been sneaking in.  A few residents have had guests who have spread the word about how pristine this place is.  

A few yrs back, they lowered the water to repair the dam and many of the largest fish were caught and taken home.  We used to see 6's and 7's with our 2 PB's at 8.8 and 9.2.

We havn't caught anything over 5 in almost 4 yrs but the genetics are proving themslves.  Each year, since the lowering of the water, the weights have been  getting  bigger.  2 yrs ago, tons of 3's with a 4 or 5 now and again, last year, we had lots of 4's with a 5 and a 6 here and there.  Can't wait to see what she spits at us this year!

[PeterF]

My hot spot sits in my backyard and it's about 6-7 years old. My buddie and I would sneak in on his Bass Tender and catch a ton of fish each time we went out (50-80 fish avg). My buddie caught his PB 8.5 lbs right in front of what is now my home  . Last year, our last trip out on the pond/lake, produced two 5 lbers. I can't wait to see what this year brings with the stuff I've learned on this site...Thanks  .

[RoLo]

Interesting question, you got me to thinking.

I'll have go with the short answer, otherwise we'd be here all day.

The majority of holding sites I've pinpointed over the past 35 years are still hotspots today.

The most common loss of holding sites is due to a changing pool level in an impoundment.

In reservoirs though, I normally have different sets of waypoints for different pool levels.

A few hotspots have been downgraded by herbicide programs and shore development

(human intervention). Some saltwater sites have changed, especially near inlets

where the tidal flow rearranged the depth contour of a sand bottom. In all cases though,

the depth sounder in conjuction with the GPS (or Loran) will reveal the erroneous bottom depth

or missing weed signal before you even wet a line.

So, for the most part, the old hotspots tend to hold up a lifetime.

[Rattlinrogue]

I've fished my home lake since I was 15 years old.32 years later,the hottest area on the lake is still the hottest.You don't catch as many now,but they're much bigger on average.They went to stocking Florida bass 15 years ago,and that would explain it.

[cart7t]

My hotspots that are structure oriented haven't changed much.

Hotspots due to submerged cover are another story. As the cover goes, so goes the hotspot.

[5bass]

Over the past 3 seasons I have lost about 10 major brushpiles that I put down myself......some of those drew fish at all times,others just every now and then,but I always checked them every trip out in the summer. I'll be replacing brush on the more productive spots real soon.

[henley6]

Over the past 3 seasons I have lost about 10 major brushpiles that I put down myself......some of those drew fish at all times,others just every now and then,but I always checked them every trip out in the summer. I'll be replacing brush on the more productive spots real soon.

after you replace these brushpiles you can drop me a hint as to where they are

[5bass]

Over the past 3 seasons I have lost about 10 major brushpiles that I put down myself......some of those drew fish at all times,others just every now and then,but I always checked them every trip out in the summer. I'll be replacing brush on the more productive spots real soon.

after you replace these brushpiles you can drop me a hint as to where they are

hint #1- up river from Halesford! that narrows it down from about 20,000 acres to 10,000.

[henley6]

Over the past 3 seasons I have lost about 10 major brushpiles that I put down myself......some of those drew fish at all times,others just every now and then,but I always checked them every trip out in the summer. I'll be replacing brush on the more productive spots real soon.

after you replace these brushpiles you can drop me a hint as to where they are

hint #1- up river from Halesford! that narrows it down from about 20,000 acres to 10,000.

thats a good hint, now I think we can skip hint #2 because I already know hint 2 is below bayroc ;D. I will be waiting for hint #3.

[Bankbeater]

I guess my favorite spot is around 60 years old.  I have been going there since I was about 7 or 8.

[Maineiac]

Good places based on structure can be as good today as they were years ago. Good places based on cover or structure and cover well they can come and go depending on the type of weed year we are having. But those lakes that have under gone major change in terms of dominance of a fish species can show great change, a local pond that was out standing for SM before the introduction of LM had a certain set of places that I always fished and that always produced. But in this case I don't fish the lake the same way anymore because of the new dominance of LM. Another lake that has cleaned up markedly over the last 10 or 15 years has also seen some shifting of prefered spots. I think as long as pool levels and water quality remain constant that you don't get much change.

[PBAngler]

I caught my first bass there when I was four and  have been fishing there for the last 22 years.  It was a crystal clear lake but has steadily increased with traffic and seems to have changed the clarity slightly.