how well do you know your home lake?

[blanked]

how many of you can consistantly catch fish on several different types of lures from pre spawn thru fall on your home lake? how big is your lake and how long/often have you been fishing it? how long did it take you to learn your lake to the point you can catch fish consistantly?

My home lake is Lake Conroe in Texas which is 21,000 surface acres.  I have been fishing it once a week for a year now.   Its a lot different to what I used to fish in Calif.  I feel after one year I am just now getting a feel for the lake but my sucess is still spotty.

[mferris]

i fish 2 lakes near my home.one is 400 acres and one 480..i usually can catch alot of 12-14 inch bass and an occasional 3-6 lb'er at one lake and the other lake ,which also has pike and muskie,i catch less bass but the size is bigger,usually at least 2lbs..my problem at both lakes is i try different area but always end up going back to my old spots....i have areas i can almost always catch a few bass but nothing over 3 lbs consistently....one other note,i'm in the northeast so giant bass aren't abundant!!!!!

[Raul]

From the 4 lakes I fish the most on 3 I know the terrain just because there was no lake, the dam was built and the terrain flooded a long time after. On the fourth I 've seen it reduced to 1/4 of it 's size so I know the terrain also.

[George Welcome]

Fish four lakes - know intimately every rock and stick, stump and hump. Heck, I even know the fish by name.

Seriously, you can't fish Conroe too often. Keep a good log because once a week allows for a lot of change from week to week. The tough thing with that schedule is you have to go and find the fish all over again from week to week. A good log will give you a history - look for repeats - if the event repeats itself you have something solid.

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

I fish a 292 acre lake.  Crystal clear. Been on it for 20 yrs or so.  Like GW,I know a few fish by name from discerning marks and yes, the rocks and sticks are also my buddies but even just this yr, I found 1 more place where there are a few choice beds. (deeper, 12-16ish)

The place never fails to hand me somthing amazing whether it's the experience of a great fish or just a wild sunset.  It truly is one of the few "objects" that I consider a friend.  It helps me, teaches me, relieves me, learns me and humbles me on many occassions, yr after yr.

[Raul]

Yeah Low Budget, there 's nothing like getting a good kick on the rear end once a while from the lake that you know better than the palm of your hand.  

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

Exactly,..it's  like you look up at the sky with your palms up and say "What did I do?"

[splat_baseball51]

ha my local lake i fish at 3 times a week atleast , its horrible fishing, im good at fishing there though, know the know except i cant pull bass out of there, its only about 3 or 4 acres big, its tiny but there are bass i just cant catch em

[langs15]

Been at my two lakes for all my life, 14 years. The one lake(the bigger one) I fish about 6 times a week...and the other one like twice a week. The one I mostly fish is 2 miles on the perimeter so how many acres, I don't know. THe smaller one is only 1 mile perimeter so w.e the acres are I don't know either. On both lakes, I know where the big fish are(3+ lbs) and know where the few monsters are too. I know it like the back of my hand..sometimes that's a bad thing though too.

[jb_from_texas]

John's Lake, Clermont Florida.  It is a 2,424 acre lake.

i would say since starting fishing this lake last september i'm beginning to know it well.  until the water level dropped i was not able to locate the beds.  I can now.  of course they are off them now...but next year!!!

i fish it at least once a week but have not had a full year so i have not fished the late summer, early fall.

[Jerkbate]

I mainly fish Grenada Lake in North MS.  I have been fishing this lake for over 20 years.  I average fishing the lake about 2-3 days a week once the water reaches the 205 mark and some of the crappie fishing pressure dies down.  The lake level fluctuates because of winter draw down.  At summer pool the lake is about 40,000 acres with 200+ miles of shoreline.  Although I have been fishing the lake for many years and know several areas pretty well, there are still areas that I have not fished.

[Guest avid]

My home lake is about 125 acres but has several miles of shoreline due to some narrow stretches.

I know it pretty well but the last 2 years have seen 4 major hurricanes hit this area.  That tends to change things a little.  

[galv]

relatively small sized pond within walking distance of my house. i think it's 20 acres. catch larqemouth, pickerel, and occasional crappie. know it better than anyone except maybe my buddy who lives across the street from it  

[Ben]

Lake is 77,000 acres, over 1,200 miles of shore line. Too big to even think about knowing the whole thing, I know about 1/3 of it fairly well. I know the main area I fish, (the west end which covers two major creeks can one river about as well as I know my back yard. Actaully, I probably know that part of the lake better than my back yard.

To start with, I've been fishing it since 1964, Until the last couple of years, a several year drought had the lake down to as much as 14 feet below pool level. When it was down to the 14' level, I spent several days doing nothing but taking photos, videos and gps cooridinates. I have a fairly large spiral note book of gps coordinates, a number of video tapes I called off the gps coordinates for tons of spots and logged the photo number to the coordinates, This if for about 15 miles of backwaters there are no topograhical maps with the contour intervals on. Now that the lake is up pretty close to pool level, (only down a couple of feet right now and has been as much as four feet above pool. A one foot change in pool level can change the way a lake looks a whole bunch especially when trying to relate underwater structure to distance from the bank, so all that time spent doing gps coordinates are worth their weight in gold now.

BASS and FLW tournaments have been held on the lake last year and this year, Most of the guys that quilfited to fish the last day fished my end of the lake. Wonder what they would have paid to have access to my videos, photos and gps log.

[Skwerl]

My home lake is actually a chain of lakes, 6 lakes connected by canals. I only fish a couple of the lakes due to jet ski and boat traffic, but I'm getting better at locating and boating fish consistently. I'm looking forward to fishing this chain for many years to come.

[RoLo]

The area of my home lake is 7,500 acres. I believe I've got the bass pretty well figured out,

but I also think they're beginning to figure me out too ;D ;D

Seriously, if you're getting on the water about once a week, it will probably take several years

to fully understand their seasonal patterns and weather-related disposition (maybe longer, maybe never)

As Avid pointed out, who also lives in Florida, the hurricanes have changed everything.

After the 3 hurricanes of 2004, it was like starting over for me. Lake Walk-In-Water

went from a lake that rivaled the Stick Marsh in 1999 to a vast lake with a handful of boats in 2005.

My home lake was a storehouse of lush hydrilla beds and now it is literally barren of vegetation.

I've been waiting 2 years for the hydrilla to return and still nothing! On top of that we're in the midst

of a severe drought, and the pool level is down several feet. It has now reached the point where

I may only be able to launch my 12-ft rowboat, while leaving the 16-ft center-console on dry dock.

So you see, figuring out a lake in a Goldie Locks environment is one thing, then there's the real world.

Roger

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

"Someones been sleeping in my boat,.....someone's been casting my rod...............someones been using my mega strike and it's alllll gone,..."

[Rattlinrogue]

My home lake that I fish the most is Geiger Lake.It is a state lake that is 300 acres.I've been bass fishing on it(on and off) for 33 years.I know this lake very well.Even on the worst of days I can usually find a few fish.Years ago it was known for large numbers of northern bass, but there weren't many lunkers.I think I caught a 9 and an 8 in my first 15 years of fishing it.You could go and catch 10-20 one pounders if you knew what you were doing.My wife and I caught 33 one afternoon sitting on one dropoff using purple Mr. Twister worms 23 years ago.About 15 years ago,the state drained it and fixed the dam.They restocked it with Florida bass.Nowadays ,I catch 5-10 bass,but they range from 2-5 lbs on most trips.I've already caught 2 eights and 2 sevens this spring and so many 3,4,5 lb bass I lost count.

[blanked]

it looks like i am asking the wrong question.   if most of you are fishing 3 to 6 days a week i should be asking you what kind of work are you in.  i know not everybody is retired on the forum.  so tell me is it the maid or the butler that cleans the boat when you get back?

[George Welcome]

The Lake is my office.

[senile1]

it looks like i am asking the wrong question. if most of you are fishing 3 to 6 days a week i should be asking you what kind of work are you in. i know not everybody is retired on the forum. so tell me is it the maid or the butler that cleans the boat when you get back?

Blanked, I got a kick out of your quote.  If a lake is only a few miles from your home and you can keep your boat at your home or near the lake,  I can see getting out and fishing in the evenings and getting a few trips a week even if you work a regular schedule.  I know what you mean, though.  Between kids, work, and work around the home it can be difficult to fish more than once a week.  I've managed *** trips since the beginning of March.  It does take time to learn a lake that is bigger than a couple hundred acres.  Smithville Lake in Missouri is approximately 7200 acres and I've learned some of it in the 3 years I've fished it, but there is much left to learn.

[Jerkbate]

Blanked

I'm a college instructor.  I get off Mon. - Thurs at 3:30, and noon on Friday.  With the long days I can fish almost everyday.  From my home; I can hook to the boat, drive to the lake, and be in the water in about 20 minutes.  If I carry the boat to work, I can be on the water in about 15 minutes.  Oh yeah, the chauffuer washes the boat.  The butler cleans the fish. LOL