Need help interpreting maps.

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

Figured I would toss this in... I found some basic contour maps of my local lakes which is the ONLY thing available to me. Between looking at the satellite pictures and the contours, I marked up a bunch of spots where there are faster drop offs, points extending into the water and other spots to try. Here is what my map looks like:

I mark up the interest areas, then I will also bring it along in a water proof ziploc bag and a black sharpie to mark spots where fish where caught, where they bit or hit the lure but no catch, seen and so on. I marked each type of area so I can take a quick look and decide which lure to use. What I use in the creek mouth will be different than the beds or points...

Hopefully this helps you plan and map things out better.

[aarogb]

The problem with that angling technologies is they only show depth for SUPER LARGE lakes and offshore/ocean depths. None of my local lakes show up as anything but flat blue on those maps which is why I prefer the Acme and Google Earth maps. that site is pretty much useless unless you only fish offshore or 500,000+ acre lakes

Yup unless you are fishing Table Rock Lake or another "elite lake", Angling Technologies doesn't help you much.

[WRB]

The In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards listing gives a good snap shot of what this lakes potentail could be.

2 of the bass were caught on a spinner bait by the same angler. This lake must have a good shiner minnow population to support the big crappies. Some of the bass are caught by crappie fisherman and some of the crappie by bass fisherman, the common factor is minnow type lures and worms. The west bank is apparently dominated by rock bass.

The main creek channel appears to run from the dam north to Bay point, then swing west by the east side of the island. I still believe this zone; dam to bay point and channel swing by the island is your best choice for quality bass, most of the year.

What do you look for; small 1 to 2 foot sharp breaks, isolated rocks along the outside weed line and the creek channel. Most of the bass are being caught during the summer period.

The spawn could be as late as May this far north. This lake could be fun place to fish as it gets mostly recreational fishing pressure, the isolated structure areas are more than likely hidden secret spots by the locals. Keep an eye out for anyone methodically working the break lines.

WRB

[brant7171]

I've talked to these guys. Angling Technologies has maps for all kinds of waters, big, small, lakes, ponds, bays, etc. It depends on where they find map data. If you want something write them and ask. I asked for Mozingo Lake in Missouri (which is a small lake) and they added it. If you turn on contours and nothing shows it means they have not added contours for that water yet but you can use USGS topos on the site to see if that data has contours. Even if they don't have contour data you can still use their tools to add your own text to the map or waypoints of places to fish and then print the maps to take with you which I do for rivers. I just wish it was a bit faster.

[J Francho]

I just wish it was a bit faster.

Me too, the only downside.

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

I've talked to these guys. Angling Technologies has maps for all kinds of waters, big, small, lakes, ponds, bays, etc.

Thank you for the idea... I sent them an email with 10 suggestions of local lakes, but I stuck with the 65+ acre lakes. There are too many smaller "ponds" to request them all, plus a good portion of them are on military land (which means I will need to make my own).

EDIT: I already got a response back and they stated that they should have it live sometime later today (Friday) for 3 of the larger local lakes. They also stated that it has been difficult finding contour maps of Lake Seminole and they get that request a lot.

again, thanks for the idea!

[JacobK]

The In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards listing gives a good snap shot of what this lakes potentail could be.

2 of the bass were caught on a spinner bait by the same angler. This lake must have a good shiner minnow population to support the big crappies. Some of the bass are caught by crappie fisherman and some of the crappie by bass fisherman, the common factor is minnow type lures and worms. The west bank is apparently dominated by rock bass.

The main creek channel appears to run from the dam north to Bay point, then swing west by the east side of the island. I still believe this zone; dam to bay point and channel swing by the island is your best choice for quality bass, most of the year.

What do you look for; small 1 to 2 foot sharp breaks, isolated rocks along the outside weed line and the creek channel. Most of the bass are being caught during the summer period.

The spawn could be as late as May this far north. This lake could be fun place to fish as it gets mostly recreational fishing pressure, the isolated structure areas are more than likely hidden secret spots by the locals. Keep an eye out for anyone methodically working the break lines.

WRB

if it isn't too much trouble could you draw over the map with your theoretical creek channel? so i can compare it with mine. i think theres a channel coming from the creek near the island too. but i may be wrong considering im new at this.  :-[

[JacobK]

My thoughts from seeing the maps now are:

It's fairly flat and relatively shallow -much 10ft or less. Clarity looks good in the sat image. My guess is vegetation will play a major role. How deep does it grow? Being called Stony Ck I wonder if there is any exposed rock down below? Associated with weeds, rock could be great. Being somewhat urban it may be silted in places, esp up the creeks. The steepest E side might have some exposed rock. If it doesn't get much silt via runoff you could have more good hard substrate exposed that could be good near silted/weedy areas.

Considering spawning season, what are the shorelines like? If that NE creek arm is not all silt and gunk, it could have a pile of prespawners in it. They'll pile up in places along the trench -a deadfall, a boulder pile, a cut not shown on the map, ...

Lots to think about in there. It would be fun, if you fished this much this year, to tell us what you actually see on the water, and glean from your fisheries people: clarity, substrate, vegetation mainly. I'd also like to know how the walleyes are doing there -would say something. I'm going to guess the walleye fishing is declining, due to siltation, and bass/catfish (maybe black crappie) is picking up. Any smallmouth there? Any pike? What's the main forage for bass -yellow perch?

There's a great looking point/bar coming off Eastwood Beach in the SE. What a narrow bar does, at a premium in such flat topography, is potentially consolidate fish. There's gotta be narrowed weed beds, maybe broken up into clumps, and/or exposed boulders/hard substrate there -maybe wood or a brushpile. If not, there should be.

There's a drop off Baypoint Beach that might be nothing -gradual -but it also could be gradual then have a sharp component. In this lake a 4 foot drop with weeds or rock, could be worth your while.

This is Michigan. My guess is the water just doesn't get too darn hot in summer. That bay around Winter Island could have slop/dense veges in there that might support bass all year. Get in there early before the veges grow up and look for holes, boulders, wood, or the old picnic table some hoodlums  : dragged out onto the ice one winter. No, I'm not suggesting you do that.

The big flat off the Shore Fishig Parking access has weed clumps -can see em in the sat image. There are bass in there. It is quite possible that being a "shore fishing access" that fisheries/park people have placed brushpiles to enhance it.

Some stuff to chew on anyway.

OK...one more: See that sharp bend in the creek channel up in the NE arm, off the Lakeview Picnic Area? The creek turned for a reason. There are tree roots there -probably a large tree, or a large boulder. The channel swings in a bit. If there is any cover there, like weeds, and the shoreline offers spawning substrate. there could be a pile of prespawn females there come April.

Here are some Master Angler entries listed by MI DNR for Stony Ck:

http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/MASTERANGLER/MasterAngler.asp?qry=1&WBKey=04N12E

Notice there are no big pike or walleye listed. Not a surprise for such a small shallow lake. There are some BIG LM listed though (23+!), but only one big smallie. Could be that LM are out-competeing SM.

shoreline is pretty bare and shallow, random downed trees/picnic benches usually produce pretty well. theres exposed rock in the area by the gaging station & dam. which NE creek arm are you talkin' about that little cove? if so it's filled with stumps and gravel it's not too silty.  i'll make sure to re-check that road bed area and report back when its ice out.

the drop off by baypoint beach is usually matted with grass. i've never gone towards winter cove on the boat i'll have to go scope that out along with the drop off by baypoint before the slop comes.

could your outline your creek line so i can compare it with everyone elses? and can you highlight that bend you're talkin about in the NE arm i just wanna make sure we're talkin about the same area.

and there are definitely not many SM or walleyes in here, there aren't even any dink SM. there are some monster pike roaming though.

im planning to make a map with everyones idea of the creek channel and my own if you guys are kind enough to post a rough drawing.

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

Looking at the satellite images, it appears there is the primary channel (thick red line) and then a small secondary channel (small red line)

in the warmer weather and when they start spawning, I would think that are areas between the primary and secondary channels should hold some decent sized fish since it also allows them quick access to food that may be going by in the channel itself.

In the colder weather (45º and under) I would think that they will hold close to the bottom, in the darker area by Baypoint Beach Dr, and the Metropark to the east and then deeper water west and east of the main channel flow by the dam/reservoir. The inlet off Park Rd to the east side may have some cold weather bass since there is little to now water movement.

[Wayne P.]

The creek channel is clearly shown on the metroparks web site link posted (the last page).

[Paul Roberts]

Jacob,

As Wayne mentioned, here's the map I was looking at -very last page:

http://www.metroparks.com/images/maps/stony_creek.pdf

You should print several and keep a master at home to mark and label.

Most maps are oriented with N being to the top. This is the case here.

Good to hear that the bottom has some clean hard substrate. This is potentially great news. I realized it was less apt to be silted when I later saw that there is an upstream dam and lake too, which will catch the silt. Since this is a shallow lake with good clarity, vegetation will be key. Hard bottom substrate will create breaks in that cover that bass will hunt in, and edges they will relate to (they like to be near something). add in some boulders (gold mines!), large wood, and picnic tables, and Wow!

I would be cranking, skirted jigging, and jigworming, the outer weed walls and breaks. These areas will probably be less pressured and, esp if you have sonar, you could find some real gold mines in those away-from-shore areas. I'd be fishing topwaters too, with that clarity.

I'd be froggin', buzzin', SBing, jigging, and worming the shallower weed beds everywhere, but from the aerial view the S Angler Parking area and the W cove (Winter Island are) look esp promising. My guess is these areas are where most people fish. If the veges get dense in summer, you might end up shopping for a flippin/froggin' rig for those areas.

The big pike are one reason there are large bass there. Lots of small pike are not a great sign, and I was a bit concerned seeing that there were no Michigan DNR Master Angler awards for pike there. The few walleyes (and supplemented) is not a surprise in such a small shallow water with lots of competitors. This one may be a spawning/recruitment issue as well. The few young SM indicate they are not competing well with LM in this water. The single huge one recorded in the DNR awards list (in 2003) was a survivor from a good SM survival year at least 10 years prior -that 21+"er was at least 10 years old.

There is a clump of LMs around 23" recorded, that indicate great growth for N LMs. Says a lot about the lake. The fact they were lumped into a six year period could indicate some things: that they were from a good year/growth class (the end of a wave), or that a particularly adept group of anglers was fishing there at those times.

The lack of such fish since 2005 could be that those "end of the wave" fish are now mounted on den walls, fewer anglers are reporting them, or you are going to have to wait for the next wave. It WILL happen. The other option could be that there is another wave still there, but in 2006 the DNR treated the lake to remove invasive plants, which included milfoil. This probably did not kill off those bass, but likely moved them. This has the common effect of throwing "dialed in" anglers (like Master Angler Mr Mosseau in the record list) off the mark. The DNR/Parks Dept recorded a rebound in diversity of native vegetation, so my guess is the loss of milfoil did not wipe out the reasons those bass grew so large. This would be a great thing to read up on, or ask your DNR biologist about pertaining to this lake.

Real nice lake you have there. Keep us up on what you find. If you decide to make it your home lake (I could think of worse waters), it would be interesting if you gave us some updates over the season.

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

I wonder how recent that PDF map is. Maybe they dredged the lake and changed the channel since the google satellite map? They have it a good 50 feet off the dark channel line in the satellite imagery...

I guess the only way to know is to actually go and look at the proper depths.

[Paul Roberts]

I wonder how recent that PDF map is. Maybe they dredged the lake and changed the channel since the google satellite map? They have it a good 50 feet off the dark channel line in the satellite imagery...

I guess the only way to know is to actually go and look at the proper depths.

That's a good point. My guess is they haven't dredged, only bc dredging would occur to clear silt, and being last in the chain it should not have too bad a siltation problem. It might also be dredged to operate larger boats, but there is a 10hp limit.

I am not seeing the dark line you mention. Could it be a shadow? What map site are you using? The best res image I've found so far (should always check several bc they vary a lot) is here:

http://mapper.acme.com/

Jacob, the sat image shown in this site is great. It shows vegetation really well. Lots to peruse in there. If the image is complete and was taken in midsummer, then clarity limits most plant growth to about 8feet. Judging by tree foliage color it's late June (a few trees still have new light green growth). Hopefully deeper beds will appear later. If you have an 8ft deep weedline, then most bass will probably be shallow. Unless there is a lot rock or wood out there. Shad or perch would help this too, but from what I've read it sounds like bluegill, crappie, and young bass are primary forage.

In general, I'd break the lake into two general areas -shallow vegetation, and away-from-shore areas.

EDIT: OK Mike I looked closely at the ACME sat image (it's really good) and can see much of what I think is the bottom. The channel looks silted in -gone. It's possible what I'm seeing is a plankton bloom, but it looks like silt. Bummer. Siltation is one of the most ecologically destructive things waters can have happen. It's SO common in developed landscapes it's considered normal. Well it ain't.

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

I am talking about the real view from the google satellite image like what I used in my image above and put the red line on top to show the channel based on the darker areas, which typically is the channel

Original image posted:

and then my image with the red line overlay, if you notice the red line takes the route of the darkest path which is usually the channel

I pretty much followed the darkest line from inlet to outlet

Here is the map overlay from their website which takes the channel right through the shallow silt

and a composite of all 3 showing their channel (based on original creek/riverbed) and my channel (based on real satellite imagery).

That shows that since it has become a lake, the channel bed has changed due to silt and more.

Now I know that it is possible I am wrong and that satellite image was during an algae bloom or lots of light dirt in the channel itself in which case my redline is wrong. Only someone with a depthfinder at those locations will be able to verify things one way or the other.

[Paul Roberts]

Mike I just edited above. Take a look at the ACME.com image. I actually put a dark shirt over my monitor to knock off the glare from my office window. What do you think? Cool stuff we have at our desktops eh? Almost like fishing -well, the best we can do with all that snow out there lol.

[J Francho]

Google, Angling-Tech, and Acme all use the same satellite imagery, and who knows how old it is. If I look at my house, it a shows the yard as it was in 2004. that's six years ago, LOL.

Anyway, that's silt. It looks like everything runs into this lake, and settles. If it were me, adn i wasn't fishing nearby St. Clair, I'd be spending time off Eastwood Beach. During the spawn, I'd be fishing in the cove by Baypoint Beach and adjacent to the launch. That said, I could cover this lake thoroughly in one or trips with just my kayak. Shouldn't be too hard to hunt and peck for spots. I'd be paying close attention to how others fish this lake, and not play monkee see monkey do.

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

Imagery date May 31, 2007 (according to Google Earth)

[Paul Roberts]

A Mapquest sat image showed wind, or ice, in the NE arm. That was a different image.

Cool composites Mike!

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

I don't think that is ice on Mapquest (but it might be), whenever there is a light wind, light chop and the sun hits it right, you just see the glare like on mapquest. Also the nice green golfcourse to the west-southwest of it, and green lawns north of the lake show it is likely early sring when the grass turns green quick but not the trees yet.

Personally I dislike mapquest, partially because their maps suck, and also because they are connected to evil AOL 

[WRB]

Nanother siteke, you did a wonderful map study of this lake, good work. I would trust in the original lake depths and channel you mapped that shows the meandering channel and points dropping into that channel, to start with. Fishing the 5' to 10' break zone and any vertical 2' drop and points should put you in contact with the larger bass in this lake.

WRB

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

Yup unless you are fishing Table Rock Lake or another "elite lake", Angling Technologies doesn't help you much.

I recently found out if you contact them with your request, they try to see if any publicly available contour maps are out there and add it. I got 3 small local lakes added this way, and they were super cool and quick about it too.

I did make the request for the original lake mentioned here  as well and they stated it should be live sometime Sunday or Monday (Feb 21 or 22).

http://www.findyourwater.com/ or http://www.angling-technologies.com/

There are some lakes that are on state borders or have very limited contour information available publicly, so they have not added it yet, such as Lake Seminole on the FL/GA border.

[Crabcakes]

Just t reinforce the post above... If you make a comment through their online request form you'll get a very prompt and helpful response from a real person who will try and add the maps you ask for.

My questions have all been answered same day. Good customer service.

[Fishing Rhino]

I like to fish what I call transition bottom.  That takes into account just about everything, including structure, cover, bottom composition (mud, sand, cobble, etc.), and vegetation which is a form of cover.

I have no way of knowing if the areas with obvious color changes indicate shallows, mossy rock clusters, vegetation, algae or whatever.

But, fishing cold turkey with only the satellite image I'd work some of the highlighted areas, particularly those around the island at the SW corner of the image, and then those where the dock beside Park road juts into the pond at the south end. 

Inlets and outlets can also be likely spots, but impossible to judge from the satellite image.

There are a couple of other areas close to the shore with different color clusters, similar to those previously mentioned.

They may be barren, but they are a starting point, or would be for me.

[JacobK]

http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/SPATIALDATALIBRARY/PDF_MAPS/INLAND_LAKE_MAPS/MACOMB/STONY_CREEK_IMPOUNDMENT.PDF

UPDATE NEW MAP FOUND a bit old but it gives a general idea of the bottom composition.

[IwillChooseFreeWill]

The above link

http://www.angling-technologies.com/

does have the original posters lake added to it now...