I guess I'm a little different than the rest that's replied as I really depend on my sonar. I'm a longliner and before I will put lines out I want to atleast see bait if I cant see the arches of fish. Therefore, sometimes I do alot of riding and idling around in likely places looking for activity on my 2D sonar. I use arches instead of the fish symbols and I've learned to use and "trust" my sonar. Seldom will I look in water deeper than 20' as I have a hard time trying to get my jigs deep enough to catch fish in water that deep. I can usually find fish in 20' or less most of the year...it's just up to then whether they'll bite or not. And if I am in fish and they wont bite then I dont stay. I'll move and look for other fish in hopes that theyre biting in another part of the lake.

In past years I kept logs of my fishing trips so I can look back now at see where I found fish at which locations when the water temps reach higher or lower levels and which colors, weights of jigs, and speeds worked best. In my logs I always reported lake and temp conditions too. Lastly...One good rule of thumb I ALWAYS go by.....find what theyre feeding on and the fish wont be far away.