Thread: How Does One Go About Fishing A New Lake?

Originally Posted by The Professional

All of the above is sound advice but one of the quickest and best ways is to hire a guide on that lake for a few days like Mark and EB. Worth every penny!

Mark and Eb are the Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid of Crappie Fishing!

dedicate a full day to graphing. windy and bad weather days make great opportunities. I did that about a month ago. went back yesterday with about 30 piles to look at. This is what i found yesterday. you can fill in the blanks.

Jiggin just want to give you a heads up, if yours is like mine and it sounds like it is, when I put a waypoint down on downscan it is usually very close but when I mark with side scan its rarely exactly where it should be, could be the distance from transducer to console unit factoring in, but either way I usually circle until im sure nothing is there.

Thanks dstreet, I have not gone around the area that I marked with the side scan. I guess with the Humminbird when I marked it it was usually spot on. Still learning with this Lowrance unit. Learn from our mistakes. Will have to spend a little more time searching the area I guess if I don't find it right at the mark.

I have notice my lowrance to be slightly off on GPS from time to time. slightly off being 10'. Fishers will attest to this. it is never far enough off that i can not find structure. I also have a guide buddy that runs a 10" Lowrance and a 10" Bird side by side. He has always claimed the birds worth for the side imaging. He runs the lowrance for DI, sonar, and chart. He especially likes the bird in SI shallow water.

Originally Posted by fishn_a_ledge

I have notice my lowrance to be slightly off on GPS from time to time. slightly off being 10'. Fishers will attest to this. it is never far enough off that i can not find structure. I also have a guide buddy that runs a 10" Lowrance and a 10" Bird side by side. He has always claimed the birds worth for the side imaging. He runs the lowrance for DI, sonar, and chart. He especially likes the bird in SI shallow water.

I bought a Point 1 Antenna and that fix being off any at all on my HDS 9.

Well, I certainly hope this thread continues with more techniques. How things change in less than a week. I posted earlier that I would be at Pine Creek right now but as I was preparing to depart an opportunity arose that changed my plans and also changed the way I will look at a new lake. My method of strolling and marking spots was primarily based on a lake like Eufaula or Thunderbird. Those are the lakes I have fished primarily for the last few years. I keep my boat here at the house in the garage and store my RV off Texanna Road so that's the lakes that I consider my home lakes. Until now. I had an opportunity to move my RV to another location on a completely different kind of lake and set it up on a 12 month lease. Went and looked at the site today and it's now mine. After the Crappie Camp at Eufaula in June I will move the RV and boat there, set up and leave them there. At that time I'll begin the process of finding Crappie spots. I can use many of the techniques you guys list, and will.

I'm not totally unfamiliar with the lake as I had a cabin there in the mid 90's. Fished it lots but for different species. Now I'm going to find out how to fish it for Crappie. So...keep the ideas coming!

Floyd