locating fish

[shocker037]

when you fish a new creek,lake or other body of water that you have not fished what kind of whays do you guys like to use to find fish and what kind of bait(s) do you like to use.

[Turtlebait]

My way of locating fishing spots is with my eyes and the fish finder I use is a lure tied on the end of my line.I took all the whistles,bells,beeping and buzzing eqt. out of my boat.To me its more enjoyable locating and finding fish without all the whistles and bells plus more fair'er to the fish.The art of locating and finding fish with the naked eye and a lure is being lost by all the toys they have now days to locate and find fish.
On new area's I look the area over,buff bank,shallow bank,logs above surface,sticks above surface and ask myself if I was a fish where would I hide.Rivers,lakes and creeks are all different but the finding and locating is the same when its comes to locating and finding fish in each.I locate under water logs and stuff by fan casting the area with either a 1/32,1/16,1/8 depending on the depth and current.I catch more fish without the whistles and bells plus its more pleasing to know the cooler of fish was done with the naked eye and lure tied on the end of a line.Finding fish isn't really hard at all after you learn where and what to look for nomatter if its spring,fall or winter.

[gabowman]

On a brand new (to me) lake I'd pick up a detailed lake map and study it awhile before my first trip. If I were going night fishing I'd be looking for steep banks that level out in the 25-35' range where the creek channel came close to the bank. I'd have more than one spot picked out so I could factor in the wind the night I planned on fishing. If planning a day trip I would generally be looking for flats around the same depth ranges the fish on my home lake were biting in. I'd spider-rig jigs (tipped with minnows) and minnows. The lake map should save me alot of looking on the graph for the depths I would want to spend my time in. However, I would check the areas I picked out for some bait before I started setting up though. Good, bad, or ugly....that's what I would do.:o

[DrJohn]

Great posts...turtle and Gabowman.

[Redy2Fish]

What turtle and Gabowman said! Plus, I concentrate on visible structure, mainy wood, rocks if they are prominent. Use depth finder to locate submerged structure and drops. Normally have four rigs, two with 1/32, 2 with 1/16, different color bodies, at least one with 3 inch body, only use one at at time! When one seems to work best, stick with it until they tell you they don't want it any more, then change, they will let you know. Also, starting to prefer 7 foot rods for most casting, 5 1/2 foot for up close to brush and dock shooting.

[Turtlebait]

This time of year when the trees are dropping a few leaves and you see a single leaf gently floating across the water make a cast.Usually but not aways a crappie,bream or bass will be fallowing it b/c bugs will light on it.I sometimes catch monster bream or a big old crappie,the bass run anywhere from 6in. to the 2 lb range.Never have caught a monster bass fallowering a leaf but have caught several big crappie and bream.I will cast to anything floating in the water this time of year,anything.Usually in cooler weather fish will roam all over the lake and sometimes fallower anything floating.Its worth a cast to see if they are or not fallowering floating leafs and sticks.

[Backwater Man]

This time of year when the trees are dropping a few leaves and you see a single leaf gently floating across the water make a cast.Usually but not aways a crappie,bream or bass will be fallowing it b/c bugs will light on it.I sometimes catch monster bream or a big old crappie,the bass run anywhere from 6in. to the 2 lb range.Never have caught a monster bass fallowering a leaf but have caught several big crappie and bream.I will cast to anything floating in the water this time of year,anything.Usually in cooler weather fish will roam all over the lake and sometimes fallower anything floating.Its worth a cast to see if they are or not fallowering floating leafs and sticks.

I fish the creeks because Crappie use them as staging areas in the fall of the year. The creek is usually full of bait fish and I catch everything in these creeks, catfish, crappie, bream and bass.

Myself I fish in the treetops or brush and I locate deep water or deep holes in the creek. If you use the eye only the deep holes will appear to be real dark or black, but I use a deep finder to locate the holes or to check the water depth.

Here in Millwood a depth finder will save your boat and may save your life running these waters, but of course speed will do you in also.

The backwaters are about as good as the creeks because most of the time you can find coves that harbor bait fish and crappie.