How do you fish a lake for the first time???

I was wondering, how would some of you fish a lake for the first time.. I fish one lake and fish it all the time.. But I am wanting to travel a bit more just to see other lakes. Do most of you stick to your guns and fish only one way or do you take in consideration the lake and get a game plan and go from there? thanks for your input!!!

newbie / Arkansas / Blue Mt. Lake

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I don't fish too many different lakes so I'll leave your question to those on here that do.......Looks like your doing fine on your home waters though.......nice slabs or you have really little hands :biggrin

if im going to a new lake for the first time first thing i do is look at it in a map, then depending on the time of year, look
for creeks , backwater areas, river channels , and contours, in the spring the fish will follow creeks a channels or stag in these areas just off the flats, bends in these creeks are a great place to look ,points or humps are also good places to look, post spawn, they will also move right back to these areas, then the warmer the weather the closer to summer it get they will move deeper in most lakes , but not all lakes , some lakes the hotter it gets the shallower they go, this all depends on the available oxygen levels,or the thermocline, these are just places to start and eliminate water , hope this helps!

once you locate these ares , use you electronics to locate fish , if theres have no fish or life then move on to the next area and do the same, eliminate water until your marking fish and bait fish, these areas should be fished

Awesome advice!

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Originally Posted by CastandBlast

I don't fish too many different lakes so I'll leave your question to those on here that do.......Looks like your doing fine on your home waters though.......nice slabs or you have really little hands :biggrin

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:Rofl big fish.. and yeah, I know my home water REAL well... I've got 1000's and 1000's of feet of PVC in it and love fishing it!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Crappie Greg

if im going to a new lake for the first time first thing i do is look at it in a map, then depending on the time of year, look
for creeks , backwater areas, river channels , and contours, in the spring the fish will follow creeks a channels or stag in these areas just off the flats, bends in these creeks are a great place to look ,points or humps are also good places to look, post spawn, they will also move right back to these areas, then the warmer the weather the closer to summer it get they will move deeper in most lakes , but not all lakes , some lakes the hotter it gets the shallower they go, this all depends on the available oxygen levels,or the thermocline, these are just places to start and eliminate water , hope this helps!

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thanks for the advice Crappie Greg. I will get a map and start there.

thanks

L J

What greg said is a great starting point

A) Take Crappie Greg five times.
B) Ditch him then, and take me.

You're welcome!

(Clearly, you seem to know what you're doing.......so ignore me!)