My hillbilly depth finder

So I wanted a way to tell how deep the water is, since I'm going to a lake I am not very familiar with (yet). I don't have an electronic depth finder (again, yet), so here is a solution that popped into my head last night... I have three anchors on my 12' jon boat, and I tied knots every 5 feet in all of my anchor lines. This way, when I drop anchor, I just count the knots as they drop into the water, multiply by 5, and I have a very good idea of the depth at that location. This obviously won't tell me where the fishies are, but at least I can find a good depth for the water temp/clarity. :)

I've found so many good ideas in these forums, I felt like I needed to contribute something back - even if it is a pretty basic idea... Hope it helps someone... :)

Not a bad idea for those without electronics.

Back in the day, the river captains had a man at the bow dropping a measured line and shouting up to the captain the depth. So it was and can still be an effective means of depth sounding.
Thanx for the share.

Peace

CS

Another trick is to weave or tie colored yarn or ribbon through the rope at the marker spots where you would tie your knot. Knots weaken the rope and are rough running through the hands sometimes. The trick I saw was a easily remembered color combination ie red=5 ft,yellow=10 ft, and green=15ft and then blue was 20ft for "deep"

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Originally Posted by Lowe170w

Another trick is to weave or tie colored yarn or ribbon through the rope at the marker spots where you would tie your knot. Knots weaken the rope and are rough running through the hands sometimes. The trick I saw was a easily remembered color combination ie red=5 ft,yellow=10 ft, and green=15ft and then blue was 20ft for "deep"

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Oh yeah! Even better! :)

I used to have an old rod I kept in the boat with a heavy bell sinker. I would lower the weight to the bottom and real the rod tip right down to the water. I used a 6' rod and I would estimate the amount of line from the rod tip. It was easier than lowering an anchor.Sometimes while bouncing that old sinker around I would find trees, stumps rocks ect and would use the info on future trips.
I imagine a weight on a 12' crappie rod would really let you check the depths!

When I was a kid, my father used a boat-length bamboo pole to check depth AND bottom composition at likely panfish locations. By tapping the bamboo pole against the bottom, you can quickly determine what is below you.

river captains had a man at the bow dropping a measured line and shouting up to the captain the depth. "mark twain," the cry for a measured river depth of two fathoms (also the pen name for Samuel Clemons). A fathom is equal to 6 feet.

Wow - some great ideas guys! I may have to give them a try!

I also don't have any electronics. On my first drop with a jig i let it go to the bottom and then reel down until my rod tip is touching the water. I pull up and measure against my rod as i go. Ive found underwater brush as well as depth changes this way.

I used to do underwater recovery ( yes, that type of recovery) and we would mark our tender-lines with tape every 5 and 10' with different color tape. 5' was one strip 10' was 2 strips. Then we would change colors every 10 feet. It sounds complicated but it really isn't. You use for instance red tape for 5 and 10', blue tape for 15 and 20' yellow tape for 25 and 20' ect. You also have you line marked every foot with a sharpie. This may be over kill for fishing but we had to document how deep, how far from shore, what was the drift, ect. I doubt you will be fishing in water that is super deep so you only have to remember a couple of colors. Once you get the hang of it, all you do is look down at the rope and you know exactly how deep you are with very little or no effort. Hope it helps, Bobo

Or when you see another boat on the water ask them Hey buddy how deep is the water here. haha Oh don't forget to ask are you catching anything... Just kidding... You might check with the USACE or Walmart and get a map of the lake with contours on it. That way you can spend some time fishing.

or add line counter to your rod...

Berkley® Linecounter : Cabela's