For those of you who regularly travel to new water, or fish
tournaments that frequently bring you to unfamiliar impoundments,
you are probably familiar with the overwhelming feeling of;
"what do I do now?" Well, to offer some consolation, there are
several steps you can take to combat this all to familiar problem,
many of which are much easier than one might anticipate.
First of all, quite possibly some of the most important steps
you can take to prepare for new water, can be taken days or
weeks in advance to physically traveling to your new destination.
I consider these steps a form of "bassin' reconnaissance", that
will, if done correctly, eliminate a whole lot of unproductive
water. Topographical maps, web pages, phone calls to local marinas
and bait shops, all make up this first step of intelligence
gathering. Also, as of late, GPS and Loran numbers, however
hard they may be to come by, have become a crucial ingredient
in a recipe for angling success.
As a rule of thumb, the first thing I like to do when I find
out which new body of water I will be fishing, is to secure
a reliable topographical map. In the event that the body of
water is an impoundment, where the lake was created by flooding
a river valley, I like to acquire pre and post flooding maps.
This because many valuable pieces of submerged structure, many
times man made, such as buildings or road bridges and beds,
can be found on the pre flooding map, and consequently be located
on the post flooding map. If you have the time and the resources,
making a transparency overlay of the pre flood map, that can
be fitted over the post flood map can make locating important
submerged structure quick and efficient. This is especially
useful if the lake in question lacks visible man made surface
structure such as bridges and docks. Of course only a trip over
the area with an attuned depth finder will guarantee the presence
of the suspected structure, but having some idea of what's down
there will make the approach a great deal easier.
After maps, I solemnly believe the next greatest method of
info gathering is plain old fashioned phone calls to bait shops
and marinas in the vicinity of your target water. Now granted
the quality of the information will vary by each situation,
but from experience, I have found most marina and bait shop
owners to be more than cooperative when it comes to angling
inquiries. Blunt or frontal questions you might want to avoid
are usually, "what are they hitting on", or "where is the hot
spot this week". Rather, you should use this valuable resource
to confirm the validity of information you have already gathered.
Specific questions like "my map shows a large weed bed in the
North East corner of the main lake, what kind of vegetation
is it made up of, and have you heard of anyone bringing in anything
substantial off of it?", will usually garner a more friendly
and accurate response. I have learned that it's usually not
what they are hitting on, but rather where. Once you have the
location, the rest, as I have found, can come substantially
easier. Another great way to make use of this resource is to
let them help you with logistical details of your trips. Trust
me when I say take the advice of the locals on where and where
not to stay and eat. The same applies to directions to launch
ramps and other similar local locations. I think we all may
have had the nightmare experience of asking a recently immigrated
24 hour convenience store clerk directions to a nearly impossible
to find launch ramp five in the morning, because in all your
direction gathering you forgot the last leg from the motel to
the ramp. Finally, don't hesitate to ask about previous tournaments
in the area and the statistics about them. I have formulated
several plans based on the results and information I have gathered
based on previous tournaments. Again, provided you can maintain
a friendly demeanor, the amount of info available from this
source is only limited to the number of phone calls you are
willing to make. They can help you get on more and better fish,
as well as avoid headaches come time to hit the water.
In the last few years, in the wake of the Internet tidal wave,
web pages and chat rooms have become a quick and easy to gather
information on nearly any body of water in the country. I feel,
as it stands now, one could do a great deal of his or her research
online, and wind up with a fairly complete case file for either
a tournament or recreational fishing excursion. Though it should
be noted that while the Internet is a very powerful and very
convenient resource, it is not a be all end all of fishing planning.
Depending on the body of water you are planning to fish, it
is possible to have too much information to wade through, rather
than not enough, which is just as dangerous, and unbelievably
time consuming. From experience, I have found breaking your
search into smaller pieces, and entering that on a search engine
will be far more efficient than simply entering in the lake
name. This applies especially to larger, more nationally known
bodies of water. For example, entering "Lake Fork", in a search
engine, to find a specific marina or launch ramp will garner
countless results, but "Lake Fork Launch Ramps", will give you
far less, and more accurate results. This, of course, applies
to all search aspects.
A great way to ensure this research is not done in vane, and
not only for one trip, you might consider using the system of
creating something of a case file for each lake you fish. By
adding information as you gain it, each lake file grows, and
you can refer back to it at any time. As well as continually
expand it, until you have created something of a mini encyclopedia
of that lake. Of course this will take time, but as the amount
of lakes grows, and you begin to fish the same waters again
and again, be it recreationally or for tournament purposes,
you will soon see the immense reward in doing this. I use this
system, and in each lake file, not only do I keep maps, photographs,
and previous fishing reports, but I also keep the information
to the motel where I stayed, restaurants, the directions to
the launch ramp, and a host of other things that makes planning
and making your trip incredibly easier. One more point, a great
piece of information to keep in this file is the number to a
local boat and motor repair shop. Even if you have never used
it before, having it there will prevent a mad scramble to the
yellow pages should something go wrong.
There are of course far more sources to gain pre-fish, and
trip information than I have listed, as to list them all would
be nearly impossible. Simply keep an open ear, and as in my
case, you might consider carrying a small note pad with you.
One would be amazed at what one can pick up just from listening
up at the ramp. While it's widely known that there is certainly
no substitute for time on the water, I hope this has at least
shed some light on an otherwise usually ignored subject.
