There are so many different ways to test a new fishing hole, as there are fishermen there. This works best.
First decide where you want to go. Will it be close to your home so you can drive often during the moments of notice? Is this the place to go on vacation? Do you want it to be a short trip for a short walk, where no one can find you and your secret fishing hole? No matter which of these questions you answer “yes”, basic research will pay off, not just cross out your line.
Specify the area you are planning to visit. You can get a quad map of the USGS to see how the terrain is laid out, especially if you hire a back country. Now we have other options. Before we pulled out these paper maps, but now we pull out something like Google Maps; You can even use the landscape feature. Zero in the area you are thinking about. Is it a pond or a lake, a creek or a river, or a bay or an ocean?
When you look at the area, pay attention to all the "features." Where streams or rivers flow into large bodies of water, even a small river into a larger one; These are places where there is food for fishing. Watch for places where, if you go downstream, the water takes "that would create a scoring jar along the outside of the curve; here the fish lies waiting for food to flow into the mouth. Watch for islands in the middle of the rivers; downstream have a tendency to accumulate tail debris (stones, sticks, stamps, logs) that collect sand and leaves, which ultimately decompose into dirt, expanding the island even more; a similar effect takes place in the ocean with sandbars. provides Fish are a place to rest and conserve energy while they are waiting for their source of food and attacking it. Sometimes you find rivers that were created with donkeys. They are formed when rivers shift directions and partially or completely cut these sections of oxbow; lead to the formation of more islands.
When you zoom in, you can even see individual or groups of large rocks along the edges of the coastline; these are places where the fish likes to hide while waiting for their prey. I know several places near some lighthouses that are great places to catch striped bass at the right time. Look for other rock formations along the shores where the fish can hide. Along the coast you will find places where large rivers overlook the sea, creating ivy from their deltas into the ocean, dumping garbage. Sometimes, if this does not happen naturally, you will find artificial moorings. These types of formations can be a great way to pull yourself into the water (be VERY careful with tides and strong currents!), Where the fish gathers and leaves these channels to feed on certain tides.
Look for bridges over rivers, lakes, etc. This also gives you the opportunity to go into the water without water transport. In some places there are specially built piers to snatch them. An important place not to lose sight is poles and svayk that keep bridges, moorings, docks, moorings, etc. D. Fish again usually go to the lower side of these structures; The big plus is that they protect the fish from the hot sun in the summer months.
Look for swamps to investigate. The swamps are areas that were once dry, but for a variety of reasons, have become flooded, raising the water level to the place where it ever sank and killed the trees that lived there. Some swamps will still have trees at full height, some of them have fallen, while others have tops of trees that are either rotting or pruned. In some swamps be careful if you are boating because these obstacles can be submerged and can be dangerous for your boat. These trees and their old root systems make great places for fish to hide and seek each other.
Like swamps - swamps. These can be fresh or salted swamps. They are usually alive with feed bait for larger fish; they are a children's area for fry; You will find eels, different types of worms, crayfish and crabs, as well as many other larvae and insects. These swamps are rich sources of food for fish and, in turn, for you as a fisherman.
If you have a fish finder, you can find channels created by water currents. These channels can also be a place to store fish, if the cut is correct. They can be found in any large amount of water. Even the streams and rivers have a continuous channel in which the feed streams flow into the big one.
One more thing to check is weeds. Sometimes you can find them on maps if pictures are taken at the right time of year. You can even see the ponds and slowly moving sections of the river, where duckweeds or other aquatic plants fall into the current trap; on the maps at the right time of year, you can almost miss these ponds and mistakenly take them for lawns or fields because of the light green color and how completely the growth covers the ponds. A small fish likes to use the roots of these aquatic plants as a cover to hide from larger fish. You will find areas of hardwood ponds and other water-loving plants, such as arrowheads and cat tails, if your zoom resolution is good enough. Of course, you know that you will find big ones who are also looking for their food.
Waterfalls can be places where fish gather not only during the spawning season for salmon or herring, as you can see in videos or on television. In hot summer, waterfalls offer fish some of the water that is rich in oxygen, when other areas can become extremely low almost to the point where they are depleted of oxygen, which can cause fish killings. You can see the water on the maps as a shaded or wavy gray area against the dark color of the river, usually with a straight, sharp edge to the upper side; dams may appear straight or curved. White water or rapids can be seen on maps equally, but without a sharply defined edge. They have the same effect on fish by saturating water with oxygen; here you will find fish resting behind large rocks or boulders.
After you go through the area that you are going to catch on Google maps, see if you can find some bathymetric (deep) maps of reservoirs on which you have zeroed. Try state fisheries and gaming agencies in this area; some maintain maps on their sites, and also list what type of fish you can find in this particular body of water. There are books written for different places where you can find information about your location; some of which are engaged in fishing on the boat, will unfold in certain basins along the rivers to hit the target. If you fish in the foyer during the hot summer months, look for deep water spots, because these spots will be the coldest and what it is like a trout. Yes, know what kind of fish you want to catch loves, because each species has different requirements. Check out the places where there is a cool lunge; sometimes they appear personally, since two different water surfaces, separated, for example, one side, may have waves (large or small), and the other side may be as smooth as a mill. The fish is usually kept somewhere on the landing site; this may be due to temperature.
You can print maps of the areas you want to focus on, then circle or highlight the best places to try. Bring them with you to go fishing. Even laminate them in plastic to protect them from the weather and plunge into the water. This is especially valuable if you find that a particular area is extremely useful for fishing.
Another option, which is the easiest way, is to invest in a fish finder. More inexpensive models will show you the fish where you are. More expensive models have maps loaded into them or can be loaded into them. Another feature is the ability to record and store sonar charts for future use. Some even have global positioning systems (GPS) as part of their programs, which can save you a lot of time either in a foggy situation or after it becomes dark on a moonless night.
Transfusing maps is a great way to spend these cold winter months. Exploring new opportunities can give you a new perspective on fishing in a certain place, but you can open your eyes to even more opportunities by exploring these maps and discovering potential new places that you did not know about before. It is much better than finding fault with fishing during the fishing season to start again.
You are the only one who can decide which path you will take to explore your next new fishy sweet spot. Whatever way you do it, have fun and catch this big one.
