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| Nick Ruiz |
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Approaching New Water...
by Nick Ruiz
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.
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