As a guide I get many customers that come to Guntersville and hire me because they are intimidated by the big body of water. My customer is trying to develop a pattern to have some successful fishing days while visiting our lake. The first step to accomplishing that is to understand the seasonal patterns; I tell my customer that they must first read and understand this concept of seasonal patterns.
The seasonal patterns gives you a start to finding the fish on any-body of water; if you start with where they should be and know why they are there you have a great chance at having a successful day. Once you can submit this concept to your memory then you can start searching the lake; starting with the seasonal pattern. If the fish are suppose to be shallow, your starting point is the shallow humps or flats and like-wise with the other seasons. The issue arises for most folks are that they don’t know where to start; in other words where are the shallow humps and flats in this scenario.
If you’re really dedicated or a tournament fisherman you should have prepared by looking at a map of the lake on the internet; most lakes are available on line for you to research. In fact the newest trend in Navionics mapping is easily accessible; just take your Navionics chip insert on your computer along with loading the Navionics software and you can map out a plan that fits the time of year. Not only can you prepare but you can down load the way-points created during your preparation to an SD card and have the plan on your Lowrance.
Lastly, I believe that lure selection is also a big key to approaching a fishing trip on a new lake. The easiest way to approach this in my mind is start with your confidence bait, whatever that may be then move to the search baits like traps, spinner baits and swim baits or if it is the heat of the summer fishing some slow plastics also becomes search bait. Having a great day on a new lake is all about preparation that old saying has never been so true, “luck is where preparation meets opportunity?”
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Email: bassguide@comcast.net
Captain Mike Gerry