How To Fish On Unfamilar Lakes

You’ve made your reservation and are looking forward to your fishing vacation on Crane Lake. If you’ve never fished Crane Lake, here is a great article that will help you figure out how to fish on an unfamilar lake.

Finding out as much information about the body of water is the first thing on my to-do list, so finding any available maps is puzzle piece number one.  Check the DNR website, bait shops, or on line map stores.  Navionics also has a great PC App that provides the opportunity for researching a lake and marking various waypoints and allowing you to transfer them to your sonar.  If a decent map is not easily available I have gone as far as to print my own 2’ x 3’ map by combining sections from the app I am using, and blowing the pages up in order to piece them together and laminated it as one large, foldable map.  I now have a waterproof, easy to read map that can be marked without destroying it.

DNR websites typically have creel surveys, stocking and lake data that can be valuable information for the average size of fish you are targeting, forage base, clarity, and bottom make up.  Fish that are stocked will typically fish differently than naturally spawned fish; stocked fish are typically more weed orientated.  Talk to the regional fisheries manager and ask them questions about seasonal movements, forage base and typical big fish spots.

Check out relevant fishing websites and look at the fishing reports, these resources usually provide information for the past couple of years…take note of the water levels, temps and techniques used.  There are several satellite views….

Read entire article here: https://doctorsonar.com/blogs/educational-articles/12382637-how-to-fish-unfamiliar-bodies-of-water