texasfishingforum.com logo
Main Menu
Advertisement
Affiliates
Advertisement
Newest Members
TraeMartin, Power-Pole CS, T-Rigger, JoeGoes, EcKo
119150 Registered Users
Top Posters(All Time)
hopalong 120,565
TexDawg 119,511
Bigbob_FTW 94,877
John175☮ 85,892
Pilothawk 83,259
Bob Davis 81,478
Mark Perry 72,280
Derek 🐝 68,311
JDavis7873 67,416
Forum Statistics
Forums59
Topics1,037,804
Posts13,934,747
Members144,150
Most Online39,925
Dec 30th, 2023
Print Thread
Lake fishing newbie looking for advice #13655601 08/04/20 03:29 AM
Joined: May 2020
Posts: 18
D
drosey44 Offline OP
Green Horn
OP Offline
Green Horn
D
Joined: May 2020
Posts: 18
Bought my first boat about a month ago! Been fishing my entire life so not new to that, lol. But I am new to having to find my own spots on lakes. I've spent time on lewisville and ray roberts, mainly just finding spots that look good to me visually. But unfortunately most of those spots happen to be shallow water. I know that it's summer so bass are in deeper water, but I've been struggling to find good deep spots. My boat only came with a Lowrance x52 at the helm which is pretty much just good for depth lol.

With that being said, I just bought a Garmin 93sv for the helm and 73sv for the bow. So once I get those installed, I'm planning on just going to the lakes and driving around to find underwater structure, marking waypoints, then going to fish those later.

I'm just a little nervous because I'm wanting to fish some college tournaments starting in October, so I really need to figure out how to find spots on lakes.

What "routine" do you guys go through when you fish a new lake for the first time? How do you find fish/honey holes?

Moritz Chevrolet - 9101 Camp Bowie W Blvd, Fort Worth, TX - Monte Coon (817) 696-2003
Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: drosey44] #13655617 08/04/20 03:52 AM
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 4,340
B
Bobby Milam Offline
TFF Team Angler
Offline
TFF Team Angler
B
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 4,340
Read some of the posts here by Donald. He has several write ups giving advise. You might even want to schedule a trip with James Biggs. He does instructional trips in your boat and teaches how to locate and fish different seasons. He isn't too expensive and you will get a wealth of information that will carry over to other lakes.

Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: Bobby Milam] #13655622 08/04/20 04:07 AM
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,429
H
Hook'em79 Online Content
TFF Celebrity
Online Content
TFF Celebrity
H
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,429
Originally Posted by Bobby Milam
Read some of the posts here by Donald. He has several write ups giving advise. You might even want to schedule a trip with James Biggs. He does instructional trips in your boat and teaches how to locate and fish different seasons. He isn't too expensive and you will get a wealth of information that will carry over to other lakes.


All of this is great advice.


God, Family, Friends
www.sterlingtractor.com

Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: drosey44] #13655623 08/04/20 04:08 AM
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,429
H
Hook'em79 Online Content
TFF Celebrity
Online Content
TFF Celebrity
H
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 7,429
He’s talking about Donald Harper, just saw you only have 2 posts so you may not know who he’s talking about.


God, Family, Friends
www.sterlingtractor.com

Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: Hook'em79] #13655830 08/04/20 01:37 PM
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 2,723
ReelSlow Offline
Extreme Angler
Offline
Extreme Angler
Joined: May 2019
Posts: 2,723
Originally Posted by Hook'em79
He’s talking about Donald Harper, just saw you only have 2 posts so you may not know who he’s talking about.


https://texasfishingforum.com/forum...965/re-article-33-top-water#Post13630965

If you go to this link, you can then click on Donald Harper's name, then click on forum posts. He has a lot of articles written on bass fishing. Go thru the pages of posts and look for them. There are some that are about off offshore fishing.

If you simply GOOGLE, How to use electronics to find structure. , you should get more hours of video than you can watch in a month.

That Garmin 93 is decent if set up right. Lean to quickly set a waypoint , throw out a marker buoy and circle back into the wind to hold boat position better. It takes a lot of practice just to find, mark, and get boat back to position to fish the spot.

good luck

Last edited by ReelSlow; 08/04/20 01:43 PM.

GOD is good!
Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: drosey44] #13655856 08/04/20 02:05 PM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 19,772
Donald Harper Offline
TFF Guru
Offline
TFF Guru
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 19,772
I will be glad to help you and sent a message so we can get started with some articles on mapping skills.


Each person you work with holds some promise to your future success.
Websiite Sponsors:
www.eletewater.com - Staying Hydrated
www.lakeoviachic.com - Booking Mexico Trips
20 Hot Spot Mapping - GPS Contour Chips - Custom Spinner Baits - Jigs -Spooks
Pure Extracts - Minnow-Night Crawler-Crayfish-Craylic


Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: drosey44] #13655868 08/04/20 02:20 PM
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 972
Greg W Offline
Pro Angler
Offline
Pro Angler
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 972
Go to navionics.com and select chart viewer. Find your home lake and start to study it using Donald's articles. I have them all saved in a pdf. Still think he should write a book. Find drop offs, humps, stuff like that. If you can find rock, try a c-rig over the rocks. Preferably on a drop off coming from shallow to 20 fow. This is still a tough time of year. You can also catch fish around bridge pilons. Use a drop shot for that with 1/8 or 1/4 oz weight or maybe weighted wacky. Also pitch a drop shot up against timber. Just fish it weedless. Donald sells chips for lakes with brush piles, etc. marked. Never used them, but others have had good success.

Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: drosey44] #13655899 08/04/20 02:56 PM
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 5,362
P
pop r Offline
TFF Celebrity
Offline
TFF Celebrity
P
Joined: Sep 2017
Posts: 5,362
welcome

Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: Greg W] #13655977 08/04/20 04:01 PM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 19,772
Donald Harper Offline
TFF Guru
Offline
TFF Guru
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 19,772
Originally Posted by Greg W
Go to navionics.com and select chart viewer. Find your home lake and start to study it using Donald's articles. I have them all saved in a pdf. Still think he should write a book..


Book is being written. It will go to E-Books first. If that is successful then it will go to hard copy.


Each person you work with holds some promise to your future success.
Websiite Sponsors:
www.eletewater.com - Staying Hydrated
www.lakeoviachic.com - Booking Mexico Trips
20 Hot Spot Mapping - GPS Contour Chips - Custom Spinner Baits - Jigs -Spooks
Pure Extracts - Minnow-Night Crawler-Crayfish-Craylic


Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: drosey44] #13655981 08/04/20 04:03 PM
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 584
C
Cuervo Jones Offline
Pro Angler
Offline
Pro Angler
C
Joined: Oct 2019
Posts: 584
Buy Bill Murphy’s book and study it. Tons of information on structure, offshore fishing, techniques for lunkers, and all sorts of great tidbits. Also, troll deep diving cranks to find bass. Then slow down and drag jigs and Carolina rigs to extract the less aggressive ones. It’s not rocket science, but it does take patience and imagination.


“Slide”
Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: Donald Harper] #13656216 08/04/20 06:29 PM
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 420
B
Basscat8263 Offline
Angler
Offline
Angler
B
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 420
Originally Posted by Donald Harper
Originally Posted by Greg W
Go to navionics.com and select chart viewer. Find your home lake and start to study it using Donald's articles. I have them all saved in a pdf. Still think he should write a book..


Book is being written. It will go to E-Books first. If that is successful then it will go to hard copy.

banana


Tony

Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: drosey44] #13656232 08/04/20 06:38 PM
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 263
G
GMTK Offline
Angler
Offline
Angler
G
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 263
You can get the navionics app for your phone and it's cheap, I think $10 a year. It can also be adjusted for lake level. Study it, look for road beds, old ponds, channel swings near points; then take your boat out to those spots and use the garmin to find fish. Nothing will substitute time behind the wheel though. Guys like Combs spend hours, if not days on their graphs and don't even pick up a rod. Congrats on the boat and good luck.

Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: drosey44] #13656251 08/04/20 06:49 PM
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,683
Bruce Allen Offline
TFF Team Angler
Offline
TFF Team Angler
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,683
welcome and good luck. This is all real good info that will help you before you go out and get frustrated.


Lake Fork Anglers
Every Thursday
Daytime Tournaments.


Lake Fork Sportsman's Association
www.lakeforksa.com/


We are VERY PROUD of our Induction into the
Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame.







Re: Lake fishing newbie looking for advice [Re: drosey44] #13656358 08/04/20 08:01 PM
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 515
White Oak Skeeter Offline
Pro Angler
Offline
Pro Angler
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 515
James Biggs will definitely massively shorten the curve!!

Previous Thread
Index
Next Thread

© 1998-2022 OUTDOOR SITES NETWORK all rights reserved USA and Worldwide
Powered by UBB.threads™ PHP Forum Software 7.7.3