Contour Maps

[Sailor Jerry]

What can they tell you exactly?
http://www.iowadnr.gov/fish/fishing/...maps/bic77.pdf

That's the lake I'm fishing tonight with no boat.
Just wondering what I should be looking for when looking at one of these maps...

[Hanr3]

What woudl you like to know?

The closer the contour lines the steeper the incline/drop. The further apart the contour lines the flatter the terrain.
According to that map max depth is 53.something feet and they even placed a red cross where its the deepest.
There are several holes (circles) that will hold fish, walleye.

The most important thing you need to know is the habits of the fish your after. For example if your after crappie and you ahve patterned them at 15 feet down in 25 feet of water, you can follow the contour lines and find key places where they will be. Some fish like to hang out on points. The contour lines show you where the points are under water. there are a host of other terrain features fish relate to and the contour map helps you find them. Without the map you will spend a lifetime learning the lake.

Having a map of the lake is one key piece of the puzzle. Knowing the fishes habit is another key piece, put the two together and your getting closer to finding fish all the time on any lake.

[skeeter]

if your looking for crappie ...and once you find them .. mark the depth because most of the time even in different parts of the lake they will mostly stay with that depth... or this is what i have found!