Thread: What do you look for when fishing unfamiliar bodies of water?

Never fishing a lake before I'd pick up a map and start looking from middle of creeks towards the backs of creek looking for flats with creek channels in 'em. Once on the water I'd hit those places idling around looking for schools of bait on the graph. Usually if there's bait there's fish. If things looks favorable, I'd break out my poles and start longlining. If theyre there and willing to bite I'll catch 'em. If not, I'd check another area.

Follow your electronics and find the shad crappie won't be far away this time of year. I'd try the dam breaks at the shad depth.
Al

what time do you get off work may be we can meet at perry no cost to you or me 2 hr jam

Sandman, A crappie is a crappie is a crappie. If you are having some success on some of the other Northeast Kansas lakes or ponds you can transfer most of that to the other waters. Learn the seasonal habits of the crappie here and most times they will fall into that pattern. During the fall, it is almost the reverse of Spring. The fish are beginning to feed for the upcoming winter. This is a transition time for them. Three main structures for the crappie here are rocks, channels, and wood or brush piles. Start by breaking the lake down into the upper, middle and lower ends. In these lakes, there is generally all three structures in all three areas. Look for concentrations of bait fish and notice the depth they are at. Start fishing those depths around those structures. You will need to have several techniques down. Strolling rocks or channels is good right now but the brush piles can be to. Be prepared to fish the standing wood also. Have yourself a good selection of tubes, twister tails, and creature baits. Match up the size of the baits with the size of the shad. Some of the guys use live bait but I use strictly plastics. You will get more fishing time in with artificial baits and the more time your bait is in the water the more fish you can catch. It is a matter of covering more water to find the pattern and location. Concentrate on an area be it, upper middle or lower lake checking all structure types. Sometimes an unfamiliar body of water does get overwhelming and most new to crappie fishing guys spend more time running up and down the lake than fishing. If your really new to this fishing it gets easier the more time you spend on the water. You can cut yur learning curve by reading these boards and asking questions. Some new to crappie fishing guys will hire a guide and that can really shorten the curve also. Don't be afraid to ask the on the water guys, most will help you out. It takes some effort and time but you can do it. Don't be afraid to ask a specific question on baits, tackle, electronics and techniques on this board, there are hundreds of if not thousands of years of experience in the aggregate here. Good luck and let us know how you are progressing.

find brush and the channel having good electronics will help with that but most of all find the shad they change day to day at the depth but ware ever they shad are the crappie are there to something to note on your electronics is if you see shad on the screen and they are in a round ball then the crappie are not in them but if they are laid down in a long line then the crappie are there well hope you get them best board on the web just ask we will help

Thanks for the input, everyone. It's helped a lot! I'm still trying to decide what unit to buy for the back of the boat.

i have a humminbird 788c on the console and love it i would love a 900 but just to price for me lol just get the best one you can buy

Lowrance HDS unit with structure scan. Thats the only way!