FISHING THE HIGH PERCENTAGE AREA OF THE LAKE (fishing the numbers)

[Slip Sinker]

After posting a few collage pictures of quality panfish catches on Facebook a good friend asked to be invited out on a future trip. We set up a date and time and fished. He used all my tackle rigs etc to fish. He set many personal records that day. We fished for pannies then bass then pike … all breaking his personal records. A successful trip. He later tried to reproduce the success with his new rod and reel and similar lures and bait on a different “new lake” but got skunked. He asked why… and the answer I gave him is he wasn’t fishing the numbers. Location, Location and Location.

Fishing is a numbers game… we’ve all heard this before 10% of the lake holds 90% of the fish. Know how to identify that 10% on the lake will bring you success. In a recent Fishing Facts article shows a graphic and a simple formula that brings it all together. I have always adhered to fishing in and around the largest weedy flats in the lake. If I find myself going to a new lake this is where I will start. I will first look on a map to the northern shore of the lake. This is where the warmer waters are most of the year. Generally ice out will occur here first and will be generally warmer the rest of the open water season. If the shallow flats are on the southern shore it’s still good because of all the solar energy hitting the bottom of the lake , growing weeds and supporting organisms for fishes especially fish fry and bait fish. In Fisherman shows a simple method of displaying this. How simple cut the lake in half separating the shallow weedy flats and the less productive deeper water. However most lakes are not this simple and breaking up smaller area or zooming in and doing a 50/50 analysis should mathematically produce the same ratio of bluegills. More bluegills in the shallow and less in the deeper regions.

Fig (a)

 

The 50/50 rule in this case the fish numbers game will be more generous on the south 50%. Why? It is the fishes bedroom, nursery,kitchen dining room and shelter! If I was a fish why would I wander away from this? Fish are simple basic creatures if they swim into something less desirable they turn around and swim away. When identifying flats the broader the space between marked depths the better. If weed control scours the shallows and flats of most weeds fish still use the flats to feed but they may retreat to the first break in deeper water during daylight or certain periods. The flats still produce food while absorbing solar energy.

Dissecting a lake I fished many years ago went like this… it was late May and the crappie were on the beds so on my paper map I circled these areas and fished them hard and did quite well.  Even just equipped with a paper map this will put you in the ballpark of the more concentrated areas to fish.

Fig(b)

 

Bluegill Rondesvous 2015 I was looking at maps on the navionics website (http://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en )to see what areas I would fish if given the oppurtunity. This was one of my ideas as a good start point.

Fig. (c) 

[Jiggy]

Slip Sinker, Thanks for posting this - this is helpful.  I never thought of breaking up a body of water like this. I've read that the bluegill go deeper in the summer/hot weather.  If I was to look at Fig (a) would the fish move closer to the half line and the deeper water in the summer months or would they stay in the shallow section?  

thanks again...this site rules.

[Slip Sinker]

Your welcome! And I really like this sight also.
I for one have always considered fishing a numbers game… put yourself in a high percentage location and your chances of success are greater.

Fishing for gills I basically fish three lakes… and they are each different in their own way. One lake is a flooded farm pond by an earthen damn with a deep basin of thirty feet and is aerated throughout. This lake because of the aeration does not thermocline and the fish use every bit of the BOW. The lake is scoured clean of weeds during the summer with herbicides and the fish without weed line cover hang out at the first main break of the original shoreline at 9ft and drops of fast to 20 ft. I catch them all day long in this deep water. Come dusk there is a strong fish movement like clockwork towards the shallow flats. I then switch from drop shotting, deep jigging and spooning to slip bobbers. The majority of the fish seek cover in the form of depth during the pre summer, summer and post summer seasons in this lake. Though they have the whole BOW to roam because of the thermocline absence they hang out in hoards at the 9-15ft break. It was a very predictable summer pattern for me.

Natural lake number two is a crowded BOW with boating activity throughout the summer and this lake is also cleaned thoroughly of weeds with herbicides. In the absence of weed lines the fish look for sharp breaks at the edge of the shallow flats not far from their food source. This lake regularly thermoclines during the summer at 17 ft to 18ft. sunlight penetration in the clear lakes in my area is about 12ft where weed lines stop growing. No fish go deeper than the thermocline. So my best gamble was to find the largest flats and fish the deeper breaks associated with those flats during the summer. Again if weedlines along the most expansive flats would be the better opportunity if available.

The third lake I fish for gill is a reservoir with weed lines that stop abruptly at about 12 ft. and thermoclines about 18 ft. most of the panfish from crappie to gill are usually positioned just off the weed lines. My favorite spots are the largest expanses of weedy flats and associated weed growth and the weedlines and pockets produced there in.
Deeper during the summer … yes… but I think when presented it is at the deep base and edge of a weedline.

Here is a fine article on bluegill, summer, and fishing depths

http://www.postbulletin.com/ditch-the-bobber-and-go-deep-for-summer...

[Jiggy]

Thanks Slip Sinker for taking the time to write and explain this  - it was helpful and the article was too.  Thanks again.

Have a Merry Christmas.

[Slip Sinker]

Merry Christmas!