Help me "map" my local lake

http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2013/1101/downloads/A34bowling_final.pdf

I have no fish finder, so I'm trying to determine off this USGS map the depths through the lake and if I can, the general terrain of the bottom. Right now I only know that theres some spots (and not all near the middle) where my 40ft anchor line wasn't enough.

If you look at the bottom of the lake in that PDF it has two forks, legs if you will. On the left side heading north on the map you will see where the leg opens into the lake and on the left there is a little inlet. We generally anchor up where that inlet is out from it a bit sort of in between that inlet and where the land between the leg sticks out into the lake. We sit there because she hits croppie very well from the inlet area and I generally hit channel cats off the center area.

I can find croppie on the lake all day long but the channels i'm getting are on the smaller side. The lake is not heavily fished, but it does get a fair amount of traffic. I fish during the week and I notice most fishermen are over in that big area on the right of the lake when looking at the pdf. I am avoiding that area because that seems to be where most guys are heading. I like my peace and I know as popular as that area is it's not where I want to be for good sized channels.

So I'm trying to narrow down a few spots you guys think may be hot for the cats, or at least determine where the deepest parts of the lake are. My DNR doesn't seem to have much information on the depth of the lake. According to what they told me the lake is 25ish feet at it's deepest point which is impossible since I have dropped my 40ft anchor line straight down and never found bottom. I now have a 75ft line and in that same spot it comes out to 49ft.

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

Its hard to tell for sure by the map, but if its a man made lake and controlled with a dam the level may swing alot. I know my lake (dale hollow) has had probably a 4 or 5 foot swing just in the last couple of weeks after some huge rains. My depth finder shows the depth now to be about 20 feet deeper than the depths shown on the map on my chartplotter, which I assume is the minimum lake level.

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

Fishing "blind" without sonar sucks and it makes you rely more on luck than skill, if you happen to get into some fish while fishing without sonar it'll be purely by accident.

A sonar unit will greatly increase your catch rate once you learn how to read and use it, and they aren't that expensive. Even the ones that sell for $100 brand new work well and will help you to catch more fish.

A sonar unit is so important to me that I'd choose one over a boat motor, I'd rather paddle around a lake with a sonar unit than motor around a lake without one.

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

I agree with jigngrub,....

Good electronics on a boat are a very valuable fishing tool,...

A good sonar/gps can be had for $400 and go up from there,....

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

jigngrub said:

A sonar unit will greatly increase your catch rate once you learn how to read and use it, .

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Do you know of any how to's on FF's out there on the web? I have a Hummingbird 345C & would love to read some good how-to info on them. Their web site / owners manual is pretty bare bones with their explanations. Would like to know how to tell the difference between sand / mud / rocky bottoms. Only way I know to do this is bring the scuba gear & dive down & look.

OP, not sure it would help you but Navionics has a good smart phone app.

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

Wind dog said:

Do you know of any how to's on FF's out there on the web? I have a Hummingbird 345C & would love to read some good how-to info on them. Their web site / owners manual is pretty bare bones with their explanations. Would like to know how to tell the difference between sand / mud / rocky bottoms. Only way I know to do this is bring the scuba gear & dive down & look.

OP, not sure it would help you but Navionics has a good smart phone app.

Click to expand...

Lots and lots of FF/sonar how tos on you tube... lots.

Determining bottom composition isn't that hard when you're looking for the difference between hard and soft bottoms, the hard bottom shows up as a thinner bottom return and the soft stuff will appear as a thicker bottom return. The very best way to learn the difference is to ride over a section of bottom that you already know the composition of and watch your screen.

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

Here is some very good reading about sonar from Bruce "Dr. Sonar" Sampson

A link to his site,....

Sonar | DoctorSonar

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

The deepest part of your lake is that northwest corner. I'm assuming there is a dam over there, going by the contours. That small 736 contour, just inside the 740. If the lake is full, with water going over that spillway, it's about 58' deep in that hole. So, like you said, your 40' line ain't gonna reach there! I'm not a catfish fisherman, but there are some nice drop-off along the shore with big flats in the middle. The lake pretty much is the shallowest on the south end and gets deeper towards the north.

Good luck

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

Teamster said:

Here is some very good reading about sonar from Bruce "Dr. Sonar" Sampson

A link to his site,....

Sonar | DoctorSonar

Click to expand...

Cool, thanks!

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

I actually have a fish finder, just haven't got around to putting it on the boat yet because i changed boats. I was just looking to get a guess on the best general area to maybe wander into. I tried running down that leg on the East, hit some decent cats there but I know the lake holds much bigger.

edoubleu said:

The deepest part of your lake is that northwest corner. I'm assuming there is a dam over there, going by the contours. That small 736 contour, just inside the 740. If the lake is full, with water going over that spillway, it's about 58' deep in that hole. So, like you said, your 40' line ain't gonna reach there! I'm not a catfish fisherman, but there are some nice drop-off along the shore with big flats in the middle. The lake pretty much is the shallowest on the south end and gets deeper towards the north.

Good luck

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No dam on this lake, no river either. If its fed it would be under ground. The only thing in that NW corner is a very very small "beach" and about 20' off the shore in the middle there is a....well i don't know what it is. It's two sealed silver "barrels" and a platform on top. I would say it's for jumping off of but they have signs all around it saying to stay back at least 10 feet and when the DNR is on the lake they always pull up to it at some point for a few minutes before returning to the docks.

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

That's their elevation reference marker. Probably has one of those "goofy" anchoring type chain setups. Also probably has a submerged cooler of beer. :joyous:

Tom B.
(LongLine)

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

Ahh, that explains it. The way they pull up looks like the Dixie 7 drug drops on Bad Boys II so you may be on point with that beer thing LOL

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

ThrottleBack said:

No dam on this lake, no river either. If its fed it would be under ground. The only thing in that NW corner is a very very small "beach" and about 20' off the shore in the middle there is a....well i don't know what it is. It's two sealed silver "barrels" and a platform on top. I would say it's for jumping off of but they have signs all around it saying to stay back at least 10 feet and when the DNR is on the lake they always pull up to it at some point for a few minutes before returning to the docks.

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That's a nice looking lake, I took a look at an aerial of it. That is a big earthen dam on that north side, with all the riprap and the road across the top. Those "barrels" are most likely trash racks and overflow pipes for a low-level outlet. The platforms are there so that nothing goes down the overflow pipe. There might even be a water level gauge on one of those platforms. Showing how many feet the water level is above or below the spillway. I did a lot of survey work on dams and this is pretty typical construction.
Good luck finding those catfish, it's a nice body of water.

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

edoubleu said:

That's a nice looking lake, I took a look at an aerial of it. That is a big earthen dam on that north side, with all the riprap and the road across the top. Those "barrels" are most likely trash racks and overflow pipes for a low-level outlet. The platforms are there so that nothing goes down the overflow pipe. There might even be a water level gauge on one of those platforms. Showing how many feet the water level is above or below the spillway. I did a lot of survey work on dams and this is pretty typical construction.
Good luck finding those catfish, it's a nice body of water.

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Yea I love the lake. I know there is another lake maybe a mile north of this one that you have to walk up a big hill in a field to get too, but never been. Based on what you said I bet thats a reservoir setup that feeds the lake like you were saying.

Re: Help me "map" my local lake

AS for the FF's I use a Garmin Echo 200, its cheap, it works and I fish catfish all the time religiously. The lakes I fish I can see the structure and contour of the lake perfectly. Summer time, when the water is warm I go to the shallow end and this lake has spots that go from 30 foot to 5 foot in the middle of the lake. Winter time I go to the deep holes. A WalMart special at I think $149 and does all that I want it to. I can even see suspended fish while taveling across the water . Check out Walley World for something just to see the bottom.