Discovering Secret Fishing Spots for Boaters
SEPTEMBER 2020
How and Where to Look
In the past, anglers would find great fishing spots primarily through word of mouth or using paper maps from their state fisheries departments. The angler at best would find the location of a lake or stream but would have to perform trial/error to find productive fishing.
The pursuit of secret fishing spots is much more exciting today. There are various data driven tools for anglers to find fishing productive fishing spots. With these tools you not only find the body of water, but the individual “secret” spots that are most productive.
In this article, I will focus on the fishing spots that are accessible for anglers via boats and how to import satellite data into fish finders or GPS units. It is best to look at the various tools and use all of them in building your list of secret fishing spots.
State Fisheries Websites
One of the best places to start searching for fishing spots is your local state fisheries website. These sites often have detailed information about fish stocking locations, trophy fish management waters and other enhanced fishing spots. They also provide updated topographic maps, depth charts and boat launch information for various bodies of water in the state. While this might not be secret information, you would be surprised how little these valuable resources are used.
Google Earth
Google Earth is the best way to find secret fishing spots. It is best to use the Google Earth Pro version that you can run locally on your laptop or desktop. This will give the best resolution view for analysis of the images.
Start by viewing the satellite map of your nearby area and look for bodies of water that you have not been to or that are not otherwise accessible to find the most secretive spots. The hidden gems are fishing locations that are not heavily fished as these could be very productive areas. Mark the various bodies of water on the map.
Once you have found the bodies of water you can narrow down and predict the most productive fishing spots within those waters. First you can zoom in an look for points of land, islands or underwater rock piles or other breaks in structure as these are great spots to try.
The timeline slider can be used to view multiple images of the location over various years. This can be especially useful in tidal waters or where seasonal visibility changes so structure and key spots can be highlighted easily. It can also be used to view newly dammed or filled lakes where you can locate structures such as bridges, trees, etc. before they were flooded.
Once you find key fishing spots, you can save them as placeholders in Google Earth for export to a GPS or Fish Finder unit.
Fishing Apps – FishBrain
Some of the fishing and logging apps such as FishBrain also have the ability to use GPS-enabled maps so you can scan and find new waters to fish. These will not be secret spots as they are publicly mapped, but the benefits of these applications is that you can see catches and determine if the spot is a good fit for your fishing goals. Be aware that some data and reports in these applications might be inaccurate.
Importing Spots to a Fish Finder/GPS
- In Google Earth, Right click on My Places and create a new folder. Name the folder for the specific body of water you are examining.
- Right click and create a new Placemark. Move the placemark to the exact spot you want to fish and name it as appropriate (rockpile, brush, etc.)
- Add other placemarks as necessary
- Right click on the folder and Save Place As and select the file type of KML
Import for Humminbird Fish Finders
- You can convert the KML file to a GPX file using the web site GPSVisualizer
- You can download the HumminbirdPC application here.
- Insert an SD memory card to your laptop/desktop. It has to be less than 32GB in size.
- File/Open – load the Google Earth GPX file.
- Select Add
- This SD card can now be imported into your Humminbird unit directly.
Summary
Now you know the ways you can find your own secret fishing spots. The tools and data that are available today provide a solid foundation to locate many productive fishing spots if you spend a bit of time on searching.
Please send pictures of your fishing success. You can contact me by email [email protected].
Tight lines … Captain P.
