Getting Back to that Sweet Spot By Gary Howey
It was a nice warm spring day as we launched my boat on Lewis & Clark Lake, near Yankton.
On a previous trip, we’d caught fish in an area where the river channel rose up onto a “slight” hump.
When I say slight, I mean slight as one minute my locator read 15’ then up to 8’ and a few seconds later, back into deeper water.
As our baits started coming out of the deep water, banging into the upstream side of the hump, one of our trolling rods went crazy!
It was obvious by the way the rod was bent that we had a good fish on and after a short battle, a fat 5-pound walleye came into the boat.
Back then, the only way to get back to that Sweet Spot was to pick out a couple of landmarks on each shore and use them to attempt to come back to that spot again.
I’d lined my two landmarks up and then searched vainly for that hump, needless to say, I couldn’t find it, we were close, but when you’re fishing close doesn’t cut it!
I knew it was there, but after trolling through the area a dozen times, we gave up and headed for a spot that was a lot easier to locate, one where the channel ran along the shoreline.
That was the day that I decided that I had to have a locator/GPS unit, so I could find that sweet spot again and again without guessing.
On my next trip to Cabela’s, I picked up a Lowrance Locator/GPS and a LakeMaster Pro Master series Digital GPS Fishing Maps Chip.
These map chips are compatible to numerous brands of locators/GPS units including Lowrance, Humminbird and Garman.
With my locator/GPS and map chip, I’m know within inches where the drop offs, the humps along with other fish holding structure is located and will be able to check out those exact spot every time I’m on the lake
Never again, will I not be able to get back to those sweet spots, avoid deadhead submerged logs and to know where the shallow water are as I now have icons marking all of these sweet and not so sweet spots.
Since we do much of our fishing and filming in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Iowa, it just made sense for us to go with the LakeMaster chip.
Their new North and South Dakota map card are really sweet as they include High-Definition 1-foot Contours for 15 lakes in North Dakota, South Dakota as well as some of those that form part of the South Dakota and Minnesota border in N.E. South Dakota.
This new LakeMaster’s edition in amazing 1-foot and 6-inch Hi-Def contours expands your map coverage, letting you see much more of what’s down there.
Several of the lakes in N.E. South Dakota, my hometown are mapped with 6-inch definition, allowing me to see the lakes that I fished as a kid in a whole new way.
The accuracy of the maps in my locator GPS unit helps me to find and avoid those shallow water areas.
With the mapping chip, areas running from 0 to 15 feet will appear shaded, allowing you to be cautious or avoid the area, as they’ll eat a prop or your lower unit if you aren’t careful.
Their new LakeMaster Insight 3D Shaded Relief maps became available the first of the year and are available for Lowrance HDS GPS units.
This map chip allows you to view the bottom several different ways including 3-D Shaded Relief with Contours, Shaded Relief only and the traditional 2-D viewing.
Their shaded Relief & Contour 3-D mode is amazing, giving you a view of the bottom like you’ve never seen before allowing you to quickly locate those fish holding areas.
The Shaded Relief only mode allows you to see the bottom with out the contour lines gives you the ability to find those spot on a spot areas.
The old days of lining up a tree on one shore and a barn on the other to help you to return to the area where you located fish on your last trip are gone!
The locator/GPS units with map chips know make it an easy chore for you to find fish, allowing the angler to return to an area and be within inches of the area where they had preciously visited.
For more information on LakeMaster products go to www.lakemap.com
Until the ice leaves us, we open water anglers have a lot of spare time on their hands.