The art of finding fish is having a good locator and average fishing knowledge.
As far as your guy telling you that there is nothing that can locate bait fish 
, didn’t know what he was talking about. I can watch my lindy sinker drop to the bottom at any given moment. 
I’m pretty sure I can see bait fish too. 
As far as locators marking fish goes here’s proof that my locator will do it. These are pictures of smallmouth when I was prefishing for a tournament on Lake Tomahawk in Minocqua, WI. The little girl is my Nice. Getting these fish to bite for three tournament day’s was a whole different matter.
I can’t figure out why Wade gave me static for asking if he had a extra knob for a Legend 3000 lacator….
Have never used a GPS or color locator – there’s a whole new world out there waiting for me. 
Pete
WOW!! 
Thanks Randy!!
Start with a map. You can eliminate about 90% of the “unproductive” water and focus on key structural locations. (Not that fish can’t be roaming featureless flats, but structure is a good place to start.) You can pick out 5 or 6 good-looking spots from your map and drive right to them via GPS, saving yourself a lot of time.I like to run the Lakemaster chips in my HDS-5 with a FHS map as a backup and to see the “big picture.” Also, taking something huge like the ‘Chip is easier if you break it into smaller sections.
Thanks again guys for all the info. It got me thinking so I decided to start another thread regarding water body research as it relates to the art of finding fish. Check it out and if you want post your suggestions.
How to find fish, keep in mind, they are a lot like us:
1) find the girls
2) find the food
Quote:
Quote:
Follow the crowds.
I cant say I agree with this statement.
Why not? If your learning, and the crowd is on fish, then STUDY them. What are they doing, what structure are they on, WHY<WHY< WHY, Then, find 20 other places that match it, and check them out. You might struggle for awhile, or hit a jackpot. But if you are learning something, didn’t you already do great? I’ve learned the most on the days that I put the least amount of fish in the boat. Makes you stop and think
Your right, what I should have said is “I cant say I always agree with this statement.” As an example take pool 4 of the Mississippi river by the Red Wing Dam, crowds of people fish there. Not to say they don’t catch anything, but there is other places to catch fish near there that hardly see an angler. I do agree that there is a lot that can be learned from the crowds.
One thing about a big crowd of people is you can get a good idea if the fish are biting real fast just by seeing if anyone is catching anything. If no one is catching anything in most cases why stay there? Then again even if they are catching fish do you want to stay there?
but the mark of a good fisherman.. a very old quote by Col. Dave Harbour, “A fisherman who has this amount of success on a strange body of water, can go home just being proud of his skill…” and of course the photo was of a quality size bass.. not a trophy.. but a four to six pounder..
I highly encourage you to ask good questions.. but to work at your skill and TO LEARN TO make your own path..
I wish you well my friend..
Wow Randy–did you type all that? GREAT POST!
Our local lake has an interesting dynamic in the winter: one guy moves his shack and 10 follow–pool 4 in the spring has the same interesting dynamic, as most here can attest.
The answer is always the same: first find the prey, then you will find the predator. Easy answer, but might take a lifetime to learn.
Take this example: you find a lake’s main forage for walleyes is perch. Now tell me where you find the perch?
Before you answer that question–I am talking about juvenile perch, not adult perch. Most people will automatically think “regular sized” perch, which can inhabit a totally different niche than baby ones. Then tell me the age of the lake and avaliable structure-habitats, or lack there of.
There is a reason why during the Bassmaster event on lake Wissota the bass guys raved about the fishery for walleyes and muskies, but during the FLW league championship the walleye guys (Kirt not included here!) had a hard time putting walleyes in the boat? Now look at a WDNR study(noted in In-fish’s critical concepts books)of Wissota for walleyes—–all shallow-far shallower than most would realize in the walleye world–but how many walleye guys fish that shallow on a regular basis? My first trip with Dustin on pool 4, I was told that he rarely fishes deeper than 10FOW—that blew my mind. Now, I know Dustin is not afraid to fish deep, but only when the conditions dictate.
Good luck, by asking questions your half way there!!
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