Article & Images by Fran Myers
1 - What does the SHAPE of the reservoirs tell you about the surrounding terrain?
2 - What does the SHAPE of the reservoirs tell you about the WATER COLOR?
3 - Does the SHAPE of the reservoir give you any clues about the DEPTH of the reservoirs?
4 - Does the Shape of the reservoirs give you any clues about the types of structures in the reservoirs?
The above questions and MANY more can be answered based on the road map alone.
After spending a few minutes looking at the road map you decide to see if the Navionics App on your iPad has any better maps and you find these maps:
So now you have 2 contour maps. Does this help you answer any of the above questions? Let me ask you some more:
1 - Where is the HOME of the fish in these pictures?
2 - Is there anything particularly striking about these two contour maps?
3 - Does the contour map help you make the final decision about which reservoir you'd fish?
Again there is a LOT of information that we as fisherman can get by looking at these maps. But let's just answer these questions here so I don't get in trouble with the editors for writing too much.
To recap: Let's say you have a gun to your head and you have to catch a fish today. You have a short time to make a decision on which of these two dams you have to fish. You can go to either one and fish all day but you have to catch a fish today? Which do you choose?
Bass Digest/May, 2014