The Bass Insider Issue 1 September
In the meantime another boat was watching us filling bags, needless to say when we arrived the next morning they were on the sand bank throwing top waters. Luckily for us they did bag one fish quickly which made them stay on the sand bank. We simply went to the creek channel where we threw top water in the back of the creek and filled our bags. Later we went to the deeper water in the channel, about 15 foot, and upgraded our bags. I upgraded 3 fish and my partner upgraded 2 fish, to the dismay of the other boat. Tzaneen dam is also a very good example of fish moving shallower in murky water, fished this dam when it was 110% full and the water was ginger beer color, we slaughtered the fish very shallow fishing timber as shallow as you can. Two weeks later you had to fish deeper, the water have settled and was much clearer. AIDS FOR FINDING FISH Once you have an idea where to look for bass along river channels, you must actually get on the water and find these spots. This search requires three aids: a dam topographic map, a depth finder and marker buoys. The most common mistakes anglers makes with depth finders is keeping the sensitivity to low, so that it only provides bottom reading no objects between the bottom and surface. I use Garmin 240 which I can set the sensitivity, not sure if the latest technology does automatic setting for sensitivity. If you can set your sensitivity keep on increasing until you see a double bottom echo, stop at that point. Now you’ve got the sensitivity set high enough to show everything that comes between your transducer and the bottom. Marker buoys provide a reference for fishing deep water spots. In deep water you want to fish as precisely as you do in shallow water, and marker buoys help you do this. Although in this country anglers have very little respect for marker buoys and they sometimes attract anglers rather than force respect for your area, especially in money tournaments. Make sure you understand the rules when it comes to marker buoys and make sure you respect other angler’s markers.
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