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Posts: 2680
Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | The one thing fishermen hide, protect and very seldom ever share except with exclusive friends ARE THEIR FISHING WAYPOINTS. Even more-so, then that one very rare picture of the wife or girlfriend naked. These stored top secret spots contain and reveal special, precise map locations as precious as the Lost Dutchmans Mine and I [pitty the fool] who tries to steal, copy or even take a denied peek at mine on my boat. But the true value of such spots and their longevity as fish producers are very much like that walleye that only you seen before it got off behind the boat. It's greatness and importance remains your own.
Have you ever heard the story about the guy who hunted off the same stump back in the swamp for 20 years and shot a buck every year? Or for that matter, the guy who did so for 20 years, because he shot a beautiful buck off that stump 19 years AGO and the memories of it keep him locked into that spot even after 19 consecutive years of skunks? That spot, good once but later bad, or continually good, has or had more then just luck going for it. It is that areas corridor, for that areas deer heard, to either escape from danger or travel from food to cover/cover to food, plain and simple. GPS spots can be like that in many ways. Some spots seem to always produce. Others only at certain times of the year, even certain hours of the day under certain conditions. Some do produce and will hold their charm year AFTER YEAR because of certain seen or unseen under water dynamics. Reefs, humps, ledges, drop offs, Islands, even bottom strata changes. Things we see or don't see that attract baitfish, that in turn attract predators. I often try to cross reference or attach any spot I mark with My GPS not only temporarily to a specific fish strike, but to some underwater structure or variance I observe around productive spots. But many of my old reliable spots seem to be featureless, even when compared on nautical maps. Sometimes they're simply comfort zones with adequate/nearby FOOD SOURCES all predators are naturally attracted to. Having GPS reference POINTS/spots that continually get you close too or are similar to these productive spots, can be very helpful but do not guarantee you fish.
I guess what I'm getting at is the real or unreal importance of Waypoints. Their place in the scheme of things both important and unimportant, as it pertains to your fishing success. Techniques, knowledge of your prey and their habits (in the woods and on the water) all play an important part in the scheme of things. But never put your total trust and confidence in any one facet of it. Or in their years old successful memories. Because Nature can and often does change many things over time.
Edited by walleye express 6/20/2016 6:53 AM
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Member
Posts: 625
Location: LaCrosse, WI | Honestly, I mark areas I plan to fish with them more often than areas I fish over and over again. If I do mark waypoints on pods of fish etc..., I usually delete them at some point because those fish move. I do however, mark waypoints on wingdams that I feel are some of the better big fish dams on each pool of the Mississippi that I fish. I go into it knowing what the flow and water levels are, and can have a pretty good ideas which of those are most likely to have fish on them in those conditions. It also gives me areas of proximity to look around if conditions aren't just right for those particular dams. |
Member
Posts: 2680
Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Oh, I agree totally Rookie. The old days of lining up the Electrical Tower with the Big Oak on shore, has lost all of it's charm for me as well since the GPS.  But before them, finding and catching fish seemed to give the fisherman even more perceived mystical powers back at the Marina. 
Edited by walleye express 6/22/2016 7:06 AM
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