FINDING FISH ON NEW WATER
In October 2021 my brother Ben and I decided we would sign up for the One-Man Lake bass tournament, taking place on the last stretch of the English River before it dumps into the Winnipeg River. It is a big body of water with a good reputation for big bass, so we were excited to get out there and try our luck.
I always tell people that if they want to become a better overall angler, they need to constantly fish new water. That, and don’t just go fishing on the nice days, fish in all kinds of conditions. We all have places where we know we can catch fish and that’s great but if you only fish those spots, you can get into a rut of not keeping up with new techniques or finding the next group of untouched fish.
Even though the One-Man section of the English River is only a little over an hour north of Kenora, I had never fished there before. Living around Kenora, we’re lucky that we have access to a lot of different waterbodies. Since we had never fished this water before, I just used my routine approach that I do when I’m visiting new water for an Elite Series event in the U.S.
FINE TUNING NEW WATER FISHING
Over my career fishing in the U.S. I have been faced with fishing a new body of water many times and have developed somewhat of a routine. The first step is finding maps if available. I learned my way around Lake of the Woods with a paper map in my hand and when I started traveling, I would always buy a paper map of the places we would fish.
A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE
Today, I seldom get the paper maps anymore because we have such great mapping available on our electronics. I have been running the Humminbird VX cards and they are awesome. We have Ontario and Manitoba versions available to cover most of the more popular waterbodies in central Canada. They make it easy to navigate and find places to fish.
I did find some general mapping online, but it was limited. When we arrived to prefish for a couple of days we were given a map by the tournament organizers that had safe trails drawn on it to get around to different sections. We used those for general travel and then just went slow when we were venturing off the beaten path.
Some people don’t like to put their boats in water that is uncharted, but I love it. I like that I can probably find places where fish have never seen a lure on these fisheries because they don’t get the pressure and none of the structure is marked for everybody to fish. If you’re patient and you put the time in to look around with your electronics you can always find little rock piles, weed clumps and other cover that holds fish.
USING THE WEB
If you are going to a new body of water, you can try doing an online search on that particular waterbody. Obviously, some places are going to have more information than others. Most of the waters where we have our tournaments have plenty of information on past events where you can learn general tactics, forage preferences and facts about the system.
I like to read reports on past tournament results, knowing some information may be fabricated but you can usually pick up some good general info. In the case of this One-Man tournament, there was not a lot of information available but there are a few fly-in resorts on the system, so I looked at the photos on their websites and read their general bass fishing information. Knowing that this was a remote place, the fishing was going to be good, it would just be a matter of figuring out which areas had fish.
EYE IN THE SKY
Satellite imagery is where I’ll do quite a bit of study on a new body of water. Across central Canada, on many of the waterbodies that have clear water, we can often see a lot of the hazards, which can be helpful in navigation and for finding fishing spots. Crow Lake is located just east of Lake of the Woods, near Nestor Falls. It’s a deep, clear trout lake and a bass tournament is held there every year in September. The water there is so clear that you can actually see all of the reefs on the satellite imagery, even some of the humps that come up to around 15 feet and shallower.
I carefully looked over the imagery and made rough marks on a paper map where all of the reefs were. When I’m out on the water I can investigate more and get waypoints on these spots, so I know where to avoid running but often these are some of the best fishing spots. Satellite imagery can be very useful for finding fishing locations, especially if you can get an image of a system when the water is low, revealing more rock, trees or stumps and fish-holding cover.
USE YOUR NETWORK
Calling a friend is another way to gather intel. I want to note however that I feel that sometimes as anglers we rely too much on information we receive from others and it prevents us from learning and finding our own fish, which are usually easier to catch, more plentiful and bigger.
When I fished the FLW Tour before joining the Elite Series in 2019, we were allowed to receive fishing information up until a few weeks before the tournaments. For most of the places we would visit I never really knew anybody to ask for direction but as I went along, it felt like if you weren’t trying to gather some information, you weren’t doing your job.
On the Elite Series, once our schedule is announced, usually months before the start of the new season, we are not allowed to get any fishing information unless it is from a publicly available source, like a website or a magazine. We can’t get any information from a friend, guide, etc. It’s a great rule and it has been one of my favourite things about the Elite Series.
NOT ALWAYS THE BEST IDEA
The fact was, when I would get fishing help back in the earlier years, I would waste a lot of time trying the spots or places people told me about. The problem was, these were often obvious, community spots or they shared the same info with other anglers.It never really helped me, ever.
All of the tournaments where I’ve done well, I’ve figured out a good pattern or found a good section of the lake or river to fish. So absorb the information you get from your friends but don’t fully rely on it. Use your instincts and try to put as many pieces together on your own as you can.
If you know the season that you’re going to be visiting new water and the seasonal movements of the fish that you’re targeting, those can both help in formulating a plan. Knowing that bass and walleye spawn in the early season, usually in shallower bays or sections of a lake, we should probably start fishing in those areas in the spring versus main lake structure that will be good later in the season.
Lake trout prefer cooler water so in the heat of summer you can find them in the deepest holes of the lake but when the temperatures start to drop, they move shallower and their activity levels increase, making fall a good time to target them.
Knowing some of the tendencies of the fish that you want to catch can help greatly in breaking down new water. Sometimes the fish aren’t always where they’re supposed to be but usually when you follow the general rules, especially on new water, you’ll get a good starting point.
FINE TUNING OUR FALL PATTERN
That tournament at One-Man back in 2021…my brother Ben and I ended up winning it. He caught his biggest Canadian smallmouth (a five plus pounder) during the tournament, and we had fun. It was October and we knew that the smallmouths would be grouping up on main lake structure. We fished several humps and reefs, found a few good spots and everything worked out.
When we returned last year, we were still very novice on this body of water, so we felt like we needed to add to what we already knew. We spent a few days learning more areas on this system and had a great time once again, but we didn’t fare quite as well in the tournament, eventually landing in fifth place. . We’ll fished some of the past good spots during the tournament but usually you will never win on the same places. You can still catch fish off the old spots, but new, fresh ones are always the best.
Editor’s Note: Jeff and Ben won the 2024 event and here is the winning photo.
SOLVING THE PUZZLE YOURSELF IS ALWAYS THE BEST!
One of the best feelings I get in fishing is when I figure out a new bite or a new hotspot. When I’m prefishing for a tournament, it’s exciting to know that you might have found the winning fish. When I’m around home and away from the tournament scene, that rush might come from catching a big musky in a new area or finding a school of crappies in an area that they weren’t known to pop up in.
Sometimes it’s nice to get out on the water and just pull up to the places we know are good and catch fish but if you want to up your game and become more dangerous on the water, try to mix in a few trips to new places and don’t be afraid to try new techniques.