Summer vrs Winter fishing spots

[Pickelfarmer]

I'm sure this question has been asked before in one form or another but...

Do you guys usually fish the same spots during the winter that you fish during the summer? I know the fish move during the winter as well as during the summer but do you feel confident fishing in the same spots summer and winter. If not the same spots on a particular lake do you at least fish the same lakes winter and summer? I do. mostly because of the convenince of the location of the lakes I fish. Gas is still expencive in the winter so I stay cloose to home during both seasons. I do find myself fishing different spots on these lakes during the winter vrs. summer.

[Northlander]

1st ice and a good portion of the winter I fish the spots that I fished during the late fall.

Late winter I start looking in spring staging areas. This is on lakes.

In rivers a lot of the spots I found fish in the summer and mostly late fall I fish.

[Jim Hudson]

Good spots can come and go from year to year, but some spots are key every year. The yearly spots just have the right stuff to hold fish year in and year out due to a lot of different charateristics, but they are not found in every lake you may fish.

Generally speaking, in a lot of lakes I fish for early ice, I fish the same spots that I would be fishing during the late fall. These spots differ from lake to lake, but these time periods are similar for fish locations and late fall is the best time to locate fish for the early ice period on a year to year basis. Every year can be weather dependent on your favorite lake due to wind direction and velocity, temperature, weed growth or lack there of, visibility, oxygen content, etc... etc... Seeing these factors or how these factors effect the aquatic environment first hand in the open water is much easier then under the ice.

Again, generally speaking, mid-winter spots can be seen as spots I would find fish in mid-summer. I check these areas out during the time I see fish start to scatter from early ice spots. Also, these are spots that fish may use early ice, especially during years that are very windy and all the remaining green weeds are lost prior to the ice sets in. Or similar situations that would make the fish move or never come into late fall areas or early ice spots.

One thing I have learned, is every year most lakes experience a push or change in location for their fish. And to be successfull, I have to search and use all tools I have available to keep up with fish movements under the ice. The fishes biological and environemental needs are what I try to key in on year to year, more then just what spots were great from years past.