finding rocks

[bucketmouth64]

How do you finds rocks in a lake if you don't know where to start? I know electronics are needed, what is the proper setting to get the double echo? It seems you could spend a lot of time traveling on a lake looking for rocks. What do all of you do to find rocks. If a lake is known not to have a good walleye population mean that there is not a lot of rocks?

[TurnUpTheFishing]

The unmarked rockpiles I have found are usually found by accident. When im out fishing if I notice an unusual bottom structure Ill stop to investigate. If I have my camera I drop it down if not I add a depth finder weight and pound the bottom and feel whats down there.

Ive found usually a lake will not have just one rock pile. If it has one it probably has others just not very big or well known.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Great question... For me, it depends on the lake.. Not all lakes have rock piles..But one way is like you said.. just start driving around. An underwater camera is huge!!!! Otherwise tie on lures that are good at feeling the bottom. IE, Roller Rock(football Jig), Carolina Rig... I myself just spend a Ton of time driving around. My key often times is I look for areas that should have weeds and do not. If an area should have weeds and dont.. there has to be a reason for it. For the rocks out past where weedlines should be, those are more tough. Then the roller rock jig and a carolia rig can help a ton, along with the underwater camera.

[bucketmouth64]

I kinda guessed what some of the replies would be. Sounds like you just need to know where they are or just cruise around. What about the setting on electronics that I've read to produce a double echo? How does it look on the screen?

[Deitz Dittrich]

It really depends on the unit. For me, I try and put it on a set depth and sensitivity if I am searching for hard bottoms. When the unit is changing depths a lot from shallow to deep it often will kick up the sensitivity on its own and give you a "false" hard bottom...

I will do my best in the next few days to take a pict of my depthfinder when its over softer bottom and hard bottom to show the difference.

[Trucker Jim]

I by no means am an expert, and frankly, I haven't hardly looked for rocks, but what I have been doing, is to take a voice recorder with me. I fish alone a lot, so I basically take notes on everything I do, and observe. I'm learning and remembering where cabbage weeds are, coon tail, thick red returns, yellow bottom returns, etc., etc. I drive a truck at night for a living and find listening to a day's fishing trip while driving really helps me keep awake, and I get all kinds of ideas on what I might want to try next time, and most importantly, remembering the characteristics of the body of water I happen to be fishing.

[bassNspear]

That is a great idea. I have been using my under water cam since dietz has been hounding me to us it more to become a better deep water fisherman. It has help me a TON, yet, im a LONG LONG LONG ways away to where i wanta be.

[RK]

Hiya -

The first thing to do is look on shore. We all get so attached to using our electronic 'eyes' that we forget about the ones in our heads sometimes. Look for rocky shorelines, rocks up shallow on top of a point or bar, or just high banks that might mean a harder bottom. You can also look for particular kinds of weedgrowth. When you see phragmites (emergent vegetation that looks like really tall quack grass) it usually means sand and boulders...

As far as electronics use goes, Deitz is right on about taking the graph off of 'auto' and setting the depth range and sensitivity manually when you're looking for rock or gravel spots. Set the depth range to 1.5 or 2x the depth you're in so you can see the double echo when you get over hard bottom.

Cameras really are great tools for this too of course (I had to use my MAV to find some deep rock this weekend when a nasty cold front pushed the smallies off the reefs), but if you don't have one, go analog and feel around with a big jig, or better yet, a 4 oz bell sinker on a hand line. Use a big sinker and superline, and you can tell what's down there pretty easily. sand with thump, rocks will clunk...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

[Daze Off]

Put your trim all the way down and let your lower unit do the work - gauranteed to work (at least for me)....

Daze Off

[bassNspear]

i second that remark!!!!!!!!!!!