I've heard about people using Google Earth to scope out fishy spots. I was wondering if anyone on here does the same thing and has some tricks and tips you'd like to share. Perhaps there's a better program out there most don't know about. Anyway just looking for your thoughts and input

Thanks

Theres a plugin that you can get for google earth that will show depths in certain areas, I cant recall its name. The other good ones are USGS surface water plugins which will show you flow data for the stream/river gages and lake depths that have them. Using this data you can find out if youre dealing with high or low water, rising water, falling water and the water temp without leaving the house.

 

A topographic map plugin can show you contours of man made lakes and creek channels. You can use google to also find things like blow downs, backwater areas...

It looks like this might be the layer you need to get lake depth

 

http://nhd.usgs.gov/

 

Heres the USGS plugin

 

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/gec-dynamic-data-layers/UxapqRfx138/uvn4A74Y1xAJ

ACME mapper 2.1 is all inclusive for what you want and you can print the screen view you have.

I have used it for finding shore cover at my local lake.  2 years ago we were in extreme drought and my lake was down about 8-10 ft.  It exposed a lot of the shoreline cover.  I printed out pictures of submerged stumps, rocks, etc.  Now that the lake is filled back in they are covered up and are good spots to hit when fish are shallow.  I do know that they update the images periodically so if you find something you should print out the pic of it and mark it on your map. 

Google Earth is the only program I use there is a icon that that has a clock with a counterclockwise green arrow toward the top left of the screen if u click it u can look back over time at pics of the lake you fish. It showed me the 20 acre Lake I fish completely drained so I could see all the rock piles.... It helped me out tons

Google Earth is the only program I use there is a icon that that has a clock with a counterclockwise green arrow toward the top left of the screen if u click it u can look back over time at pics of the lake you fish. It showed me the 20 acre Lake I fish completely drained so I could see all the rock piles.... It helped me out tons

 

That is cool!!  Did not know that.  Thanks for the tip on being able to look back over time. 

I just read last night that there is a feature on google earth to look at locations at different times of year which was pointed out for fisherman is being great to look at water when its low and spotting objects and making them for when your out and the water is normal or high.

Google Earth is the only program I use there is a icon that that has a clock with a counterclockwise green arrow toward the top left of the screen if u click it u can look back over time at pics of the lake you fish. It showed me the 20 acre Lake I fish completely drained so I could see all the rock piles.... It helped me out tons

 

 

woops sorry didnt refresh before i posted lol

I found all my secret spots using Google Earth

Earth also has a measuring tool. How accuate it is not sure but I gives me an idea on the distance to some poi's. I used it to check this aerator from shore distance, Kinami Palm Trees easily go past it. Now what worth that is

 

Same lake check this underwater road that connected the points at one time. Drop-off to each side great place to fish.

 

Great tips! I will definitely have to scope out some of those plugins.

Ill go look at my area on there. First I'll use just the normal map and look for anything blue since it indicates water. Then I'll zoom in and change to satellite mode and see what it looks like. See how I will get in and out, check out the banks and see if I can see any structure or cover. 

I love google earth and use it all the time especially on new waters.  Some cool stuff guys have mentioned about going back in time.  Great for lakes with changing water levels.

 

The university of Florida has a cool site for Florida fisherman all over the state.  There is a free site with over 100 state topo maps of the favorite bass lakes.  You can print them out before hitting a new Fla. lake.  A big help when planning a trip.

I found all my secret spots using Google Earth

Same here. I know every single pond within 30 miles from my house and have all their latitude and longitude coordinates recorded in a password protected document.

Acme Mapper is way better plus it has a topo feature!

Whoa. Lots of responses. Thank all. Def going to use it now. Acme mapper as well. Now if this cold would just get out of here

I can't wait to check out Google Earth! I had been using Google Maps just on my browser in the past, time for me to step it up! Being able to go back in time, (One picture above showed you could go back as far as 1998 wow!) and noticing structure is going to be so useful for someone like with me with no boat or depthfinder! Great tips here

Is anyone else besides me unable to get the Acme Mapper page to load? I've tried it on 2 different computers - Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Chrome, and Safari.....none load. Other pages of the site work though, it's just the main map page that won't load.

I like the Navionics WebApp for topo purposes. I think there is also a feature you can turn on and it (if my understanding is correct) uses data collected from units that have been out on the water to give more recent depth numbers. I think that's the function and how it works but I'm not entirely sure. Either way it's pretty awesome.

Been using it for years. And Its unreal when you show people how to change the year your looking at. It blows there minds. Guy on a crappie board the other day, found out how good it was when he could see the different water levels of the lake.

I use this with google earth. But it will give you the same view from above to find your fishing spot. But also let you see the contour lines of the lake. http://www.navionics.com/en/webapp

But this program shows better detail on some lakes that Google does not allow you to zoom in on good. http://www.flashearth.com/ Set on Yellow creek at Pickwick Goat Island on this view.

Pete

I use google maps, but I like to fish skinny water where trees can hide a lot, Bing maps has plenty of winter shots that show areas without vegetation, plus the water is normally clearer in the Winter months

Is anyone else besides me unable to get the Acme Mapper page to load? I've tried it on 2 different computers - Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Chrome, and Safari.....none load. Other pages of the site work though, it's just the main map page that won't load.

After reading some of this post I googled Acme Mapper 2.0 but it returns Acme Mapper 2.1 then tells me that I must update my internet explorer browser or upgrade to google chrome. Don't know if this is your problem. Is it difficult to uprade Internet Explorer? I would like to try Acme Mapper.

No, its as simple as click here and agree.

 

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/download-ie