It's been said that it would take a lifetime (or more) to truly know one square acre of land. Knowing means every nuance, every detail, literally everything about it. 

 

I fish a small 12 acre pond and every trip out I learn something new about it's structure and personality.

 

Do you really KNOW the body of water you fish?

I have fished my favorite lake for 5 years.  I know two things.  How to get there, and I can get skunked on any given day.

18 minutes ago, king fisher said:

I have fished my favorite lake for 5 years.  I know two things.  How to get there, and I can get skunked on any given day.

I was just going to post the same thing, only I've been fishing them for 50 years !

I consider Okeechobee my home lake as I’ve fished it longer and more often than any other down here. 
The first thing you learn, and it doesn’t take long, is that no lake changes as often as The Lake. 
It’s like most things tho the more you do the more you learn. 

It’s gotten a lot of bad press the last few years but nothing of what you hear or read is the whole story. (nothing ever is)
There are certain areas in certain conditions that scream what to use and how to use it, and others that scream just as loud to just move on.
But to truly know what you’re looking at doesn’t come with a few outings a year. 
 

The more you put into it, the more you get out of it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike

I've fished the same 2 old gravel pits for 25 years. Do I truly know them? Ill just say I feel pretty confident when I go out. That said we get flooding often and the river gets in and does all kinds of stuff I.E deposits silt, relocates brush piles, deposits new piles. Probably the reason I keep fishing these same 2 little bodies of water is they are familiar enough for comfort but change enough to keep me invested. Plus we've got a wide variety of species available in them...white bass, largemouth, smallmouth, bluegill, crappie, walleye and channel cats are all common catchs.

No. It’s impossible to learn the river because it’s ever changing.

I can say that I KNOW my favorite lake that is part of a river system between two dams.  It doesn't change much because the water level is stable.  I've been fishing it 2 or 3 times a week for the last 25 years.  I like going to familiar places in the morning but will use the afternoon to go to sections that I have never visited before so I've been around most of this lake that is pretty big.  I know the lake but that doesn't mean I know the fish.  

 

I forgot to say that the water is very clear usually.  You can see 20 feet down most times.  So this helps with the KNOWING part.

The small lakes I fish have sunken brush-piles that I cant find because I'm in a small plastic boat with elec motor only. The anglers in bass boats know exactly where they are and I watch them parade from one spot to another and they catch fish.  I patrol  shallow visible cover and feel I know a lot of nuances  that they dont know about. I fish the brush-piles I can find but dont spend a lot of time trying to hunt them down. Now two of the ones  I found I marked them by tying small strips of yellow cloth on shore-line trees. I thought they were inconspicuous but apparently not because somebody removed them . So I learn more about the lakes everytime out and catch my share.

23 minutes ago, Reel said:

I know the lake but that doesn't mean Iknow the fish.  

This says it all.

It is truly amazing how little I know about my home lake. It is just 220 acres, but loaded with standing timber, brush piles, rip-rap, weed-beds, creek channels, and off-shore structure. 

 

I hope to get MEGA 360 for Christmas, continue to map out this lake, and unlock its secrets.

 

I will likely never truly know this lake...but it sure is fun trying!

 

 

Right off the bat I will say that I fish one of 3 different Lake Menderchucks 90% of the time.

They are sizable bodies of water, and I've only been fishing them hard for, let's say, 9 years.

I feel like I know the follow-

I know where the fish are not, mostly.

I know where everyone else fishes.

I know where the pike are. 

I know where there are some fatties a few times a year.

And finally, I know there is always plenty more to know.

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

A-Jay

 

 

To be a Mississippi River boat pilot, you have to draw the entire navigable river, drawing every wing dam, mile marker, bend, and island, as well as the channel. I don't know my pond that well...yet. If I were to draw it, I'd miss some shoreline notches, but if I were to guide any of you, I could point to a spot that holds fish and tell you to cast there and you'd likely catch a bass. I know a lot of those spots. So, I likely know it better than anyone has ever known it, but I don't know it as well as I will in a year, three years, five years, etc. However, I'll never know it like someone with electronics could learn it. I know where the bass are, but I don't always know why they're there, i.e. what structure is attracting them. 

Nope! I thought my home lake was a bluegill/crappie/stocked trout forage lake. Just yesterday I found a 6” gizzard Shad killed by the cold. First time I’ve ever seen or heard of them in this lake. No mention of them in any of the DNR literature either.

I’m learning every year and so are the fish so it’s a fun game of cat and mouse.

I don't have a particular body of water that I'd call home.

Fish probably 15-20 different lakes per year.

The ones that I've fished many times and had success, I'll go back to the same spots throwing the same baits.

No, I do not truly know any body of water but when I'm on one, I'm truly having fun.

I have a "home" lake that is about 10 minutes away and I discovered a new spot last spring that produced a lot of sizable largemouth.  I've fished this lake 8-10 times/season for almost a decade and did not know about this spot.

Our local public lakes are water storage reservoirs that change structure elements with every draw down and refilling to various pool levels depending on the weather rainfall. Major structures don’t move they erode changing their shape etc. Earthquakes can cause slides changing the underwater topography, not common but they happen.

I have fished the local lakes since the dams were build creating the lakes. Watched the structure elements when dry and underwater every year. I know the geography well but the bass keep changing locations as the prey source changes and other predators come and go. Tournaments have an impact on bass locations and electronics discover new locations.

It’s a never ending learning curve and love the challenge.

Tom

My main lake is a highland reservoir with a dam and the water level can change significantly over time so my answer would be resounding no, but I also kind of like it that way. 

Pffttt I fish small local neighborhood ponds. Lots of fish and some some big ones.  And I can’t even find the fish half the time lol. They sure are smart for such a tiny brain. That sis since fun learning and trying to figure them out lol

Over 1,000 miles of shoreline at normal pool, water levels may fall 15 feet below or rise 35 feet above;  ain't no way to learn it well.  Keeps the boredom at large.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

The small lake that I fish is 26000 acres with 200 miles of shoreline.  I couldn’t learn it well if I were there every day for a hundred years.

Bit bigger than 'Tonka - 14,500 acres, 125 miles of shoreline. Been fishing it off-and-on for almost 40 years and still haven't figured it out.

unless you dug the hole and created the lake/pond..nope

The only lake I can say that I know 80% of is a small 20 acre lake (but it has 3 35-40ft pits in it, so it still has a lot of water). But being so small I can loop around it several times in a day.

A 27000 acre reservoir changes more in one week than I could learn about it in two months. I will be on my deathbed confused about my last fishing trip there.