I've had my boat out 3 times now -- Been fishing farm ponds for the last couple years and bought my first boat this winter.  Man, am I struggling!  I think I'm getting better each time out, but what tips can you share with this amateur lake fishermen?  I've tried many different lures in many different locations in many different conditions at different speeds etc.  (well 3 times)  

HELP!  

Welcome to the site BigBear. The best tip I can give you is go up to the top of this page and click on "Fishing Articles". There is so much information in that section that it will keep you busy for months. It is jam packed full of articles that will teach you how to make the decisions that will but fish in the boat.

Just remeber what you've learned fishing the ponds, the areas that held fish and the areas that never produced a bite and apply that. That big lake is just a bigger pond, you just have to learn to break it down to a pond. This time of the year, concentrate on finding one or two coves about the size of a large pond that have the key features. An old creek channel or two, some back shaded corners that have deeper water with 100 ft (only needs to be a couple of feet deeper as long as there's a sudden drop or ledge, some points that run out with a slow drop on the crest of the point and at least one deeper side that has a fairly quick drop. Usually a cove that the deepest part of it is less than 20 feet at the main creek channel and works it way back getting shallow as it goes. When you find a couple of these, fish them just like you would your pond. There is a good chance they will be holding fish, all you have to do is locate them. They will give you a great education in following the fish in and out of their feeding areas. Some of my best fishing holes on a 70,000 acre lake is a couple of coves that might be 30 acres in size, they produce good numbers of quality fish year round.

Try this..

Go out on the big lake.. Find a area of the lake you might be comfortable in. Now picture that area as your smaller lake..Where would you fish in the smaller lake? Don't look at the big lake as one huge body of water..But rather smaller sections like the lake you are used to.

I used to tell clients that all the time.. They got overwelmed by the sizes of the lakes..I told them to visualize a smaller section.

GuideDog

Great tips -- Thanks guys.  

BEn, nailed it!  If  I were just to take a guess you probably fish certain spots in a pond more than you do others (ie point, neck, dam) just take the information that you used and the same places you fished in the ponds and apply them to the lake!  

Thanks for the info guys. Last Sunday I went to a lake and got 0  :'(, I could have use the information presented here, but hey there is always next time!!