Hey guys. I don't know if any of you have thought of this or not, but Google Earth is a great way to find ponds and lakes in your area. Just search your city/town, turn on geographic features, and scan for bodies of water. You can turn on road names too, makes it really easy to find what you're looking for. Just letting everybody know in case you didn't already.

this is a good tip.  I actually used this method before Google earth.  The USGS (United States Geological Survey) has aerial photo's of every inch of the US.  

Funny story.

I found this "body of water" very near to my house.  It was really hairy to get to.

The bushes down Florida way grow teeth just like the gators and the cottonmouths.  I got all scratched up blazing my trail.   I was so hyped.  It was obvious that no one had come through this mini jungle, and I had visions of 10lbers on every cast.

Well, I get to the secret spot, and it turns out to be little more than a soggy bog with only enough water to hatch mosquitoes. (Lots of BIG mosquitoes)

I got home, covered in scratches and inscet bites.

It was quite the adventure.

I loved it.

I agree, google earth is a great way to find fish. You can also use google maps if you don't want to get the Google earth program. If you look up your location on google maps, turn on the "Satellite" or "Hybrid" map options to see geography and/or roads.

Both google earth and usgs have been used by me for a long time.  Someone on a forum somewhere suggested ACME mapper and it is really good as well.  You can get topo, aerial, and roads off of it.

this is a good tip. I actually used this method before Google earth. The USGS (United States Geological Survey) has aerial photo's of every inch of the US.

Funny story.

I found this "body of water" very near to my house. It was really hairy to get to.

The bushes down Florida way grow teeth just like the gators and the cottonmouths. I got all scratched up blazing my trail. I was so hyped. It was obvious that no one had come through this mini jungle, and I had visions of 10lbers on every cast.

Well, I get to the secret spot, and it turns out to be little more than a soggy bog with only enough water to hatch mosquitoes. (Lots of BIG mosquitoes)

I got home, covered in scratches and inscet bites.

It was quite the adventure.

I loved it.

Im in florida and the same thing happened to me also!  But the water has been so low recently that I really cant be suprised.  Another thing is that google earth cant tell you which bodies are private lakes either.  That gets me more aggrivated more than anything.

I used it a few weeks ago and found a pond about a block south of my American Legion Post which no one at the Post knew exisited.

I will have to find and fish it.

Google Earth is an outstanding tool to locate hidden creeks, etc. and it is a lot cheaper than hiring a private plane to fly over the areas where you fish.

I used Google Earth to find a beautiful fifty acre lake that very few people have even heard of.  It's the municipal water supply for several of the smaller towns in the area.  The good thing about it (at least for me) is that the access road is in terrible shape and goes down a steep rocky incline.  You need a 4WD to get in and out of there - and forget about trying to tow a boat.  My inflatable raft will serve me very well on this little jewel off a lake during the coming months.

That is good advise - I'll have to try it!

I've found a few nice spots with google maps. The only problem is you can't see "private property" signs.  Sometimes you can't actually access that great body of water you find  :'(

I use google earth all the time.

I discovered the lost city of Atlantis using Google Earth.

Senile1, what a coincidence!  A couple of days ago I discoverd Atlantis in Lake Manitoba, as I'm sure you did!  Do you think we should go public with this doscovery?

Ive used Google earth to find some good local spots also that I never knew exsisted, but I only had the free demo for like 10 days, isnt it like $400.00 a year?