As we move toward winter one thing that is always obvious on many lakes is that they drop the water level on many of our best fishing lakes. Some view this as a problem but I few it as an opportunity to learn plenty about your lake. The lake draw down allows you to see the change in the lake structure which many times occur yearly as current and wind can move structure around the lake. 

In the days before some of newest and greatest electronics, I would go to some of the area lakes that really dropped the water in great depth and take pictures of the structure. I actually would take those pictures put them in an album type book divided by lake and use them as a resource the next time I fished that particular body of water. There is an enormous amount of things you can learn by moving around the lake during these draw downs. 

As we all know bass like subtle drops, corners, depth change and more; when your taking your joy ride to discover the structure during these draw-downs all the key elements are right there in front of you. Making mental notes or even taking pictures can help you when you go back to that same spot; the key pieces of structure in the lake along with the bends and change is in your memory bank. Many times, as I have stated before, angles of presentation can be everything, boat alignment on a structure means the difference in catching or just fishing. When you have visualized a rock pile for example and understand how it lays on the bottom and the depth, points and current are taken into account you can now make an informed decision as to how fish this particular rock pile. 

These informed decisions are there because you did this work to understand your lake structure; giving you a heads up and an advantage over others. Mental notes, written notes, pictures and today’s electronics can be a difference maker. When you’re informed it doesn’t matter if your fishing or doing your job at your work location, information helps you make better decisions and better decisions lead great results; or as some call it “luck.” To me “luck is when “preparation meets opportunity.” 

To fish with Captain Mike Gerry visit fishlakeguntersvilleguideservice.com