WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT A LAKE BEFORE YOU GET
THERE
Using Aerial Reconnaissance
 EDITOR'S
NOTE: According to Rick Clunn of Missouri, four-time
Bassmasters Classic winner and the newly-named best
bass fisherman of all time by bass fishing fans across
the world, "How to fish a new lake is one of the
most-common questions asked by anglers.” “I
particularly hear this question when I'm giving seminars.
I never remember having a seminar where someone didn't
ask me how to fish a new lake," Ken Cook of Meers,
Oklahoma, former fisheries biologist, Megabucks tournament
winner and Bassmasters Classic Champion in 1991, told
me. "If I had to pick one question I can bet on
being asked at any seminar I go to, it is about how
to fish a new lake," Larry Nixon of Bee Branch,
Arkansas, former winner of the Bassmasters Classic,
told me. Apparently everyone is seeking the answer to
the same question. But one question that always should
precede how to fish a new lake is, "What information
should I have about a lake before I go to fish it?"
If you have the proper knowledge about a lake before
you arrive at a lake, then your chances of successfully
catching bass will be far greater.
 One
of the most-effective techniques for learning how to
fish a new lake that has been developed is aerial reconnaissance,
which is a common practice of tournament pros. Many
weekend fishermen believe that aerial reconnaissance
will save them hours and dollars in their attempts to
learn how to fish a new lake.
Once you have gathered the information already discussed
this week -- where the fish should be, the depth of
water they should be in, the type of structure they
should be holding on, the kind of weather you should
be fishing, the clarity of the water, whether the lake
is rising or falling and the areas of the lake that
you should be fishing - then to further insure success
and save time and money, rent an airplane and a pilot,
and fly over the lake. While you are over the lake,
keep the lake map in your lap and a pencil in your hand.
From the air, you will be able to spot the subtle changes
in water clarity that will be difficult to define from
a boat while you are running the lake; you will be able
to see how far out in the water long points come, which
way they turn and how they drop off; and you quickly
and easily will be able to observe where the brush areas,
the boat docks and all the cover in the lake. Also noting
the GPS coordinates for sites you see that you want
to fish later is very important to bass-fishing success
on a new lake.
 "Because
of aerial reconnaissance, I was able to win the several
big tournaments," Rick Clunn remembers. "I
located an area down the lake where there were cedar
trees under the water. The water was so clear that I
could actually watch the bass holding in the trees.
On the last day of the tournament I made a big gamble
and ran to the area - which was a good distance away
- where I had seen the bass from the air. The fish were
still there. I caught them and won the tournament."
Although the money to rent a small plane and a pilot
seems an expensive expenditure, if two anglers split
the cost and fly together, usually the trip will be
much cheaper than if those same two anglers put gas
in a bass boat and spend a day running up and down the
lake trying to learn it. In an hour to 1-1/2-hours above
the lake in an airplane, a sportsman often can learn
more then he will have learned in a week running a boat.
Have you ever wondered how the bass-fishing professionals
can come onto a lake and in a tournament find and catch
more bass than the local fishermen do?  Many
times they will locate new areas to catch bass that
the local fishermen haven't discovered. Often they will
be highly successful in a very short time on a new lake.
They are successful because they do all their homework
and gather the information needed before they arrive
at the lake. Then once the pros are on the water, they
concentrate their fishing time on the water that their
research has told them should be the most productive.
You too can be much more successful when you fish a
new body of water if you use these time-tested techniques
for learning the lake before you arrive at it.
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