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Tagged with:  Everyday Maps  •  recreation  •  topographical

Fishing, like a lot of other activities, can be aided with the help of a good map. A fishing map may show things like

• Lake Size & Elevation
• Known Fish Species
• Underwater Bottom Conditions
• Depth Contours
• Boat Ramp Locations
• River Inlets, Feeder Creeks, & Canals
• Submerged Brush & Rock Reefs

Let’s take a look at a map for a man-made lake or reservoir:

Depth
Many maps are color coded to give you a visual indication of depth. The colors generally range from dark blue for the deepest (like near the dam) to light blue at the shallow upper arms. Some maps will also show areas of timber or stumps with boat paths indicated.

The maps will also have contour lines like a topographical map, but will show depth instead of height. The contour lines are usually in increments of 5 or 10 feet, and like a other contour maps, the closer the lines are together the faster the depth change. Here’s an example of some contour lines and color differences:

The contour lines will also show the major channels and how far a point might go out into the lake.

What’s down there
The map might also who underwater structures like houses, old railroad tracks, wells, levees, tank dams, cemeteries, roads, and bridges. The maps will also show the distance from the dam in miles as you go up the lake. Some maps will even show channel markers to give you the best path down the lake. Here’s an example of a map showing man made fishing structures, an old road, and the original river channel:

Known Fish Species
The map might list the fish species that are in the lake or river. Here is an example of one with a couple of types of fish marked.

Boat Ramps
Of course, you need to get your boat in the water to go fish. So the map will show where the public ramps are. The symbols vary sightly from map to map, but usually the ramps will be easy to find.

Let’s go fishing!
Now that you know a little about fishing maps, you can read up on how to use them for fishing. On The Ultimate Bass Fishing Resource Bonita Staples has written about Understanding Lake Maps. Go on and checking out - you’ll be all ready for spring fishing.

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 26th, 2006 at 8:34 am and is filed under Everyday Maps. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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