Before Electronics? 2024
N.Y. Yankee reply :
How did folk find fish, or good spots to try, before sonars and fish finders?
Crestliner2008 reply :
Simple. We used drop lines to pattern the structure. A 50' length of parachute cord tied every 5' for the first 15', then every 10' there after. Tied a heavy stove bolt on the end and you were good to go. Then I got my first "Green Box"! 
12poundbass reply :
Fish the lake. I don't use a sonar unit (I will soon enough). I've fished blind my entire life. If I find a good spot I use a land mark as a reference point.
2tall79 reply :
I remember my dad bought a tube like device from Herter's that let you see below the surface. We would also attach a balloon to a perch or crappie and release it to follow the school.
lo n slo reply :
my search tool was a texas rigged purple worm.
Mike L reply :
Ask around the neighborhood discreetly, look for likely areas that "should" hold fish, fish it at different times, use every kind of presentation you can.
Bottom line is, just fish it hard every chance you get.
Mike
BuzzHudson19c reply :
I have never used electronics. Structure, current, baitfish activity, bird activity, wind and a multitude of other things. Time on the water can teach you a lot.
RAMBLER reply :
We used to push an oar down in the water. If we hit bottom, it was shallow. If we didn't hit bottom, it was deep.
bassh8er reply :
I might be getting old (31)and consider myself a diehard fisherman.
The other day I realized I left my 2 Helix units at the house once I got to the ramp, and, SERIOUSLY, considered towing the rig home for the day.
Never minded fishing blind before I got my electronics and now it's one of my favorite things about fishing.
If I left my Vexilar unit at home for ice fishing, I wouldn't even consider going.
flyfisher reply :
Topo maps and dragging bottom baits.
Hot Rod Johnson reply :
Please click on this link: I used some of the information before I bought a flasher...
Success through Fishing Maps:
In the last 30 years hydrographic maps (with contours) have come into their own as fishing equipment has moved through a sea change of technology – quality depthfinders, GPS, underwater cameras, along with huge changes in rods, reels and terminal tackle.
http://learninghowtofish.com/fishing-success-through-maps/
Bluebasser86 reply :
I used a deep diving crankbait to find cover and structure when I had my 2 man with no depthfinder on it.
Catt reply :
Did a lotta casting 
Doelman reply :
Trolling cranks
WRB reply :
Trail and error. We trolled deep diving lures to find bass or did what 90% of bass anglers do today, we casted to shoreline targets and fished weed beds.
Tom
J Francho reply :
On 6/28/2017 at 10:29 PM, WRB said:Trail and error. We trolled deep diving lures to find bass
Exactly how I located smallmouth on Lake Ontario, even with old, dated electronics. Catch three in a certain pass, anchor up, and soak tubes.
N.Y. Yankee reply :
Thanks for all your input!
Crestliner2008 reply :
Spoonplugging also helped me out quite a bit in the early years as well. God Bless Buck Perry!
gimruis reply :
On 6/28/2017 at 1:21 AM, 12poundbass said:Fish the lake. I don't use a sonar unit (I will soon enough). I've fished blind my entire life. If I find a good spot I use a land mark as a reference point.
Two problems with that. One, how do you know its deep enough to run an outboard through and two, how do you fish a big body of water that you can't see a land reference point from?
Hot Rod Johnson reply :
Amazing! Thought that I may of been the only fisherman on this site that ever "SPOON PLUG FISHED"... I still have his Books and Magazines that he sold many years ago... I have his special "Rods, Reels, Lures, No-Bo Metered Trolling Line , Stainless Metal Trolling Line , Stainless Swivels , Stainless Interlocking Snaps #3, Stainless Interlocking Snaps #2 , and Spoon Plug Lures"... All of the information that he was teaching back then was "Trail Blazing" and still holds true for today's Bass fishing... Please check his web sites out for additional information...
WHAT SPOON PLUGGING REALLY IS!
http://www.spoonplug.net/
https://www.bucksspoonplugs.com/
12poundbass reply :
On 6/29/2017 at 9:21 AM, Hot Rod Johnson said:Amazing! Thought that I may of been the only fisherman on this site that ever "SPOON PLUG FISHED"... I still have his Books and Magazines that he sold many years ago... I have his special "Rods, Reels, Lures, No-Bo Metered Trolling Line , Stainless Metal Trolling Line , Stainless Swivels , Stainless Interlocking Snaps #3, Stainless Interlocking Snaps #2 , and Spoon Plug Lures"... All of the information that he was teaching back then was "Trail Blazing" and still holds true for today's Bass fishing... Please check his web sites out for additional information...
WHAT SPOON PLUGGING REALLY IS!
When most fisherman are asked what spoon plugging really is, most will say it is a method of "Trolling", or "Suspended Speed Trolling". Many others think it is the exclusive of the "Spoon Plug Lure". Very few fishermen know what the true definition and meaning of "Spoon Plugging" really is... "Spoon Plugging" was the word that was coined by Buck Perry to describe the basic knowledge needed to become a successful fisherman... It means being at the right place at the right time, presenting your lures in the right manner to arrive at the fish consistently.
http://www.spoonplug.net/
https://www.bucksspoonplugs.com/
Spoonpluger in learning here thanks to T9
12poundbass reply :
On 6/29/2017 at 8:58 AM, gimruis said:
Two problems with that. One, how do you know its deep enough to run an outboard through and two, how do you fish a big body of water that you can't see a land reference point from?
I personally wouldn't run fast at all in an unknown body of water, even with a depth finder and you're on plane you run into 18" of water by the time you see it you're in trouble.
GPS has been readily available for 30-40 years? What did fisherman do for tens of thousands of years before GPS? Fished the water! Trial and error my friend.
J Francho reply :
On 6/29/2017 at 9:29 AM, 12poundbass said:Spoonpluger in learning here thanks to T9
Accidental spoonplugger. Never realized I was doing it. Watched my uncle dissect pelagic salmon while mating on his salmon charter, and sort of applied the techniques from there. It's not all exactly the same, but trolling theory isn't as simple as it is boring.
XpressJeff reply :
Thank you all!
Threads like this are GREAT.
I may be old but I was a city kid. It's cool to read about "old school" methods!
Glenn reply :
Several decades ago, when "Flashers" were all the rage and too expensive for my wallet, I looked at the topography of the shoreline and "imagined" it as it went underwater...continued the slope, if you will.
I also looked at the docks. Short docks = steeper drop/deeper water; long docks = flat, shallow water with slow tapers.
Knowing your plantlife helps too. Reeds and cattails grow in hard bottoms, lily pads in softer, and so on.
And finally, for decades, I would use "triangulation" to locate and "mark" spots. You locate at least 3 landmarks and make note of their relative locations when you find a spot. That way you can return to that spot by lining up those landmarks. When I got my first gps unit, that's how I entered all my waypoints - I revisited all those spots and entered them in my gps unit.
Bankbeater reply :
We use to hit the button on the reel and drop a jig, or a t-rig, straight down. After it would hit the bottom we would take up the slack until the rod tip was touching the surface of the water. Then raise the rod up and see if we could see the bait on the end.
Neil McCauley reply :
I grew up using those "hot spots" maps and other paper contour maps. Man, what a joke compared to what we have now from compiling everyone's sonar data. There was structure in places I didn't even know about and actual reasons some is better than others. I wouldn't see how much the geology and the entire ecosystem matters without electronics. Same thing with sonar. So when I go and learn about those things now and do better because of it, you see how electronics do a lot more than give immediate info.
3dees reply :
the truth is that before electronics, most fishermen didn't know squat about structure and cover and how fish relate to it. Buck Perry wasn't only about "spoonplugging". he was the father of structure fishing. the problem is you can't fish structure without electronics. yes. fish were caught before graphs but I would say most were caught shallow where electronics are less important.
scaleface reply :
I just guessed . Look at the topography of the land and imagine it under water . I only fished a couple of years without sonar .
WRB reply :
The first recreational sonar units were just coming on the market as I graduated from high school, the Lowrance Red box followed by the Green portable Lo K Tor.
Where I grew up my home lake was very low do to the drought of the 50's and most other SoCal lakes were under construction and filling, so I knew first hand what the lake bottoms structure looked like. This was a big advantage when the lakes filled and studying contours with a flasher unit in the early 60's.
What is common knowledge today wasn't known to the general bass anglers before Ray Scott started B.A.S.S. Information was learned by reading Jason Lucas in Sports Afield or Robert Linclon in Outdoor life magazines. I never heard of Buck Perry until the late 60's when he was promoting his Spoon Plugs so he had no impact on my structure learning curve.
Tom
Catt reply :
To me two of the game changers was the electric trolling motor & the depth finder.
I remember quite vividly remember sitting on the front of a Jon boat with 2' paddle "sculling" along the bank. The trolling motor increased the amount of water I could cover in a day.
The depth finder connected all the "dots" of what I perceived to be true concerning structure.
RPreeb reply :
Just fished. We mostly fished the same lake all the time, so we covered a lot of it, and when we found a spot away from shore, we triangulated it with shore landmarks. We had a good crappie hole and another bluegill spot when food fishing. We had a bunch of spots on our part of the lake that were tried and proven for finding bass. Now and then one of us would hook up with a walleye or northern when fishing for something else, but there was never a real sweet spot that we found for them.
I still don't have any electronics, but then I don't have a boat or even a canoe at this point, so it's pretty much irrelevant.
N Florida Mike reply :
2 ways I defined depth when I was a teen at the home lake.
• I wade fished. When you came to a drop off, you knew it!
• When I found the drop off ,I went back with a long cane pole with each foot marked and measured it. Maximum depth was only 9 feet but I wanted to be specific.
After I found the deeper holes I just went there and anchored and fished a giant Mann's jelly worm.Big fish hung out there esp. In summer. You can/ could always find fish because the lake is under 30 acres.
On a larger lakes and rivers we fished docks,cypress trees and pockets in weeds and weed edges. Nobody I knew fished " offshore" back then.
the reel ess reply :
Well, we fished for crappie before sonar was really popular. We either put out the fish attractor or we know who did. Most were near shore so landmarks helped relocate them. The state also put out some and marked them with buoys. But ours were almost always better.
As for bass, we would pound the banks in the spring when they would bite until early summer. You could blindly fish general areas where you saw others fish and narrow down the good spots that way.
Now I fish smaller bodies of water that you can pretty much mentally graph with your lure. A C-rig is a good depth finder and fish locator and will tell you the composition of the bottom.
GrumpyOlPhartte reply :
My early fishing was with a Zebco 202 on a no-name pole (purchased at Western Auto of all places)in French Creek and the Allegheny River. Only "knew" two things.
First, it seemed the fish all swam upstream when I disturbed them ... or ...
Second, they bolted for deeper water.
So I would walk up to the North end of town and wade down toward my house, a distance of around a mile.
I'd fan cast starting out deeper and work my way into shore. Then I'd wade down a few yards and repeat as necessary.
My philosophy was that if they spooked, they'd be headed into water I had already fished. And I did catch enough bass to keep my interest, but back then a good day resulted in maybe a half dozen. I always let them go because I wasn't sure how to clean them.
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