Dr. Jason Halfen shows how to target crappie and walleye in this web site.

http://www.jasonhalfenoutdoors.com/fallstructure.html

My Friend and I fished Patoka using his Humminbird 1197 c SI unit and his 9000 series Humminbird on the front of his boat. We targeted brush piles in deep water. But the real secrete is to not only find brush piles which there are tons of them on Patoka Lake but to find the ones with FISH ON THEM.

The Side scanning Humminbirds are perfect for this task. We found tons of huge brush piles and logs laying on the bottom of Patoka Lake but you have to sort though them all to find out which ones have fish. Now Jason has read Buck Perry's book on Spoon plugging and he is saying the same thing that Old Buck Perry always said. What's that you say?

Find structure that has the shallow feeding shelves connected directly to deep sanctuary waters. That's the key to going though a topo map and finding the most productive areas to fish. This is why the fishing pros study topo maps before the tournaments or before going fishing. They know that they can eliminate a lot of water by looking at a good topo map and making a plan ahead of time. This way they don't waste any time on the water fishing unproductive areas. Those areas have already been eliminated before hand. Make a plan and fish the plan UNLESS conditions change.

Wind direction is another thing to consider at all times. Especially if the wind is blowing out of one direction consistently for a few days. This mixes the surface waters and drives the warmer surface waters toward the shorelines on the downwind side. Lots of guys will duck into a protected cove to get out of the wind. But the smart fisherman know that the wind can be a friend.

Surface winds create surface currents when they blow consistently out of one direction for several hours. When the wind changes directions then the currents also change direction but they is a little lag before that gets going. I learned about currents when I took Oceanography in College. They work the same way in fresh water but on a much smaller scale.

Turn over at Patoka lake in the Lick fork area may have already occurred but the warm weather we had the last few days has rewarmed up the surface waters in the daytime and slowed down the cooling of the surface waters. It's a battle with the cool nights vs the warm sunny days. But eventually winter will take over and cool the water down to where all the water in the lake is the same relative temperature throughout the entire water column. That's when the mixing of the bottom waters will blend in with the surface waters and enough oxygen will mix down to the bottom to support fish life. Then the fish have the entire water column to roam for food and to seek shelter again. Winter time concentrates the fish into big schools in deep water sanctuaries. This is when areas with steep drop or cliffs can produce fish. All the fish have to do is rise up in the water column to feed and sink back down to rest and hide. Bill Dance did a video where he was fishing such a rocky cliff for crappie during a cold winter's day in Dec.

I just wanted to point out Jason's web site and to let people know that it's full of great information that he is sharing with everyone. I would not recommend it if I didn't agree with what he said in this article. He is spot on!