If you want to add a little mystery to your fishing and have a great time with family, a fishing buddy, or simply in solitude, hit the road for the unknown. Head to a lake neither you nor anyone else you know has ever seen.
Sound on the absurd side? Not really. Fishing unknown waters is a great way to expand your knowledge of how to fish different types of water, from lure selection and presentation to changing habitats and water depths.
It should not be surprising to many that there are a considerable number of lakes the average angler knows little to nothing about. Just look at a state highway map or atlas, and you'll discover how many big and small lakes are out there that you've never seen.
If you own only a bass rig, you will have fewer lakes to access, but you will still have plenty of places to go. There are lots to choose from, including many small city-owned reservoirs that typically draw little fishing pressure.
If you own a Jon boat, small plastic boat, kick boat, or float tube, everything is wide open. Small city water-supply lakes, community ponds and lakes, and many large reservoirs, are so numerous it would astound you. For example, in the Fort Worth-Dallas and surrounding area, there are more than 80 community lakes ranging in size from one acre to more than 55 acres, to give you a clue. Imagine how many similar waters are in metropolitan and rural areas.
I prefer the rural route. At least once a year, I shove either a kick boat or flat-bottom aluminum boat into the back of my pickup truck and head for a lake I've only recently discovered on a map or through conversations with a farmer, rancher, or store owner at a country town during the previous deer or turkey hunting season.
But I need to head straight to this newly-learned mystery lake. I check the route I'm going to take ahead of time for other small lakes, which may be just a few miles off the road. Sometimes I make it to the destination lake. Other times, it'll just have to wait until I'm through fishing another newly-found lake.
I made a long half-circle road trip a couple of years ago, just checking out a few of these oldies. In all, I visited eight small lakes. I fished the ones that looked the most inviting, scouted a few for future reference, and shook my head in pity at one that had completely dried up during a drought.
While the trip may sound like I had a lot of spare time on my hands, the truth is that I was saving myself some time for the future. By visiting those eight lakes on one trip, I narrowed the list down to the ones I would target on future trips and not waste time heading to one that lacked enough water to float even my kick boat.
If you like to camp out as I do, some of these rural lakes can provide you with the wide-open spaces you are looking for in an outing with family or friends. But even if you don't camp overnight, picnicking and fishing at an uncrowded location is a hard combination to beat.
As I mentioned earlier, locating these small lakes can be as simple as looking over a state map or atlas. Many of the larger ones are very evident, and their names are listed. Others are shown simply as tiny blotches of blue, perhaps no larger than the head of a pin.
Under most circumstances, you should be able to find these little jewels simply by driving the roads and looking for them. But if that fails and you want to save some time, call or visit a local chamber of commerce, game warden, sheriff's department, or feed store.
Asking questions of the local game warden always is a good idea because many of the lakes you may plan to visit are listed outside the wildlife department's hunting-fishing regulations booklet, and they may have specific fishing regulations you should be aware of.
Mysteries are there for you to discover, and the fishing is there, just waiting for you to make it happen.
What are you waiting for?
