How To Identify A Finger?

[Kevin McClure]

I need some feedback on spotting a finger while following a breakline. In John Bales DVD’S, it shows a change in depth. The smaller the finger, the smaller the depth change. (I believe it showed just a couple of feet on the smaller fingers) The larger fingers had a larger drop/depth change of four to five feet. One of my questions is: on what side of the finger is the depth change. Before the finger or on the other side of the finger or both?
One reason I ask is that on Don Dickson’s: On The Water: Mapping and Interpretation Video, it shows him throwing a marker at the beginning of the finger and then turning out to follow the finger all the way around it. He’s looking for the contact point. My question is: how do you spot a finger on this side of it. Does it shallow up at the beginning of the finger and then drop off when you get back on the breakline on the other side of it?
All feedback would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Fran Myers]

Fingers are not so much a depth change but a shape change.

Think about a bar where it's a triangle with the point in the direction of the deep water. To identify the shape you've driven your boat at a break line depth. Before you did this you should have driven your boat from the shallow top to the deep water. You did this to determine the depths of the break lines. That's how you found the depth that gave you shape of the bar and then you drove your boat from one side of the bar around the whole structure at that depth. And you may have driven aggressively left and right to stay on the particular depth you were following...

Now lets say the pass that you made from the shallows to the deep showed you there were 5 different depths that gave you a change in depth. The biggest depth change would be the first depth youd use to show the shape of the bar. However, once you get the first shape you are not finished. You must follow the other 4 depths to get the total picture. Now when you follow the rest of the depths around the bar, in order to follow the same depth, you may go in directions different than the main shape of the bar. Do this for all the depths. A finger is some shape going off the original bar. It's attached but its a different direction.

To help illustrate fingers - look at your hand. Stick your fingers out straight but keep all the fingers together like a Karate Chop. That is a sort of a bar shape using one depth to determine the shape. Now spread your fingers out so there is maximum space between them. You still have the main structure shape but now you have 5 fingers (convenient isn't it) off the main structure. Any one of them could be the contact point and further work needs to be done to determine which.

Now in the Don Dickson video, you saw Don throwing markers to locate a finger. The trigger for the marker wasn't the change in depth, but the change in direction. Remember in the exercise he was determining the shape of the structure.

It sounds like a lot of work but even large structures don't take that long. The biggest problem for me is the discipline to complete the process. Sometimes the answers are quite obvious, other times its more complicated.

As to what the depths will be and why. There's no clear way that I can guess what they'll be ahead of time. Every situation is different. And by putting a lure on the structure is where you'll get those answers.

Fingers are shapes. After you find the fingers and the deep water in relation to the structure, you can determine the contact point pretty easily.

[beckman44]

Fran, that reply should be laminated and put in everyones spoonplugging handbook. Great stuff. Bill.

[Steve Craig]

I agree with Bill!
Fran that was an excellent post!

"The trigger for the marker wasn't the change in depth, but the change in direction. Remember in the exercise he was determining the shape of the structure."

In my eyes, it is both.
The reason Don, (and John too), changed direction was because as he was following a specific depth to find the shape, what caused him to make a direction change was because he experienced a sudden depth change at that spot, causing him to have to turn out to keep his desired depth he was running. And also to turn back in as well.

[Fran Myers]

You're right Steve. The shape is determined by the change in depth. I was trying to keep it simple and not rewrite the green book.

[Kevin McClure]

Thanks for the good answers. They were all really helpful.

[phillip szafranski]

Kevin,

You received great guidance in the responses previously offered. I would like to add that when on the water presenting lures on the features, you need to keep your trolling passes straight while working deeper on the structural features. The straight line passes will aid in your interpretation of a structure and identify anything you may have missed when attempting to map by following depths without lures.

Good luck in your fishing!

[Kevin McClure]

Thanks for the feedback, Phillip. I bet your looking forward to spring with all the cold weather you've been having. Thanks again. Kevin

[DouglasBush]

My twisted sense of humor forces me into posting this comment about "fingers".
Somehow, I am reminded of my recent doctor visit and the usual prostate exam for old guys like me. 'Nuff said.

[Ben Marcos]

My twisted sense of humor forces me into posting this comment about "fingers".
Somehow, I am reminded of my recent doctor visit and the usual prostate exam for old guys like me. 'Nuff said.

Ya, the deepest finger usually receives the initial movement.

[John Bales]

Ben, You hit that one just right!!!!!!!!!!!! John

[Ben Marcos]

......

[DouglasBush]

My twisted sense of humor forces me into posting this comment about "fingers".
Somehow, I am reminded of my recent doctor visit and the usual prostate exam for old guys like me. 'Nuff said.

Ya, the deepest finger usually receives the initial movement.

I have no words.......
Douglas