We booked a few days at Thanksgiving time at Berryessa...this is a confusing big lake with arms and coves over a mile deep. My wife and I have been turned around and confused about where we were in relation to where we were trying to go...

I got a big full sized mylar map that has all the popular coves and hot spots identified. It helps tremendously to be able to see where we were in the arms we got turned around in when we gave up and headed back to what we knew. We also got GPS tracking on new fishfinders so that we could get back the way we went which is a big plus, but I feel like I now know where it is I am when I do the things we did again. Plus the last time I was out my friend and I went to the dam, and out to the main part of the lake which helped better orient me to the lake.

The main key here is that I've been watching guide videos of the fall fishing, they show what lures they are using, how to rig, how far back, speed, etc., but the key piece was often not knowing the area they were fishing even though they would call it by the geographic reference. Now I can see several great places to troll, how fast, and what to switch over to when the fishing slows down in the mid morning. I'm set up to do everything like several guys have shown, and knowing exactly where to go is a huge confidence builder.

Now if we can get the usual nice but cold Thanksgiving weather without rain we're on!