Fishing School
Finding Fish [95/5]
Welcome to the Advanced Level module of the Insider Club Curriculum!
These lessons will help ensure that you can always put yourself in good spots to catch inshore saltwater fish even if fishing areas you’ve never been to before.
And please know that the strategies you’ll see apply to you regardless if you’re fishing by foot, kayak, or boat.
Note: Make sure to watch to the end because you’ll see some tricks for finding great spots from online maps even in areas with very murky water.
Finding Spots In The Warmer Months
Finding Spots In The Cold Months
Related Links:

When current and wind are exact opposite what is the deciding factor? Also I’m in the Indian River lagoon and tide is much less since there are only small inlets to ocean miles and miles apart, so I assume tide is only important near those inlets?
When I am fishing the Indian River or any other similar body of water with light current flow, I focus on the wind for positioning. Yes, the current direction is only a big factor when fishing the inlets.
Luke, in the warmer months video example of the wind and current flowing from the west and southwest respectively, where would you position yourself to worn artificial lures? Wanting to be in a position of casting up current for natural flow presentation, but in to the wind poses conflict. Thanks for any tips!
Yes, the ideal positioning for lures is to be down current from the ideal strike zone so that you can retrieve your lure with the current flow… the stronger the current, the more important this is (and a very current makes the positioning inconsequential).
Hi Luke>
In the advance section of the fishing school, under the knot review>. The instructions for the blood knot are not found. Also, the video for the FG knot and the crazy alberto are not showing up.
thanks
Steve
Throughout the courses I’ve noticed you rarely mention using the shaded relief layer in the tool. Is there a reason for that? Do you not find it that helpful?
Great question Scott. That layer is helpful, but I find myself favoring the 1-foot contour layer to get a read on bottom contour fluctuations over the shaded relief (both essentially show the same intel, just in different ways).
The times I use the shaded relief is when I’m fishing areas like in Tampa Bay where the High Res imagery is available… that is a total game changer for finding rocks and ledges.
I am looking for any advice for fishing on south of Lafayette, Louisiana, weeks Bay, Vermilion Bay, even the point near the hammock. I’m pretty good at catching redfish, but locating the space and finding the right gear to use has been troubling. I bought a live scope and have it dialed in. I’m really hoping to use all the instruments that my boat has, it’s only a 17 foot express so it’s not a huge bait boat to get me to marsh Island.
Send me a copy
Thank you. I will need to learn how to download the maps on my phone.
Great layout and way to elevate the courses
I see message that Video does not exist
These videos are hosted on Vimeo which is the 2nd largest video hosting platform in the world (only youtube is bigger), and it appears to be down for some reason. Please check back again soon because the video will be back as soon as vimeo gets back on board.
Okay thank you video is back up
How much of spring and fall is a guessing game before you see where the bait and birds are at on the water?
The most birds and bait will most often be holding in zones with the most structure with good water flow. So the same types of spots that we teach for finding in Smart Fishing Spots will most often hold a good amount of bait/birds too.