Underwater map dowsing

[Red_desert]

Once growing up as a youth, back on a family fishing trip vacation, I spotted a sunken boat through the clear lake water. We had just finished trolling a shallow bar for fish, which runs across the center of Bear Lake in Michigan. Heading back to the cabin, running the 10 hp boat motor only half speed, off to my left was the outline of a boat deep down but quite visible that day. Here is looking across the lake from where we stayed.

At the cabin, my dad mentioned this to the cabin resort owner. He said a high speed racing boat, had flipped over as the boat was tested on the lake before being used for boat races. I don't know how a boat could just sink, unless the driver hit something in the water. They do bring out logs/brush in the winter time, let it sink as the ice melts off the water. You would think the logs had been weighted down properly, to avoid boating accidents. Cabins were small but nice located on the SW lake shore.

Many years later during the recession after George Bush Sr, declared victory in the "Desert Storm" war with Iraq, my dad decides to plan a fishing trip once more to Bear Lake. Construction was slower than slow, got me a factory job for a while, production slowed down to only 2 work days a week. My dad paid for the cabin, so I went along for a 2 week fishing vacation.

This is a DNR map, very similar to nautical charts, shows depth of shallow bars, islands, drop-offs, etc. while deeper water is shown as blank space. The red X is the location I spotted the sunken boat, the red arrow, the area we trolled along for smallmouth bass.

 

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[Red_desert]

Having returned to Bear Lake with my dad again, this was in the early 1990s. I did not own a GPS unit or computer, Internet technology wasn't what we have now. This also at a time before purchasing the first metal detector. Articles in treasure magazines about dowsing, inspired me enough to learn the techniques of map dowsing, while saving up to buy a good brand of detector.

I found a large contour lake map in the cabin, the type with depth lines to the deepest points. My dowsing back then was done by lead pendulums, all of them home-made. In fact, they were constructed from fishing tackle. Map pictured here (not Bear Lake) and a lead worm weight pendulum.

To make a pendulum, I used a slip sinker (such as used to fish plastic worms), 40 lb. braided nylon line. A tool made to make room for pegging the line with a toothpick. It was just a piece of dowel rod with a finish nail put in the end. The nail head then clipped off, filed to a point.

Once pegged after applying superglue, the lead is spayed with enamel spray paint. Line length should be 12" or more to wrap around your hand. Lead pendulums were in use by dowsers, common but had chains instead of a string. Since then, toxic effects of lead have become publicized, lead is usually not considered by dowsers. If you do make a lead pendulum, it should be an old slip sinker or soak overnight in half water/vinegar solution to oxidize before painting.

A cold front moved through as we left on our trip to Bear Lake. A couple of experienced bass fisherman, staying at the same cabins, came in both had nice bass boats but fishless. They said nothing would bite, not even a perch. I'll tell more about their luck later. Below is a Google map of where the racing boat flipped, sinking to the bottom. Not sure how or why the boat could sink, maybe the engine weight caused it along with a design flaw that just didn't keep this speedy watercraft afloat. Red X again where i spotted the sunken boat, the red arrow points to my dowsed fishing location.

 

[Red_desert]

Nautical charts, DNR maps which are similar to the nautical, both make better maps for underwater dowsing, than do the ordinary topo. The first map is a USGS topo of my best dowsed smallmouth bass spot. The 2nd map is DNR of the same location. The 3rd map is a Google map, red arrows show my 2 best dowsed fish locations.

 

[Red_desert]

I found 2 places on the lake conteur map, made note of them for potential smallmouth bass hotspots. Kept checking my locations daily, until dad gave up fishing, told me to try. It was about 1:30 in the afternoon, sunny but nice to be outside and on the lake in a boat. Didn't go to the better signal, checked the other which was closer. Tipped a plastic 1/4 ounce jig with nightcrawler, got 2 under sized smallmouth, a just legal size pike. The pike wasn't good eating because of the bones. Back at the cabin 3 guys using live minnows were curious about my spot, showed them on the map. That late evening they anchored at the spot just before dark, caught a largemouth bass over 8 lbs.

On our 2 week return trip (after growing up) to Bear Lake, since it was post-Iraq war recession early 1990s, put any search for the racing boat that flipped sinking to the bottom, on the back burner now. I had plenty of time for dowsing the lake, my dad fished alone trying to figure out the fish. Nobody we met had caught any kind of fish, not even a perch of any size. It snowed lightly but melted before arriving at the cabins.

Dad was encouraged to go bacck to fishing again, so it was a while before checking out my other dowsed location. In the next 2 days, a guy with 2 boys and a bass boat found 1 spot to get legal size smallmouth. After questioning them, it seemed to be very close to my dowsed spot for smallmouth. Apparently, sunken logs cost these fishermen a lot of lures. Until now, most exoerienced bass boat men coming in off the lake had no fish.

Well, fisrt chance to check out my spot was late evening, went drifted into location after cutting the motor. Cast toward were I believed dowsing indicated on map. I'm not sure of exact number of casts, perhaps 2-4 but first time bumping logs with a weedless jig/dark pork from combo, rod bent staying that way. I waited then line pulled out. It was getting almost too dark to see by the time getting the lunker smallmouth in the boat. Back at the cabins, told dad he had to clean it, then he refused to let me measure the fish. In the outdoor fish cleaning shack, placed my bass in the sink. With the mouth closed against the one side, tail bent up the other side of sink. Measured sink the next morning, 24 inches side to side. There was about a 2 inch curve where bottom, sides meet. I know I've seen in my area, mounted on walls of tackle shops, smallmouth bass that size.

Went out to my spot next morning, didn't do too bad considering the tough fishing conditions.

The same string of fish holding up for to see the fish sizes. Dad still had to clean the fish, but I'm not suppose to measure them. About 21 inches from my shoulder top to the jeans pocker opening as am holding the largest one up.

Dad went out that evening to my spot, using the same bait (I gave him) and came back without a fish. I went again next morning, caught my limit, headed back to get dad, we put our fish together for a 2 man catch. He finally caught a fish, just one the 14 inch largemouth in the photo (opposite big smallmouth on bottom of boat front).

Here is closer at a different angle, smallmouth appears almost large enough to eat the 14 inch largemouth bass.

I'm still not allowed to measure or weigh the fish. Put on outdoor dinner table for size comparison. There was a fish weighing scales on the cabin wall, turned out to be old antique type for wall decoration, couldn't get the thing to work right.

I know my dowsing brought me 2 fish which both probably were wall hanging size lunker smallmouth bass. We ate them, had plenty of fish while most other fishermen on the lake returned home without a fish.

 

[teleprospector]

Hi Red_desert,
What an awesome story! I enjoyed reading it. Very well written. It brought back lots of great memories I had with my Dad when I was younger. I think it's the first post here regarding the use of dowsing to recover wild game.
Jon

 

[Red_desert]

Hi Red_desert,
What an awesome story! I enjoyed reading it. Very well written. It brought back lots of great memories I had with my Dad when I was younger. I think it's the first post here regarding the use of dowsing to recover wild game.
Jon

Thanks for your nice comment Jon. Oh yes, the Native Americans when game was scare, always had a member of the tribe they could go to for direction. If it meant moving to another location, the whole tribe would move. I've got a little Native American in me, small amount but on both sides of the family.

Well, I didn't have a home-made pendulum along for the trip When noticed the lake map in the cabin, looked in the tackle box, had 1/4 ounce lead jig hooks. Actually dowsed the fishing holes using a jig without the plastic bait on it. Worked fine, goes to show how baiting can get results in dowsing, even for wild game.

 

[teleprospector]

Hi Red_desert,
What an awesome story! I enjoyed reading it. Very well written. It brought back lots of great memories I had with my Dad when I was younger. I think it's the first post here regarding the use of dowsing to recover wild game.
Jon

Thanks for your nice comment Jon. Oh yes, the Native Americans when game was scare, always had a member of the tribe they could go to for direction. If it meant moving to another location, the whole tribe would move. I've got a little Native American in me, small amount but on both sides of the family.

Well, I didn't have a home-made pendulum along for the trip When noticed the lake map in the cabin, looked in the tackle box, had 1/4 ounce lead jig hooks. Actually dowsed the fishing holes using a jig without the plastic bait on it. Worked fine, goes to show how baiting can get results in dowsing, even for wild game.

You are welcome Red_desert.
My Great Great Grandmother was 100% native american and lived in the southeastern Michigan area. There are eyewitness accounts from family members still alive that told me of her dancing around when rainstorms would happen. She also packed 2- .45 pistols. Being the family historian, I know where she is buried and have visited her over the years. After dowsing came into my life, when I stood next to her I started to understand the stories about her actions more clearly, basically it was her belief that what she was doing was a way to communicate with a higher universal authority, similarly as I do when I seek knowledge through the use of dowsing instruments. There is also a very small % of Osage native american ancestry on my Mum's side from Missouri. Your post also really proves that a person can use pretty much anything to dowse with. I have broken off flexible tree branches in the field when I needed to dowse and did'nt have my usual dowsing instruments.
If you have any more experiences to share, please do.
Jon

 

[Red_desert]

There was a few years between the time started reading treasure magazines and then actually buying my first metal detector. During that time of waiting, had more experiences with dowsing, which to me seemed really exciting. Those were the good ol' days, bring back some nice memories.

 

[Red_desert]

Hi Red_desert,
What an awesome story! I enjoyed reading it. Very well written. It brought back lots of great memories I had with my Dad when I was younger. I think it's the first post here regarding the use of dowsing to recover wild game.
Jon

Thanks for your nice comment Jon. Oh yes, the Native Americans when game was scare, always had a member of the tribe they could go to for direction. If it meant moving to another location, the whole tribe would move. I've got a little Native American in me, small amount but on both sides of the family.

Well, I didn't have a home-made pendulum along for the trip When noticed the lake map in the cabin, looked in the tackle box, had 1/4 ounce lead jig hooks. Actually dowsed the fishing holes using a jig without the plastic bait on it. Worked fine, goes to show how baiting can get results in dowsing, even for wild game.

You are welcome Red_desert.
My Great Great Grandmother was 100% native american and lived in the southeastern Michigan area. There are eyewitness accounts from family members still alive that told me of her dancing around when rainstorms would happen. She also packed 2- .45 pistols. Being the family historian, I know where she is buried and have visited her over the years. After dowsing came into my life, when I stood next to her I started to understand the stories about her actions more clearly, basically it was her belief that what she was doing was a way to communicate with a higher universal authority, similarly as I do when I seek knowledge through the use of dowsing instruments. There is also a very small % of Osage native american ancestry on my Mum's side from Missouri. Your post also really proves that a person can use pretty much anything to dowse with. I have broken off flexible tree branches in the field when I needed to dowse and did'nt have my usual dowsing instruments.
If you have any more experiences to share, please do.
Jon

Yes Jon I agree, there has to be some kind of "higher universal authority" as you put it.

 

[micro]

I got to let my husband read this as he is additive fisherman. Glad I found this and thanks for posting!

 

[Red_desert]

Late summer and fall bass fishing patterns are easier to dowse, since they concentrate at certain type underwater structure locations, for longer periods of time.