[Theory] Triangle Theory / Contour Lines - Brandon Palaniuk

[rivermandave]

I watched this video by Navionics & Brandon Palaniuk.

Here is a concise summary of his theory / method / procedure.

What Brandon does is to take a lake map (better known as depth maps, contour maps, bathymetric maps, hydrologic maps) and then looks for shallow spawning flats, which places fish at locations in the spring at spawning times.

Those flats become the "base" of his triangle.

He then looks for adjacent areas where fish would be either pre-spawn or post-spawn, depending on the time of year that he is fishing in, and in particular, looks for what he acknowledges are basically "spot on the spot" areas.

Here is the full video



Linkback: https://fishinpedia.com/bass-fishing-forums/general-bass-fishing-discussion-fishinpedia/4/triangle-theory-contour-lines-brandon-palaniuk/2464/

[rivermandave]

Brandon uses 2 different maps for his presentation.

The first is a couple of small bays that are part of Sturgeon Bay, which is segregated part of Lake Michigan. Here's the Navionics map of it.

https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@11&key=g%7CxpG%7Cq%60uO

Below is the video starting at 16:12, just before he shows his map.

[rivermandave]

He also quickly addresses rivers using the Columbia as an example, (although the Columbia is actually a series of reservoirs) with a large flat that is the inside part (less current) of a large bend.

I couldn't locate what section of the Columbia he is using.

Video at 12:38

https://youtu.be/vzy5YrRJah8?t=758

The video at 22:52

https://youtu.be/vzy5YrRJah8?t=1372

Towards the end of his presentation he shows a small section of Guntersville seen here on Navionics

https://webapp.navionics.com/?lang=en#boating@10&key=_%60_rEhellO

[rivermandave]

In summary, his presentation is professional and fairly well thought out.

At the same time, I don't see this as ground-breaking, nor anything really new.

In-Fisherman was giving diagrams of spawning flats at the back ends of small bays / near shores 25+ years ago. And spot-on-the-spot came just after that in the 1990's.

He totally leaves out the importance of tributaries that can bring in, at least, moving water / current, or more importantly, cooler water from spring-fed creeks / summer snow melt. Also, he doesn't mentions springs.

He does mention the importance of knowing what species of baitfish inhabit a system and how that can affect what fish do.

He also states that this doesn't work well on natural / "bowl-shaped" lakes that don't have smaller bays / inlets.

Overall though, the fact that he takes an hour of his time to make a video in an attempt to help other fisherman, and at the end, be willing to answer questions, ends up making the video worth a watch.

Unfortunately....the bank-beaters STILL won't get.

 

[Nitrofreak]

In summary, his presentation is professional and fairly well thought out.

At the same time, I don't see this as ground-breaking, nor anything really new.

In-Fisherman was giving diagrams of spawning flats at the back ends of small bays / near shores 25+ years ago. And spot-on-the-spot came just after that in the 1990's.

He totally leaves out the importance of tributaries that can bring in, at least, moving water / current, or more importantly, cooler water from spring-fed creeks / summer snow melt. Also, he doesn't mentions springs.

He does mention the importance of knowing what species of baitfish inhabit a system and how that can affect what fish do.

He also states that this doesn't work well on natural / "bowl-shaped" lakes that don't have smaller bays / inlets.

Overall though, the fact that he takes an hour of his time to make a video in an attempt to help other fisherman, and at the end, be willing to answer questions, ends up making the video worth a watch.

Unfortunately....the bank-beaters STILL won't get.

 

I don't see it as ground breaking either, at least not to the majority of anglers who have a good working knowledge of maps, what it does for those beginning to understand these percentage areas on the other hand could be considered as groundbreaking IMO, although I find it very helpful in breaking down high percentage areas, in essence eliminating a ton of water, he did make note that this was not for lakes with very little contour change and that he primarily uses grass lines and such in those cases, I heard him note cooler water was key in systems that we fish at the beginning of the video.

Me personally I feel like he hit the nail on the head with finding the fish first, I have believed in that for a very long time, I am not so much worried about the bait at first, just that its somewhere close, there is an old adage that comes to mind that I know holds some truth "I would much rather throw the wrong bait in the right place than throw the right bait in the wrong place".

I think there are several of us that start eliminating water from the time we fire up our rides by gluing our eyes to the sonar, I think this venue allows us to be better prepared, especially when exploring new water on our home lakes or on a brand new body of water all together, hopefully someday I can put this to good use and have a report on how this works.

Thanks Dave for providing us with this !!!

[Jared]

Thank you Dave for putting this together for us.

I think, while it may not be ground breaking, it is definitely helpful to many anglers to understand what is being taught in the video. A lot of people get on  big bodies of water and do one of two things.  They either just follow the bank, wherever it leads them or they go the spots that their buddies told them about. With the Triangle method, anglers can find their own spots that many others may have overlooked.

[D'Chil]

I enjoyed this. 

Sometimes I get over stimulated while out on the water and loose track of what I should be doing which cost me time and fish.  Its good to see a video like this to reground me.