23 replies to this topic

[hazmail]

Thanks Bob, that is very reassuring, I sometimes wish they would make a good quality 'shallow' sonar as I would never fish in water deeper than 100' and usually it is more like 20-30' max. I will also check out that link, sounds interesting.
Sorry I have not posted any pictures lately (as promised), it has been too hot to lake fish, about 100 here all week, and in Adelaide and Melbourne it was 115 (43-44C, which is a 100 year record temp for Adelaide)), you would cook on the lakes.pete

[WannabeeFishing]

I just stumbled on this thread. I use a Lowrance LCx 26hd unit with a Navionics chip for my local lakes.

In this screen shot I ran across a school of Striped Bass or Hybrid bass (Striper and white bass cross). Both are rampant in our local lakes in north Georgia).

Although they didn't show in this shot one thing to look for are schools of bait fish. They normally will show up a single dark blob. They are important as the game fish (Stripers, Largemouth Bass, etc) will normally school under the bait fish.

Then you need to determine the appropriate depth and deploy a lure that will work that depth.

http://i272.photobuc...g/IMG002141.jpg

[hazmail]

Nice shot Wanna, I have fished something like this a few times (more vertical fish pile) for no result, never thought of fishing under it though!! Must give it a try next time. thanks for your input.pete

[BobP]

I fish out of a bass boat with a Humminbird 987C sonar with mapping and sidescan capability. It's an expensive sonar but worth it to me because you gotta FIND fish before you can CATCH fish - and the 987 does that very well. I think of using sonar as two different strategies.

The first strategy: If you are cruising in 20 ft of water or less, you need to be looking for cover and bottom structure that should hold fish. You may see baitfish and you may see a thermocline in fresh water lakes. Baitfish and bass will typically be holding at or just above the thermocline, so it's good to note that depth. Continue towards shore until the bottom and that depth coincide. Find cover there and it's very likely you will also find bass. You may or may not see large fish like bass because your boat running over them often makes them shy away. But cover and scattered baitfish at the same depth = bass. In fresh or salt water, bass most often have a preference for hard bottom areas and you can find those with your sonar too if you pay attention. If all else fails - read the instructions! They will tell you how to differentiate soft and hard bottoms.

The sidescan sonar is a recent enhancement first incorporated by Humminbird, and now also by Lowrance. Few if any pro tournament fishermen will practice nowadays without one of these in their boat. Before Lowrance came out with their own sidescan units, it was funny to look at pro boats with Lowrance sponsorships and see the humongous Humminbird sidescan transducers bracketed to their transoms. They pulled away from the dock, pulled the H'bird unit out of a compartment and used it during practice. Thank goodness those poor guys can now buy a Lowrance sidescan unit! Sidescan is a very nice capability. You can idle down the center of a creek and see all the cover and structure, out to a couple of hundred feet to the left and right of the boat. You can look under docks and other shore features. You can also mark waypoints on all that cover and return to fish it later. All without running over the fish and spooking them away. Pretty neat stuff!

The second strategy for sonar is based on the dictum: find the bait and find the bass. Baitfish often live in schools for protection and with a little experience, you can take a look at shad school (they look like a cloud in the water) and tell whether it is being attacked by predators. This is like fishing for surface feeding fish but it can happen at depth and you would never find the situation without sonar. I regularly spoon jig for bass in a freshwater lake where they attack schools of shad in water as deep as 55 ft. Without sonar, I would never locate the activity and would be missing a prime opportunity for easy fish catching!

I can't say that saltwater species display all the same habits of freshwater bass but it's a good bet that most species that feed on smaller species do just the same. Find cover. Find baitfish. Catch fish.