Electronics 101

These are a few screen shots I took from my Simrad recently.

You can click on the pic to enlarge it.

Have Fun!

In this screen shot I had been running about 25mph searching for Stripers to set up on with my clients. I noticed some fish near the bottom on the left side of the screen so I slowed down to about 15mph to check it out [about a fifth of the way across the screen]. Seeing more I slowed even more and noticed a stack of White Perch [vertical stack] then in the center of the page saw some bait getting attacked by some smaller fish. I then slowed down to 2mph and saw Stripers suspended just off of the bottom. After searching this area for a couple minutes I decided to move on because the Stripers I saw were not in a feeding mode. They were hugging the bottom and not streaking.

 We may need a Bigger Boat!

 In this pic I had located some better Stripers so we set up on them. The 2 diagonal lines are us counting the bait and sinker down to the depth the fish are in then engaging the reel to keep the bait right in the fishes eyes. You can see each time we pulled line from the reel counting the pulls then once we got to the right depth the angler raised his rod up to put it into the rod holder then once he sat it back into the holder the sinker stays level as the bait swims below it.

 Here I was looking for schools running about 25mph on the left of the screen and as I came up on this 32 foot flat I saw Stripers so I cut my throttle to set up on them. The disturbance in the upper middle of the screen is the boat coming off plane. Notice how once I stopped there were not many fish under the boat. The boat motor spooks the Stripers and they had swum out away from the boat. I saw them on my side scan on my other unit on the dash then deployed my trolling motor, turned the boat in the direction of the fish, set our baits out to 25 feet and watched the rods bend over. When I look for Stripers it is ALWAYS on plane. Boats and motors spook fish! If I were to idle looking for fish most of them get out from under the boat and I would never know how many were there. Think of it this way....If thousand people [fish] were gathered in a field [flat] eating lunch and a helicopter came hovering over them they would disperse into all directions to get away from the copter. So do the fish. Also when I have located fish and are working the schools when a inconsiderate angler sees us reeling in fish and they motor nearby us it spooks the fish and turns them off. 

In this screen shot again I had been running about 25mph seeing a few fish suspended around 25 feet deep. I went across a hump [center of the screen] and saw Largemouth with their noses hugging the drop so I steered to the nearby flat where Stripers were gathered near the bottom. I touched my screen on the crest of the hump where the Bass were and created a waypoint [not shown] then maneuvered the boat to it, set our baits out at 25 feet and had some fun. Notice that when I was running fish were suspended around 25 to 30 feet deep. When I see this I look for flats, humps or points at that depth range for fish. That is where I locate and catch Stripers. No need to look at 20 foot or 45 foot structures, I am just wasting my clients time.
Navico [Simrad and Lowrance] is The Leader in marine electronics. I trust what I see on them and make my living off of them. I take my time to post screen shots like this to help the every day fisherman learn to use their electronics to locate and catch the fish they are targeting. I primarily target Stripers but can easily locate Bass and other species at any speed. You can too! All it takes is a good Depth Finder set up properly with the transducer installed properly and a little time and confidence. For example, If you are a Striper fisherman who wants to learn how to locate and catch bait, spend a day practicing finding, catching and refining your methods of doing so. If you are a Bass fisherman, instead of spending all day going out and fishing a couple dozen structures try for a few hours locating structures at speed, establishing waypoints, reviewing what you see then later come back to the structures and Catching Bass, not just fishing for them. Take screen shots of the structures, download them and put the card in your computer or pad. Inspect them at your leisure. If you see something you like, you already have a waypoint, go back and fish it, anytime you wish. Create a name for the waypoint and use your Navionics chart to put you right back on the juice! You can create a file on your computer or pad or right on your Lowrance or Simrad to save your pics and refer back to at any time......Think about it?????? Want to be a better fisherman, it is sitting right there on your console.