Thread: 1st long lining attempt

Originally Posted by MidHillbilly

I think I really struggle with the trusting the electronics part. It is probably mostly because I am not sure what exactly I am looking for. If you or anyone else could give some more information on how to use the electronics more effectively it would really be appreciated. Maybe even some screenshots if that is not asking too much?

What kind of electronics are you running? Does your units have down imaging or side imaging? Or just regular 2D sonar? There's plenty of pics to show you depending on your electronics. Here's one of a school of crappie on a brushpile. This is a down imaging pic.

You can almost count the fish. Notice the shadow that they cast on the bottom.

Originally Posted by Gabepeeps

What kind of electronics are you running? Does your units have down imaging or side imaging? Or just regular 2D sonar? There's plenty of pics to show you depending on your electronics. Here's one of a school of crappie on a brushpile. This is a down imaging pic.

Thanks for the pic. I have a Humminbird Helix with 2D, DI, and SI. I can find the bait balls but I don't think I have ever seen a school of fish like that one. Maybe I am looking in all the wrong places as the old song says. From the picture, the speed said 0.1 MPH so I assume you were barely moving? Usually when I am looking for fish, bait, and structure I am moving about 2 to 3 MPH. Too fast to see those type of images?

Originally Posted by gabowman

You could look thru this thread.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/south...terpretations/

Alot of the beginning pictures is of graphs sitting still night fishing. Move more towards the end of the thread and you'll see much more daytime graph shots. Alot of them have explanations of what we believe the graph is telling you. Like Ink said...look for activity on your graph before dropping lines. If they aint there just putting out lines wont catch you any fish. If they are there and wont bite....MOVE. Dont spend all day fishing for fish that have lockjaw. They ARE biting somewhere...you just gotta find where they at.

Thanks for the link. There are some great screen shots in that thread and it helps. If you were to fish a creek that you had not fished much, how would you go about looking for fish before you drop a line in the water? Just curious what your approach would be.

The first thing I look for is bait. No bait, no fish most of the time. Next thing is I use my side imaging and down imaging to search for structure and brushpiles near the channel and work my way shallower. I would start at the mouth of the creek and work my way back. Mark everything and anything you find. Then start to fish when I find them.

MidHillBilly, I have an ancient Lowrance 522LMS but I believe what it tells me. If I troll around in a likely spot and see nothing on the graph then I wont drop lines. I have in the past though (several times thinking they HAVE to be in there) and haven't caught anything. Now I believe what my graph tells me. I will move on to another area and idle around looking for bait/fish and if that spot doesn't show anything then I continue moving until I find something. And if all else fails and I don't see what I want to see on the graph then I will drop lines at the best spot I found for that day (since I am at the lake and wanna fish) but usually those spots wont produce what I wanna catch either. For me...half the fun is finding the fish, and the other half is catching them. And all days ain't great catching days either, but you gotta do your "homework" if you want those "great" days.