Thread: Locating fish

I'm still learning my sonar units. Well I know the Piranaha Max 220 pretty well. However I am still learning all the features on my 899SI. I too won't fish a spot unless I mark fish, and then sometimes I still won't fish that spot. Usually because its looks to be the wrong species of fish. I haven't mastered the look of fish on some cover yet, and may still fish it to confirm that there are no fish there. While fishing I will mark spots that look good for another time of the season. Like deep brush/trees for summer months, or brush/trees in transition areas during the migrations. Then come back and fish them. I try to spend an hour or so looking for new spots. Recently I had the thought to use that hour to search for spots that would be productive during the next crappie season. This time of year I should be looking for some deep water to shallow water transition routes. If they haven't started moving, they will be soon.

I have a HB 999. I spend time looking for fish each time out. I'm pretty good at finding fish in 12' of water or deeper. I still can't figure out how to find fish shallower with the SI. So in 12' or deeper I don't fish unless I see fish. Shallower than that I look for structure and fish it. I wish someone had some pointers on how to find shallow fish out to the side of the boat with an SI unit.

Montana boy, I have the 998 so a little older one than yours and with my settings adjusted right I will find bluegill and crappie during the spawn in less than 3 fow. So yours should definitely be capable of finding them shallower. I typically scan with about 40-50 feet on each side of the boat unless Im specifically scanning the bank then I just set my screen to the side of the bank I'm scanning and I will be in 3-4 fow of water and I can see fish stacked up on the banks. Depending on how thick the weeds are you can even see them in the weeds, but if there isn't any weeds I can see them really good and they will have a hard time hiding. A school of crappie I got into the other day were in 5 fow and buried in some fairly thick weeds but I could still see them on my si, to bad all of them were small ones though. There is lots of videos out there on YouTube on setting up your unit and also another thing is your transducer setup is extremely important as well to get your images coming out really clear where you can see fish up shallow.

Sent from my D6708 using Tapatalk

Absolutely use them before I even drown a minnow unless it's the spawn and that's only because I know the wood. Watch lots of YouTube videos!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by birdman

Depends on the season. In the fall/winter I generally will fish a spot regardless of if I see fish in the brush or not IF I'm in 8fow or less. Most times of the year though I'm not fishing something if I don't see the fish in or around the structure.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Birdman-
the first screenshot- is that a tree with no fish?
the second screenshot - the area to the right of the cursor (target symbol) is that a tree with fish on it? And the yellow/orange dots to the left of the cursor, are those fish?
Thanks

The first screenshot is a stump that's on a drop off and the backside of the stump is rotted out. All the dots (blobs) you see coming down the drop are crappie. This was spring time this year on the ville and was in about 3-4ft of water. The second screenshot is some standings timber with structure in the standings timber as well, only you can't see the structure because of the incredible amount of crappie stacked in it (littler dots) while the bigger blobs are actually buffalo that seem to always be present in this area. On the left side of the screen is just a small reflection of the right side and some remaining fish. Notice the black line on the left in the orange middle screen, if you look directly across the screen you will actually see the standing tree that's causing the shadow on the left


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I never quit looking for fish, I love good finders and I am always amazed at what is down there.

Birdman- wow. Thank you very much ! A Very good detailed description. It looks like I really need to focus on saving for a si unit!