when to stop and fish structure

When it comes to electronics I'm still that one finger typing guy. This is my first year with a decent boat and electronics. I have a Humminbird 1198 and of course watched many videos and read many articles on using it. Getting on the water and actually using it is totally not as easy as the videos. My ? is, how do you know what structure to fish. I know the answer will be the ones holding fish.:banghead Sometimes my bird only shows one fish icon. Other times my bird shows no icon but beeps. Times nothing just the structure. SO, what do you pros do.

I'd turn the fish icons off. They aren't accurate at all in my experience.

I'll try a lot of places when I'm figuring out where the fish are, then only go to the ones at the right depth once I dial it in. You should be able to see both fish and bait pretty easily to know when it's worth the time.

The best thing I've ever done to learn my electronics is to quit fishing when they weren't biting and spend time practicing with my electronics and finding spots.

Good advice. I need to do that more myself.

The units will not always show fish although they may be there.

You still need to know basic fishing knowledge on where the fish should be hanging out. Time of year, depth, temperature, thermocline structure, weeds, etc.

Fish what you see. If the fish are active, they will bite. Now you know what to look for as far as depth and sturcture when you move on to your next spot. Don't spend a lot of time on fish that are not active, or spots that are not productive. I'll fish a spot 10 or 15 minutes tops, before I'm on to the next. I've caught tons of fish off ledges or deep stumps that never showed a fish on the graph.

I have a 798 and an 898 and you can run over a spot and the 2 units will show different things.they just interpret. and display things in a different way. yes, fish what you see until you learn what you unit is telling you, and yes you sometimes you catch fish where you don't see any, especially where fish can hold tight to cover and look like part of it.it's a great tool though, and it will help you catch more fish. just keep spending time on the water.

fish the larger structures you find, not every pile of junk ,