Having Difficulties Identifiying Condos

last week put out 8 bamboo condos which were 12 feet tall in 20 feet of water.
immediately after i sent them overboard, i made a waypoint on GPS. one week later i return to try to find them, only had time to try and find about 5 of them though. one thing i noticed is that they do not show all that well on sonar. was wondering what some of yall do to help you more easily return to your condo or identify it on sonar. i was thinking about putting something in the top of it that wont float, a few aluminum cans with holes in them. any suggestions?

Never had any trouble with them showing on the sonar, once I found them. If you just put one condo to a spot, they can be hard to find with your GPS unit. Most consumer GPS units are only +-5 to 10 feet in accuracy. So 5 or 10 ft when you drop it and 5-10 when you're trying to find it, and you could be 20 feet or more off of your condo. Makes for a bit of a challenge to find em. I like to place two or three condos together to give myself something bigger to find.

All that said, once I've been on top of a single condo, they always show up on the depth finder quite well.

They generally look like this:
http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...g/P1030202.jpg

starting to understand.

i'm a little slow, but once i get it..........:D

thanks, agrihawg

One thing that helps locate structure like this is to mark it with more than one waypoint. Pitch out your condo and immediately put out a buoy right on top of it. Then maneuver your boat around the buoy in a circle about 15 ft in radius, marking three equally spaced waypoints on the way around the buoy. This way, when you pull up to it later you'll know it is somewhere inside the waypoint triangle. With only one point, you don't know if the structure is off to the left or right, forward or behind.

Good Idea Hillbilly, Thanks

Also, make sure your sensitivity isnt set so high it wont read any structure.

GABOWMAN, you are not the first to tell me that, but my garmin shows more structure when i turn my gain up. i called customer service about this and the tech was scratching his head. he said that sounds bassackwards.

Waypoint triangle is a good idea. Especially with some of the older and/or cheaper models of GPS units....like mine.

I use a Garmin Etrex and as I get to my waypoint I drop a bouy whether I see the condo or not. I then start fishing around the bouy and it won't take long to locate it.
Sometimes I drop a second bouy for a better fix. Bamboo shows up on my locator better than anything else if you can get over it.;):)

slabbandit, started doing that this afternoon, and found everyone of them. they have been out a week now, haven't caught off them yet though. but i am not giving up.

Hey, my FIL and I put one in with green leaves still on it one day and within 16 hours pulled 5 pound and a qtr's off of it. Week later gave up a 2 lb 5 oz.
Hands down nothing attracts crappie faster than green bamboo!:)

Good Luck!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by slabbandit

Hey, my FIL and I put one in with green leaves still on it one day and within 16 hours pulled 5 pound and a qtr's off of it. Week later gave up a 2 lb 5 oz.
Hands down nothing attracts crappie faster than green bamboo!:)

Good Luck!

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YOU ARE BUILDING MY CONFIDENCE ! I LIKE IT.
:D

an idea I had was to tie a milk jug that would float above the structure. I think it might show up better on the finder (?)

I never drop just one....usually it's two buckets together only a few feet apart. After I drop 'em I usually wpt both sides. Then theyre easier to find.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gabowman

Also, make sure your sensitivity isnt set so high it wont read any structure.

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if your sensitivity is to high does it just not show em at all, or show em wronge? I just got my newer depth finder setup to were it reads awesome after some trail and error, just curiuos. have a great one, God bless.

I have an HB 565 and condo's look like clouds, and with the fish stacked in em showin up with the ID on it's bad for my nerves. All that excitement you know. First ones I found were in 15 fow and loaded with fish. My partner and I took first and big fish that day. Homey be likin condo's.

i spent some seat time with my depth finder/gps the other day and have the settings to where I marked a brush pile and had the fish ID emblims showing in the brush, and that pile produced well, was pretty cool. I usally dont like the fish ID setting but its kinda the only way I could get the screen/pic as clear as I wanted, but after that experience I like the fish ID. I went over other brush piles that didnt show any (or very few) and they didnt produce, not sure if it was a fluke or its actually working that way, but it seemed to work that way, I guess time will tell. but nothing replaces a little seat time and adjusting your depth finder, thats for sure. have a great one yall, God bless.