Importance of side imagining

Well guys i got the opportunity to fish recently and found the fishing a little slow. I slow trolled and upon watching my side image i found the fish. Here is what a school of crappie looks like in the river here on a 10-12 ft flat. I get asked a lot about my electronics and thought i would share why they are important. If i had only Di or sonar I would have missed the opportunity to catch them as i wouldn't have know they were there. Immediately upon seeing the fish i made a u turn to my right and utilized the gps to parallel the track i had just made. Well i cleaned up on that school of nice crappie to say the least. I could have thrown a buoy out to mark them but the fish move a lot and with the side imaging i can keep up with them pretty dang good. I hope this helps someone out. I would suggest the people looking for new electronics to buy what they can afford or save a little longer and get you something nicer and not settle for just anything. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/23/y5emebus.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/23/vasepyta.jpg

A brush pile i found using the side imager, notice the sonar didnt pick it up. I made u turn and started fishing it too.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/01/23/9amu5ezu.jpg


Jigaholic Prostaff
B an M PST
Hi-Tek rod holders
Xpress Crappie Edition
Lowrance HDS 8 an 10

Nice! Perfect example of the benefit of having SI. Thanks for the report. No fish pics?


C.J.

No y'all seen crappie before lol


Jigaholic Prostaff
B an M PST
Hi-Tek rod holders
Xpress Crappie Edition
Lowrance HDS 8 an 10

You are killing me JW:cheers2

Quote:

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Originally Posted by arkansasbowhunter

No y'all seen crappie before lol


Jigaholic Prostaff
B an M PST
Hi-Tek rod holders
Xpress Crappie Edition
Lowrance HDS 8 an 10

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Yeah, but this is what mine look like!
Attachment 113573


C.J.

Dang, man! That's nice! Not used to reading one of those but are those white marks off to the right on the first picture the school of crappie? I can also see the advantage of using that 4 screen split screen to verify what you are seeing! Thanks for posting this as it definitely will be factored in on what I do as far as buying a side-imager. Gonna look at HB at Grizzly this weekend, but that Lowrance sure is nice! :yikes Hey, is that unit mounted up front with a transom transducer?

In other words he really did'nt catch any!!! Lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk 2

you need to back up a step with that phone Icouldn't see all the screen. :yikes

That is what I call progress right there! Good detail report!

Cmj you funny man, the white specks on the right in this case are crappie and you can see there black shadows to the right correlate. I circled around the school a couple times and was able to snaps some photos while all my rods were bending with a bite lol. It was tricky but i figured the picts might help some folks so i did miss some fish but it got exciting quick.


Ski buddy the fish i caught that day went to my buddy that cuts my wood slat to size for me. Got to keep him happy too. I am gonna try the driver mr. Harold built for me soon.

Jigaholic Prostaff
B an M PST
Hi-Tek rod holders
Xpress Crappie Edition
Lowrance HDS 8 an 10

And just as important as fish on the side imaging is side imaging with no fish. When you see this, move on. Don't waste a minner, jig, stick of dennimite or anything cause it will be a waste of time at this location. There is more than 1 way to use side imaging. The first way is to find fish. The second is to find the places where there ain't no fish. This is from the trip over the weekend that was 2 hrs 14 minutes and 4 seconds long.


Attachment 113609

Amen there

That the place I always fish :yikes one of these days ill catch up with you big boys.

Rcc good point you been chasing them sky carp too much u done forgot how to find and catch a crappie lol

Guys, for those of us learning to use SI, if you will notice the screen shot showing the crappie JW is only looking 40 ft left and right. You have to dial your distance down to be able to see fish clearly. I have seen many guys "always" keep their units on max SI distance and never really see great detail, they are not getting the BEST usage from their units.
In order to see a school of fish or individual fish you MUST be on these lower settings. I use mine on max to say cover a wide area to see cover or rocks etc. then If I see something I want to really check out Ill scale back the distance to no more than 50 ft to see this kind of detail. Great post JW.

Very true sarge. I usually scan 2-3 times the water depth for best imagery. Once set very little changes need to be made. With the DI I usually make changes every trip for the best pix due to water and weather conditions .

I need to invest in one of those

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Originally Posted by $hane Ghent

I need to invest in one of those

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Yes. Makes it easier to find JW's brush piles. If it doesn't work out, that's ok too. You see an increased value of not catching fish and appreciate it more.

How can you tell that those marks are crappie and not some other species of fish?

La cannot tell via the image but i fished that school and caught a goo many crappie. Couldve been white bass, large mouth or even shad. Point i guess is that without the side imaging i wouldnt have seen the school to fish and find out what they were.


Jigaholic Prostaff
B an M PST
Hi-Tek rod holders
Xpress Crappie Edition
Lowrance HDS 8 an 10

Quote:

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Originally Posted by arkansasbowhunter

La cannot tell via the image but i fished that school and caught a goo many crappie. Couldve been white bass, large mouth or even shad. Point i guess is that without the side imaging i wouldnt have seen the school to fish and find out what they were.


Jigaholic Prostaff
B an M PST
Hi-Tek rod holders
Xpress Crappie Edition
Lowrance HDS 8 an 10

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Sweet. A goo!! You must be from Louisiana! lol!