Russell 7-10-14

[STUMP HUNTER]

Took the boat out this morning for a few hours mainly to learn more about the new HDS 7. I rode a few miles looking around in the timber and the main river but the upper end of Russell doesn't seem to be putting out many crappie. A lot of fish hitting the top from sunup (6:00) to around 10. I put my long rods out while talking with some other fisherman that where striper fishing and it wasn't long before I started catching spots. All were like cookie cutters from a 14'' form. Still a lot of fun catching them, then the 12' rod doubled over and the fight was on for around the next 5 to 10 minutes. Finally worked it to the boat and after fighting Rosco off the fish I was able to land a good hybrid. With all these fish working the 20 to 25' channel none were crappie. I covered a lot of timber on the upper end and never seen anything that made me stop and fish the timber. About 11:00 Roscos tongue was hanging deep in the water bowl and the morning showers had ended so I loaded the boat and called in the dog

Couple of pics of the fish, I'll post some pics of the timber after I get them transferred from the DF to the computer.
Water temp was 79 at Sanders Ferry and was a little cooler at 76 past the next boat ramp up river (Mountain View).



Here are a few of some views of underwater world of Russell. As you can see there wasn't much in the line of fish hanging in these trees, maybe a few but not stacked up.

[burdawg]

Nice report...glad you found some fish willing to cooperate. Looks like old Rosco likes them spots...........hope you kept 'em. They make nice fillets!

[uncle remus]

thanks for the report and pics. congrats on your catch

[SeaRay]

Ronnie,
I did not know you had gotten an HDS7. I just swapped my Elite 7 with Lowrance for an HDS7 touchscreen. I tried it out yesterday and I decided the first time you try out a new DF you should leave your poles at home. Anyway I had to get Tech Support on the line before I got the down imaging to work, seems like the wrong transducer was preset and I could not find the right one, but they got me going and I think I will really it.
Be interested to see how you set up your options and which gives the best image. Glad you found a few, I caught a couple but I was so engrossed in trying to get everything set up I gave up on the fish.
One thing for sure, Russell has plenty of structure to look at. Some parts of Murray, the DI screen is just blank, not structure no fish.

[STUMP HUNTER]

Ray this makes the 6 th time I been out with it and the first time I was ready to pull my hair out!! These units have come a long way and a ton of options to pick from. There is a big difference in the 455 and 800 HZ. I like the 800 better as it seems to give a good pic. The colors makes a big difference too. I spent a few hours talking to Doug (striperking) the first night when I got home and he walked me through some setups he had and it got me in the ballpark. I'm hoping to cover a lot of water before the fall bite heats up on Russell but I also plan to find them before then Today was the first trip to the upper part of the lake and learned a lot from my time spent there today. Anyway I can help let me know.

[polepusher]

Great pics and report.

[gcromer]

Great pictures, very impressive.

[Jay_Hawk06]

Great report and pics. IMO, I think the 455HZ is better for side imaging and 800HZ is great for DI.

[Inkdabber]

Nice DF Stump, good to see ya getting it figured out while putting a few fish in the boat at the same time.