Fishing Forum

Ira and I got to the South marina about 7 am, launched and headed over to the West dike. We were marking good numbers of fish, so we started trolling cranks but after an hour and only 1 perch we went back to were we started and tried bottom bouncing, with worm harnesses and my apex lure. Ira picked up two eyes pretty quick, then a carp. We were marking fish so we kept at it and I finally got an eye, then another,  after a long dead spell, I got our 5th and final eye for the trip. No fish pics for this trip but I did take some pics of the side scan, that I thought might help those that don't know what to look for when trying to find fish at Willard. I'll post those pics later.

Looking forward to the side scan lesson.

Me to. I'm still getting my new TV installed. Didn't want to put holes in transom below waterline so I ordered a 1" thick piece of plastic cutting board I will fasten to the transom with marine sealant and screws above the waterline.
If I have to move the transducer or add another or whatever, I will have the sacrifice board to mount on without having to drill into the boat.

It's a whole new world for me. I just graduated to color a few years ago so this is a quantum leap for me.

That is still a good day. My wife and I hit it Monday morning and nearly got skunked. Trolled cranks, bottom bounced, and could not find any concentrations of fish. Freeway, Westside, out in the openness, nothing. Ended up with a decent crappie in the marina to break the skunk. Bugs were BAD. Not biting, but were everywhere and covering everything. Just annoying.

(05-24-2023, 03:42 PM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]That is still a good day. My wife and I hit it Monday morning and nearly got skunked. Trolled cranks, bottom bounced, and could not find any concentrations of fish. Freeway, Westside, out in the openness, nothing. Ended up with a decent crappie in the marina to break the skunk. Bugs were BAD. Not biting, but were everywhere and covering everything. Just annoying.

Yea, the nats were bad for us as well, when the wind wasn't blowing, lucky for us we bought our head nets after having to deal with it last week. Glad you two got that crappie to beat the skunk off. Were there lots of people fishing for them from shore? 

For those that have questions about what you are seeing on your side scan.
Here are some pics I took of my side finder screen, I'll describe what I'm seeing but if you have any questions please ask. I'm by far no expert but these fish I have put marks around are what we are looking for when fishing and when you see 4 or more on the screen at one time you are in a good spot.


on this pic and all that follow, the white mark is the fish and the dark mark is the shadow of the fish, it gives you an idea of how far the fish is off the bottom


There are many fish on this screen imagine but only the two that are marked have the shadow, when we see fish but no shadows we assume they are very high in the water column or the shadow is off the screen



in this pic you can see the true direction the fish is facing by looking at the shadow

Hard to see in this pic but there is a shadow imagine of both fish, plus other fish with no shadows that I did not mark. I tried to clean the screen but could not get it any better




here are three fish that are close to the bottom off to the right plus another that did not show up with a shadow, so I did not mark it but if you see something like this you are in the right spot and even if you don't catch them at first, you need to stay in that area and keep circling it and changing colors until you find something that works. 



three fish on the left that are close to the bottom, when we see the imagine like the one on the right, that is elongated, we assume the fish is moving along with the boat

No, we didn't see anyone fishing from the bank, but there were a couple of tubers fishing for them when we launched. One guy caught 2 in the short span of us launching. So we tried for a few minutes when we returned to the marina. Caught the one and cast a few more times, but that was it.

(05-24-2023, 04:59 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-24-2023, 03:42 PM)Jig-fisher Wrote: [ -> ]That is still a good day. My wife and I hit it Monday morning and nearly got skunked. Trolled cranks, bottom bounced, and could not find any concentrations of fish. Freeway, Westside, out in the openness, nothing. Ended up with a decent crappie in the marina to break the skunk. Bugs were BAD. Not biting, but were everywhere and covering everything. Just annoying.

Yea, the nats were bad for us as well, when the wind wasn't blowing, lucky for us we bought our head nets after having to deal with it last week. Glad you two got that crappie to beat the skunk off. Were there lots of people fishing for them from shore? 

For those that have questions about what you are seeing on your side scan.
Here are some pics I took of my side finder screen, I'll describe what I'm seeing but if you have any questions please ask. I'm by far no expert but these fish I have put marks around are what we are looking for when fishing and when you see 4 or more on the screen at one time you are in a good spot.


on this pic and all that follow, the white mark is the fish and the dark mark is the shadow of the fish, it gives you an idea of how far the fish is off the bottom


There are many fish on this screen imagine but only the two that are marked have the shadow, when we see fish but no shadows we assume they are very high in the water column or the shadow is off the screen



in this pic you can see the true direction the fish is facing by looking at the shadow

When the fish show up in the black they are under the boat. ?  Are these taken while moving at trolling speed? Were you out in the wide open water?  Thanks for your report.

(05-24-2023, 05:29 PM)doitall5000 Wrote: [ -> ]When the fish show up in the black they are under the boat. ?  Are these taken while moving at trolling speed? Were you out in the wide open water?  Thanks for your report.

I edited all the pics and added descriptions. one of them shows a fish on my regular finder and where it is located on the side scan but to answer your question, yes, the black area of the screen is under your boat. We were bottom bouncing at .9 to 1.1 mph when these pics were taken. Yes, we were not close to shore.

Here are a couple of images that show the fish and the shadow that they cast.

In the one image you can see the rocks on the bottom either don't cast a shadow or a small shadow and it is connected to the structure. The other image is when we were anchored up and the fish are passing by. The white part of the image is the fish and doesn't look like much until you see the shadow it cast's.

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Here is one more where you can see the fish laying down on the bottom of the hole that we were fishing in.

(05-25-2023, 03:49 AM)a_bow_nut Wrote: [ -> ]Here are a couple of images that show the fish and the shadow that they cast.

In the one image you can see the rocks on the bottom either don't cast a shadow or a small shadow and it is connected to the structure. The other image is when we were anchored up and the fish are passing by. The white part of the image is the fish and doesn't look like much until you see the shadow it cast's.

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Here is one more where you can see the fish laying down on the bottom of the hole that we were fishing in.

Those first two pics show very clear imagines, wish mine was that clear. When you see them like that it would be easier to tell if they were walleye or wipers, even cats, very clear. What lake were you on when you took those pics?

Another thing that will give you a clearer imagine is how wide you have your side screen set out. I have mine set at 40 ft or less when BBing but will spread it out to 60 or move when trolling because my side planners are farther from the boat.

(05-24-2023, 04:59 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]

The top 3 marks are of the fish and their shadows, the 4th with the arrows is pointing out where the fish are when you see them on your regular fish finder imagine that is a very small part of what you are seeing below your boat. These are the fish that you have the best chance of catching while bottom bouncing.

Curt, I corrected what I believe is the 4th fish on both screen displays.  What you circled on the far left is on the very bottom and you then circled the surface line on your down scan.  My interpretation is in red.  The fish is shown on the very bottom on both screens and the position behind the boat is about right for both images.



Also, there are a couple of good videos on side & down imaging on YouTube. These videos are short (2 1/2 min max).

What is Side Imaging and How to Read It | Humminbird - YouTube

What is Down Imaging and How to Read It | Humminbird - YouTube

If your sonar has a frequency selection feature, you will want to use the higher or highest frequency for better resolution, especially on shallower lakes like Willard.  We have very few lakes in Utah that would benefit from a 400-foot range - IMHO.

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(05-24-2023, 06:07 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]. . . the black area of the screen is not under your boat, it is the smallest part of the side scan, in the very center.

I have to disagree with you on this Curt.  The black part of the side imaging is exactly the water column directly under the boat; in your pics it appears that it is somewhere close to 20 FOW and your side areas showed a left and right range of 45 feet.  If a fish shows up in the black on the display with no shadow, then that fish is directly straight down from your transducer.  If the fish is in the black and you can see a shadow mark for that fish then it is off to on side or the other of the transducer.  The further away the shadow is from the fish is telling you the fish is further off the bottom or further off to the side of the transducer, or a combination of both.

(05-25-2023, 01:12 PM)wiperhunter2 Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-25-2023, 03:49 AM)a_bow_nut Wrote: [ -> ]Here are a couple of images that show the fish and the shadow that they cast.

In the one image you can see the rocks on the bottom either don't cast a shadow or a small shadow and it is connected to the structure. The other image is when we were anchored up and the fish are passing by. The white part of the image is the fish and doesn't look like much until you see the shadow it cast's.

---

Here is one more where you can see the fish laying down on the bottom of the hole that we were fishing in.

Those first two pics show very clear imagines, wish mine was that clear. When you see them like that it would be easier to tell if they were walleye or wipers, even cats, very clear. What lake were you on when you took those pics?

Another thing that will give you a clearer imagine is how wide you have your side screen set out. I have mine set at 40 ft or less when BBing but will spread it out to 60 or move when trolling because my side planners are farther from the boat.

This was up on the Snake River.