Fishing Forum

Went out yesterday (Friday the 13) to do some fishing and enjoy this awesome weather. Got to the wash and netted some 3 inch shad and went fishing. First time out with my new fish finder. Was pretty jazzed as I have never really had one. Didn't catch a fish till nearly 11:00 am and needed more shad. Got another bunch of 3 inchers with a couple 6 inchers. Caught four more fish in about an hour. Went back for more shad and this time about 20 six inchers and one 8 inch Threadfin shad. biggest I have ever seen. Thought it was a gizzard shad but inspected closer and it was a giant threadfin shad. Ended up with six stripers and lost a couple at the boat. As far as the fish finder I am learning. The obvious advantage is when the chart shows zero fish after 15 minutes or so its time to move. We only caught fish when the chart showed fish. I am posting a pic of the screen where we caught most of our fish. What I don't understand is this just one fish moving or actually several different fish? We also learned that the fish finder is no "magic wand" but definitely a useful tool that I need to understand just what its showing me.
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I am not familiar with whatever fish finder that is but to me it looks like one fish under the boat. Depending on your settings it could be the weight on the end of your line or the bait.

On mine if I am directly below the transducer I will see two solid lines. One is the weight and the other is the shad. Depending on water clarity, settings, etc.

Super nice Shad! I might have to give in to another trip or two chasing Stripers before I commit to the SMB/LMB chase this year.
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Nice striper, if it were me, I'd turn off that fish ID on your fish finder but from the looks of it, I think you are looking at several fish at different depths. Notice the different depths the fish at at, I'd say they are all different fish, at least the ones at the different depths. If you are fishing right below the boat, were you moving the bait or holding it steady?
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The fishfinder is a Lowrance Elite 5X. I hear that Hummingbird is the best but this was a birthday gift and I am happy to have it. Most of the time we were drifting so our shad were not always directly below the boat. Can a FF detect a 4 inch shad near the bottom @ 90 feet?
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Sure... Took a pinch to find a snapshot. Usually something I would snap with the phone to send to someone then delete.

Not the best picture but serves the point. I think this was shorly after it had rained out and the water was on the messy side.

The really red line is my 1oz weight and the line below is the 3-4" shad. It looks like something came over to check it out but didn't take it for whatever reason.


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In the first attachment the three shad from top to bottom.
Threadfin (Yellow Tail and tarpon mouth)
Gizzard
Gizzard (round bull nose)

Also you can cut one open and find the gizzard they use to process the plant and algae with.

Other ways to tell the difference is the threadfin are very fragile and die quickly. Gizzard shad have armor for scales and have a smell that will not wash off very easy.
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Striperdude,

Congratulations on owning a sonar unit. Pretty soon you will feel "blind" on the water without one. Next you will want one with GPS and side scanning....[laugh]

Reading, even studying, the manual is very important. The sonar footprint is a cone and the manual will help understand the instrument's limitations and help you figure out the diameter of your cone at different depths.

Take the manual for a boat ride and spend some time on water playing around with settings. You can always return to the default settings. I recommend turn of the fish ID.
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I agree with the comment about turning off the fish ID.

Those little pictures of fishes can be very misleading. It takes a little research and practice but you will get alot more info from the standard setting on that unit...with the Fish ID off.
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