steelheadr:
Well I took the new Cuda 250 out for a smoke test yesterday on Hagg Lake on a windy and rainy afternoon. It apparently worked just fine. After paddling out from boat ramp A, I finally saw a few fish down by the dam. I caust the smallest perch ever and a dink of a trout, both without any thought.
Now that I'm electronically here, I realize I don't know how to use the information I'm being provided. Anyone with some expertise or guidance in actually using sonar to help catch fish?
Thanks, Jay
amb:
I'm interested in the same FF unit and would like to see some photos of your installation, particularly transducer and battery mounts. I hope it works well for you - Alan
bsteves:
Jay,
I use a fish finder for several different things when fishing.
a.) find structure (e.g. rockfish and bass fishing)
Being able to know your depth and find structure is probably the biggest advantage having a fish finder does for me. Many fish are attracted to structure be that a large submerged rock, underwater brush, or even a steep slope and if you use your fish finder to keep you on structure you'll be fishing higher percentage water than if you randomly picked a spot.
b.) find bait (e.g. salmon fishing in the ocean)
Here's another example... say your fishing for lake trout in Crescent Lake. You've heard that lake trout will be found where ever you find schools of kokanee. Chances are that unless you have a high end fish finder you won't be able to spot the actual lake trout, but you should be able to detect large mid-water schools of kokanee (large black blobs) at say 90 ft. Simply stop over the school and drop your jig down to just below the school. If the jig is large enough you'll be able to see it drop on your fish finder.
c.) find fish Actually finding fish is probably the most problematic and I'm still working on doing that reliably. It would be nice to paddle around and say.. ah there's a large fish 33 ft down, drop your lure down and catch your fish. For me it rarely works like that (but it's a blast when it does). You need to fine tune the fish finder to do this by adjusting the sensitivity and noise reduction levels. Each water body is different in terms of turbidity and other physical parameters that effect your fish finder and you'll probably find that you'll have to adjust your settings each time.
Most fish finders have several fish finding options.. in particular they have a mode that analyses the readings and places cute little fish icons on them. The problem is that if you have your settings off, these "fish" marks might just be noise. I prefer to look at the raw signal and try to look for fish arches myself. Note that fish with larger air bladders (rockfish for example) will show the best arch signal.
Last Feb at the big sportsman show here at the Portland Expo Center I noticed there was a guy from Lowrance giving lessons on fish finder tuning and interpretting. I wasn't able to attend because I was working an Invasive Species Outreach booth at the time. I'm going to try and make a point of not missing it this year if it's offered again.
Brian
Spot:
--- Quote from: steelheadr on October 21, 2008, 05:00:56 PM ---Now that I'm electronically here, I realize I don't know how to use the information I'm being provided. Anyone with some expertise or guidance in actually using sonar to help catch fish?
Thanks, Jay
--- End quote ---
Jay,
Of all people, haven't YOU learned by now that ignorance = bliss? >:D
INSAYN:
Isn't there a way to read thermoclines, and use this depth to find fish that hover in this area?