there than gone

[eyewarrior]

Fishing the north end flats this past Sat & Sun AM. I noticed that I would graph a school of fish(big motor running) on top edge of the flat and could rarely find them back again. I tried to shut down the big motor as soon as I saw them & then move around with the electric. I also couldn't get more than 1 fish to bite out of a school if I was backtrolling with the electric and then they would be gone. Good thing there's alot of flats to go to because I managed 8 (4 on bouncer & spinner & 4 on 10' snell)all to big on Sat morning & 5 Sun morning with 1 keeper(3 on lead core & 2 on rigs). Did anybody have any similar experiences with fish moving and what did you do to combat it?

eyewarrior

[jlmiller]

My wife and I had the same experience last week except for one day and the fish were there all day and active with no other boats. Was a great time, but unhooked alot in the water to avoid the rush towards the net waving around. Other than that they would disappear like you noticed. We only caught fish in and around the bait balls on and off the reefs. If the ball disappeared we would look for it. Many times they would move off the reef with the fish following. Sometimes I couldn't locate them and had to try a different reef, always starting on the upwind point or upwind indent in the reef. When we found the bait, we found the fish. We did not fish Sunday, but caught 23 on Saturday rigging with leeches.

[eyewarrior]

Thanks for the report. I'll probably have to look at some different flats to find bigger more abundant schools. When you found the fish off of the flat did you lift you leech up into the fish? I assume when they left the flat they were suspended at about the same depth as they were when they were on the top of the flat. I wont be back up until the 4th. I hope by then they will be more active on cranks.

eyewarrior

[jlmiller]

Lifting the bait depended on where the fish were on the graph. I lifted with the marks I was seeing, at the same depths the fish were, and my wife dragged her bouncer or walking weight the whole time. She caught more fish so I don't know what to tell ya there. The marks I was seeing were on the mud to 3 feet above the mud near or on the flats. I didn't see much for suspended fish until Saturday. I did see quite a few fish suspended 20ft down, in 34 feet of water off the reefs. It was the only day I forgot the cranks in the cabin, so I didn't try for those. The crankin should pick up anyday I would assume.

[eyewarrior]

20ft down over 34 ft of water. Sounds like 3 colors with boards. I cant wait

[jay83196]

Question when using your sonar how high up do you guys have your sensitivity? I have a 4 year old Lowrance hard to tell if I am marking fish, seems like nothing and if I turn sensitivity up lights up with fish???? How acurate you thinks they really are?

[eyewarrior]

Question when using your sonar how high up do you guys have your sensitivity? I have a 4 year old Lowrance hard to tell if I am marking fish, seems like nothing and if I turn sensitivity up lights up with fish???? How acurate you thinks they really are?

I have a 2005 Lowrance 104c and an X17. I have sens at least at 75% with ping speed @ 100%. I set sens so I just get a little "pepper" on the screen. I set the sens to auto its seems to do the trick. The expression we use is "it's not walleye there's no color" or "there's some nice colored ones". On Mille depths 15-35 there's almost always a touch of yellow in the arch. Sometimes a school of big perch can fool you. Bugs up shallow can have some red but are usually only black clouds. Good fish usually show good color arches. Harder to tell with X17 you have to look at the arches harder for the different shades of black/gray. "There's some nice grayliners" is the expression. With both with a little experience you can definatley tell if there's fish down there. Hope this helps.

eyewarrior

[slimngrizzly]

I have a 2005 102C and a 2006 3500C. As far as how acurate..... I can watch my fathead in 100 fow and and see the fish comming up to it. Im probably overconfident in my graphs! But like eyewarrior said, as your depth scale changes, so does the size of your marks.... Its just a matter of getting familiar with your electronics. But I also have mine on auto usually over 80% and ping speed and chart speed at 100%.

I think most would agree todays graphs are extremely accurate