7/8 - 7/10 Seneca (late report)

[BrookTrout]

Just haven't gotten around to posting from the weekend. I wasn't able to fish as much as I'd like but got out for a few hours each morning. Fished the southern end from Watkins to Kibbe, mostly on the west side. Weeds were hit or miss but generally not too bad on the west side and fleas were minimal with the flea flicker. Caught about a dozen small salmon with only a couple keepers in the mix. Also got 2 nice rainbows in the 3lb range that went onto the grill and tasted fantastic! Thermocline seemed to be down around 40-50ft, most fish came off the riggers and both rainbows on sliders down about 30ft. Lost a couple good salmon behind the boat, but otherwise nothing too exciting.

I am still getting used to my new sonar and took this pic of the screen on the east side. I assume the big arcs are fish but how come they seem to be 20ft from top to bottom, if they are fish how do you know the depth, the top of the arc, the middle? Also I have noticed lots of surface clutter and even with the surface clutter filter option on high there is always like 20ft of clutter? Any input would be appreciated.

[hermit]

Those are small bait balls. The way the sonar works is by measuring distance, so when you approach an object and it begins to enter the cone of the sonar, it is measuring a diagonal. When it gets directly under you it is straight up and down, and the distance being measured is less. So the true depth of the object will be the top of the hook, and not the sides.

From the thickness of those hooks at the top (when it is straight below you), 5-10 feet, it is going to be bait. Being a big object (or bait school) your sonar will pick it up from further to the side and that's how you can see a hook that looks like it is 30 feet tall. Smaller object like fish will get picked up closer to vertical and the difference between the side and top of the hook will be less.

This is also a good way to help you estimate the size of fish as bigger fish will have taller hooks as well as being thicker. But it's pretty variable- if you see a really looooong hook most likely the fish is swimming in the direction you are traveling.

It is hard to tell and you will get better with practice but the hook just above the 'Khz' and the half-hook below the deeper bait ball are possibly fish. The Khz one may not be a fish as there is some other stuff near it but that's my guess. And don't worry about the surface clutter that will usually be there.

And nice fish!

[lakebound88]

excellent!!

[ioiosoiwork]

I got the exact FF/Chart plotter, the clutter on top drove me nuts too, I went back to the default settings, I found a lot of it is (IMO) is prop wash, 1 day it got real bad..........look over the back end & I was trailing weeds around the transducer , like Alec said, it's always going to be there

[pschauf]

I have a lowrance too and that screen looks to be bait fish schools - if they are really thick the bait ball hook will be purple/magenta in the center and almost round/oblong - fish will be all black sharper and smaller hooks - bigger hooks = bigger fish or you are right on top of them - You can max out your ping rate to aid in finding fish - you should be able to reduce your surface clutter but at a cost of reducing your sensitivity which should also be adjustable. I max out my ping rate and run on auto sensitivity because of the changing bottom depth near shore - in deeper water like the 500 feet depths on seneca your fish marks get much smaller. A big varible is which transducer you have - mine automatically switches from 50 to 200 depending on depth - you can also lock one or the other if you want - wattage power also effects image quality - but you must match watts to transducer - I could run up to 10,000 watts but I would need the better transducer or I'd roast it - I believe I'm at 4000 watts now but it is adjustable. Hope this helps.

[BrookTrout]

Wow, some very helpful information, I did not know that bait could appear as a "hook" always thought they appeared like clouds. That would definetely explain why they appear so tall. Glad to hear others have the surface clutter and its not just me. I will keep playing with the settings. Thanks for all the information guys, very helpful!

Jon

[salmoseine]

Additional significant variable... transducer cone angle. Narrow cone = greater depth display accuracy/image detail. Wide angle = less depth accuracy, less detail, BUT more image content (water covered). Example: with narrow cone, peak of hook depth is ~accurate, while with a wide transducer cone angle, the peak of the hook may in fact be that of a target in the outer reach of the cone, displaying it deeper then the actual depth. Interpretation of display info is a multi-variable challenge