Reading The Fishfinder

[A-5]

Don.

Your getting waaay to worried about seeing fish. Unless your live scope I would ignore the


I didn’t mark any fish. Thing.


Point is you learn a lake. Mentally you Learn. The bottom. You fish you log you learn. Eventually you catch one and that is a piece solved. I said look for the drop. Your finder isn’t marking the fish on drop. Your finder is scoping under you if your casting towards shore and letting the bait drop with the bottom 30’ away you aren’t marking those fish any way. So. What’s the finder for. For me it’s the bottom solving. If I fish properly hidden humps I have a advantage. Deep vertical fish is what the finder is good for. Up shallow the fish hear the ping and boat they are gone. Lol. I have side scan which helps shallow but if I am fishing structure or secondary breaks I watch the drop off. I want to stay at a precise place on that drop off. That’s what I use the finder for.

 

[A-5]

 

[HenryDavid]

River smallies destroy those.

 

[troutspinner]

Unless your live scope I would ignore the

Even with Livescope, I still throw at structure that doesn’t appear to have fish on it. A fish can hide right next to a log or stump and not be seen.

I’ve found the LS to work real nice for scanning ahead of the boat and knowing where not to cast. I have a caught a few as a direct result of watching them but for the most part, it just eliminates wasted casts.

 

[Don]

Do you see stupid tubes on your live scope.
I really am not looking for fish but rather I’m looking for rocks and lumber/stumps. Hopefully these items are relating to creeks and slopes. I’m learning what I’m looking at and it is a blast.

 

[Don]

River smallies destroy those.

How is a good way to use them in lakes?

 

[HenryDavid]

I don't fish them in lakes, in moving water only.

 

[Don]

And how do you recommend fishing them in rivers. Dead float or with imparted action?

 

[A-5]

Lakes yes. Basically jig them back to the boat

 

[A-5]

 

[Solitario Lupo]

How is a good way to use them in lakes?

Drag them on the ground pause and twitch.

 

[Don]

Sounds painful.

 

[Don]

This weekend for those that fish please report your stream and lake water temps.

 

[HenryDavid]

And how do you recommend fishing them in rivers. Dead float or with imparted action?

I let them sink, then drift along, bottom bouncing. Most everything I fish sub-surface for river smallies is to imitate crawfish.

 

[Don]

I have the crawfish color and they can be convincing. I’ll give it a go.

 

[Bootfoot]

Yep, I to drift tubes. Sometimes I let it simply drag and lift it ever so slightly over stubborn rocks, sometimes I do little hops sometimes I do big hops sometimes I aggressively lift and drop them sometimes I pull them across the bottom and let them rest still untill the drift catches back up to them. The key point is they have to be on the bottom among the rocks. you can’t be bashful or worried about snagging them because you will and there’s no way to avoid it if you want to catch fish. i Never retrieve it back to the boat. It stays out there dragging, hopping, skipping or pulling over the bottom until I catch a fish, it snags a rock and breaks off or I complete the drift. Another tip is to forget the fancy flavor induced 4” tubes in fluorescent colors. Just get your basic brown and green tubes 3” to 3.5”. I catch the overwhelmingly vast majority of my SMB on tubes. Don’t keep them to eat either. Keep the catfish, snakeheads and pannies but let the bass go. They are getting increasingly in shorter and shorter supply.

 

[HenryDavid]

If you get used to drift fishing the bottom in current you will get a feel for the rocks, anything that feels like getting stuck I lift the rod tip, I generally keep the rod tip high anyway, easier for me to detect hits. If it feels solid it's either a snag or a bass. A lot of times you'll feel a vibrating "tap, tap, tap" which is a smallie taking a nip, they will often try and stun their prey.

 

[truecrimson]

I tightened all of the nuts and bolts on the transducer arm, and made sure it was straight and flat. Also was in the Ride today, which is way more stable than the Yellowfin.

What am I looking at?

 

[Don]

I’m reserving comment until some of the pros speak to it.
Must feel good to have it up and running again.

 

[truecrimson]

It does. The wife was never going to approve a new one