Depthfinder Screenshot

[dman]

what am i seeing here? just noise ?

[Gatorbassman]

Suspended Fish.

Note: You need to turn your sensitivity down a little bit.

[dman]

That's what i was hoping it was so I fished for them but couldn't get hit (Crankbait and counting down a spinnerbait, Note: i never fish deep, this was the first time i ever sat down and scanned deep water looking for fish or structure). Yea, I have since turned down the sensitivity , is that why they are not "arches" and longer than normal ?

[Jig Man]

They were moving is why there aren't arches. The water is shallow enough that the boat caused them to move away from it.

[HookSetDon]

Ive seen similar readings which I figured were fish and Ive tried about every lure in my box to get them to go and I havent any luck to get them to go, if you find a way let me know!

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Suspended fish for sure. What kind of fish is another story entirely. Definitely a little drop in the sensitivity, plus I'd probably bump the Colorline up a little. You won't get an arch unless a fish moves through the entire cone. Looking at that picture, I'd say you were either sitting still and marking a school that was moving below you, or you were idling and ran across them. Definitely some type of fish no matter what though.

[Gatorbassman]

Thanks fluke, that's what i was hoping it was so I fished for them but couldn't get hit (Crankbait and counting down a spinnerbait, Note: i never fish deep, this was the first time i ever sat down and scanned deep water looking for fish or structure). Yea, I have since turned down the sensitivity , is that why they are not "arches" and longer than normal ?

See all that surface clutter. It goes all the way to 8ft. Turn your sensitivity down till most of that clutter goes away. Usually that's a setting between 5 and 8 or 50 and 80% depending on the brand of finder that you have.

[dman]

gonna try getting some hollow body swimabaits and some hard swimbaits down to them....any other recomendation? (thats if i find the school again - but the deep section of this lake is pretty small so i should find em, maybe 8-10 acres is deep water, the rest of the lake is 4-8' )

[Gatorbassman]

Jigging spoon. Most any predatory fish will hit one.

[Jig Man]

I rarely get fish that are suspended to hit baits. When they are near the bottom in cover or structure is the most likely time to get them to hit.

You might count down a swim jig and bring it through them or if they would hold then a drop shot might work but that is pretty shallow to get them to hold under the boat.

[scrutch]

The reason for the elongated fish arches is speed. Like another post said, you were probably sitting still or drifting across these fish. If you increase your speed while scanning, like between 2 and 6mph, the "fish arches" will look more like what you are used to seeing. While drifting, EVERYTHING will look elongated and distorted. Laydowns look like a jumbled mess, steep drops will look like gradual ones, a two foot tall rock will look like a two foot tall ledge. Speed up a little.

[dman]

The reason for the elongated fish arches is speed. Like another post said, you were probably sitting still or drifting across these fish. If you increase your speed while scanning, like between 2 and 6mph, the "fish arches" will look more like what you are used to seeing. While drifting, EVERYTHING will look elongated and distorted. Laydowns look like a jumbled mess, steep drops will look like gradual ones, a two foot tall rock will look like a two foot tall ledge. Speed up a little.

Gotcha, thank you for the explanation

[WRB]

Fish are fish and every lake has a wide variety, not all marks are going to be bass.

Tom

Now that I'am back home and not using the IPhone, let me explain what the arc you see on the sonar screen is. Your sonar signal is an inverted cone looking straight down and moving at the speed of your boat, like a spot light point down into the water. As the very edge of the signal cone approaches a suspended fish a faint signal retun starts to display and as the cone passes over the fish the signal get stronger and wider; the arch shape is created as the fish passes out of the cone. The longer the arch is the faster the cone passed over the fish or the fish passed through the signal cone. The cone diamter is about 1/3rd the depth where the signal was return from...18' deep the cone is about 6' in diameter at the lake bottom and about 4' where you marked the fish is a small area.

Don't turn down your signal strenght too much, you will loose a lot of details like fish. Adjust the signal strength so you see some back ground clutter. By the way the sonar doesn't reflect off the fishes skin or meat, it reflects off the air bladder, the most dense, or strongest suspended signal returns is air inside the fish. Carp or any fish with an air bladder look just like bass to sonar.

Tom