Bass Or Not

[ebob2435]

I have been spending quite a bit of time on the water this past year. If practice is what you do to get better,I should be doing better.  I do ok when the bass are shallow next to the banks or in the weeds.  What i'm having trouble is when I try to fish deep water.  First , can you determine if the fish on you electronics are bass or some other type of fish?  I went saturday and found fish holding in  30 ft of water ,anywhere from 5 ft to 25 ft.   Most  the time that I found them they were so thick  ,you would think you would have snagged one by just throwing thru them.   Not a hit all day, went to 2 lakes water was clear ,but had a good ripple on the surface from the wind. I threw everything-deep divers-carolina rig-shallow runners-jerk baits-drop shot- weighted jerk baits-you name it I tried it  all   The fish were there , im sure they were bass.  I anchored deep and threw shallow.  I anchored shallow and fished deep.  To no avail.    Any ideas ?  Water temp was 41  Air temp was 54   Lake was fairly clear,  Wind was anywhere fron 10 to 15 mph.  Thanks!!!

[Shane J]

Sounds like you found schools of baitfish, probably shad. While that's one piece of the puzzle, it's not the whole key to finding bass. Don't try to use your electronics to find fish, use them to find structure AND baitfish. The first thing you really have to do, though, is figure out what depth the bass are hanging at. Once you do that, use your finders to locate off shore structure and baitfish at that depth. From there you can dial in what speed to fish, what profile bait, etc. 

[00 mod]

Could have been a school or other fish as well?  Bream, Crappie,white bass, yellow bass etc.  Take a small spoon, and verticle fish it thorough them.  Will help you figure out for sure what it is you are seeing.  If I am having troubles like this, one of my first resorts!

 

Jeff

[Nitrofreak]

Deep water or structure fishing takes time if you don't have the right equipment, I too think you found a school of fish as well, at least it sounds like bait fish the way I read your post, if you were looking for bass, they would have been under the school, a lot of times they are, but not always, some can be seen in the school of bait fish.

 

I would have spent some time covering the area in a zig-zag motion over the school, in front of and behind the school, dropping a jigging spoon or a flutter spoon through the bait may have produced results for you, since you stated that you were throwing everything you had,  gives a hint you may have become a little impatient, slow down and don't overthink a situation like that, look the area over and take the time to look at the structure in the surrounding area, if it was a school of bait fish the bass were somewhere close.

[jkarol24]

Could have been a school or other fish as well?  Bream, Crappie,white bass, yellow bass etc.  Take a small spoon, and verticle fish it thorough them.  Will help you figure out for sure what it is you are seeing.  If I am having troubles like this, one of my first resorts!

 

Jeff

Another way to find out quick is to dropshot a 3" gulp grub, everything and anything will eat that thing

[WRB]

I have been spending quite a bit of time on the water this past year. If practice is what you do to get better,I should be doing better.  I do ok when the bass are shallow next to the banks or in the weeds.  What i'm having trouble is when I try to fish deep water.  First , can you determine if the fish on you electronics are bass or some other type of fish?  I went saturday and found fish holding in  30 ft of water ,anywhere from 5 ft to 25 ft.   Most  the time that I found them they were so thick  ,you would think you would have snagged one by just throwing thru them.   Not a hit all day, went to 2 lakes water was clear ,but had a good ripple on the surface from the wind. I threw everything-deep divers-carolina rig-shallow runners-jerk baits-drop shot- weighted jerk baits-you name it I tried it  all   The fish were there , im sure they were bass.  I anchored deep and threw shallow.  I anchored shallow and fished deep.  To no avail.    Any ideas ?  Water temp was 41  Air temp was 54   Lake was fairly clear,  Wind was anywhere fron 10 to 15 mph.  Thanks!!!

Learning to interpret sonar signal returns takes lots of practice.

Can you describe your sonar and how it's set up?

Never use the fish Icon setting, it's of no value. Auto settings may also fool you when trying to determine details like identifing bait from suspended debris, thermal changes or air bubbles. Bass rarely stack on top of each other, they tend to be at the same depth range or within a few feet within a depth range.

A sonar screen shot would help,a lot to determine what you are metering.

Tom

[Bluebasser86]

If you finder marks arches instead of fish icons you can at least get an idea of the side of the fish. It sounds like you may be seeing schools of shad which will normally appear as a cloud on your screen. A friend of mine claims he's able to tell when he's seeing catfish because their lack of scales sends a little bit different color mark. I don't know what it is he's seeing but he's usually right.

[ebob2435]

 I have a hummingbird 570 di with sonar. I can tell when I see shad on the screen.  So, I know for certain it wasn't a school of baitfish. I do have my fish icon on.  May I ask why you  wouldn't  use it WRB?   I had my senitivity at 6 - my band width at 200.  Hope this give a little more info.  Thanks for all the replies.