Are they fish?

[Rick Howard]

i have little to no epeerience with thieves things.  From videos I've seen the fish should appear as arches.  Since I've had this thing I've yet to see an arch.  What am I looking at in this photo?

 

 

[Rick Howard]

Maybe a better way to phrase the question and some of my thoughts. 

 

Im not depending of the unit to show me fish.  I'm more interested in bottom, temp, and depth. However, seeing all the blobs on screen when I know the fish are there,  I was catching them, made me wonder if the unit is working properly.  My gut says most of those blips are bait. I'm seeing larger schools with my eyes near the surface but beneath are lots of smaller groups that form into larger schools when the bass start chasing them. 

 

Does se this sound reasonable?  I'm still surprised I'm not seeing an arch or two in the mix.

[Scott F]

Several years ago, after spending hours fishing for and not catching what I thought were fish that I was marking on my depth finder, I bought an under water camera. Every time I saw what I assumed was a school of bait or game fish on the Lowrance, I’d stop and drop the camera over the side to have a look. I was never able to see fish of any kind. It was always either leaves or some other kind of junk or debris suspended in the water. 

Im sure there are times when what you see are fish, but those marks aren’t always bait or game fish. 

[sully420]

Looks like your transducer isn't level. Try to do it on the water if you can,maby loosen the transducer just enough that you can alter pitch when you are on the water and get to a place on the water that gives you the sane returns you are seeing in your pic above. Then adjust your transducer untill you see arches and fasten the trans in that position.

[Rick Howard]

I'm Not at home right now but I do believe the transducer is pitched a few degrees downwards.  I will adjust to see what happens. Thanks. 

 

Again im not depending on the unit to show me fish. I'm more interested in the depth, bottom contours, bottom composition, and water temp.  Also weeds and structure that's deeper than my eyes can see.  But, since I knew there were fish at this spot because I was catching them.  The lack of arches Made me question wether the unit was functioning correctly.  The concept that anything suspended in the water would return to the unit was not lost though.  I'm sure some of those blobs are floating debris also. 

 

This is is my first depth finder.  In the past I've found fish the "old fashioned" way.  Seasonal patterns, bait, cover... still do that first but the devise gives me a little more knowledge of my surroundings.  Learning  

[slonezp]

Arches are only produced as a fish is moving thru the beam of the transducer. Meaning, the boat is moving over a fish or the fish is swimming thru the beam. If the boat and fish are both stationary, you will not see an arch. As far as what you are seeing in the pic, could be stationary fish underneath a stationary boat. Unlikely due to the fact that the marks span the entire water column. Could be blobs of dead algae/weeds or leaves as mentioned above. Could be a Sasquatch.

[12poundbass]

1 hour ago, slonezp said:

Could be a Sasquatch

How long can they hold their breath for? 

[slonezp]

1 minute ago, 12poundbass said:

How long can they hold their breath for? 

Never said it was alive...

[HookRz]

Without actually being there my best guess might be bubbles coming up from a soft bottom. 

This happens a lot on my lakes when water levels go down and the pressure from the water lowers enough that gas in the muck is released. Just like the "bubble trail" you see when crawling a deep diving crank over a mud flat. 

[Team9nine]

12 hours ago, sully420 said:

Looks like your transducer isn't level. Try to do it on the water if you can,maby loosen the transducer just enough that you can alter pitch when you are on the water and get to a place on the water that gives you the sane returns you are seeing in your pic above. Then adjust your transducer untill you see arches and fasten the trans in that position.

 

Start here ^^^

 

Looks like the transducer is off. Doesn't really look like bubbles to me, but you might play with scroll speed also to better help discern. Readings are best when boat speed and scroll speed are coordinated. When in doubt, go faster, not slower.