How to graph a small lake with trees

[GoneFishingLTN]

How do you graph a very small lake with tress? I was trying to use side scan but couldn’t spot any brush piles within the mix of trees on the points. 
 

any tips on how to graph on a lake like this?

 

I use a Lowrance carbon. 

[Jig Man]

The first thing I would do is cover the area again and do a recording.  Then I would pull off some place quiet and study the recording.  I can find a lot more interesting places when I am sitting watching the recording.

 

That is how I survey places.  As I watch the recording, I can mark waypoints as needed.

[GoneFishingLTN]

  On 4/28/2022 at 12:28 PM, Jig Man said:

The first thing I would do is cover the area again and do a recording.  Then I would pull off some place quiet and study the recording.  I can find a lot more interesting places when I am sitting watching the recording.

 

That is how I survey places.  As I watch the recording, I can mark waypoints as needed.

Expand  

What do you mean recording.  Just a normal scan? Or like a 3d scan?

[Jig Man]

Read your manual.  Surely Lowrance still has it.  

[WRB]

1. A good 1’ top map to define the lake bottom structure and contour. You should look for breaks, ditches, drains and any creek beds because it’s a man made small lake. 
2. Locate bait fish and determine what depth to focus on.

3. Sonar look for soil changes to harder bottom and any rocks, gravel or clay.

Wood cover is too common to focus on because you can’t see the forest from the trees. The most obvious 1st tree on a point gets a lot of attention if this lake see pressure.

Fish every sharp break and hard bottom with rocks 1st, the fish tree pockets facing the prevailing wind direction.

Tom

[papajoe222]

Ignore the trees and concentrate on the other information you see on the screen. Switch off the side scan and either run sonar on top of your downscan, or split the screen between the two. 
look for depth changes, bottom composition changes, other forms of cover, baitfish, etc. 

Then add the trees to the mix. What’s the best combination of factors?

[RDB]

You should not have issues distinguishing cover with that fish finder (HDS).  I would do a Google search for videos and make sure you have the settings dialed in properly.

 

Edit:  Graphing a small lake is no different than graphing a big lake.  The cover/structure is either there or it isn’t.