Question regarding new fish finder

[Swest18x]

Garmin striker 7sv. My first fish finder, lots of this on the screen saturday, I've seen pics online where fish appear more like an arc, but do you see any fish here? If not, what is this stuff? 

[dodgeguy]

Fish.

[Dogface]

  On 5/3/2022 at 1:59 AM, dodgeguy said:

Fish.

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Yes! Lots of fish!

[MN Fisher]

That's what fish look like on my Striker 7CV

[dodgeguy]

Fish don't always make perfect arches. It depends on graph speed and boat speed.

[WRB]

What is a sonar return? 

1. It isn’t flesh and bone.

2. It is the fish air ladder, far more dense the tissue.

3. What is a sonar arch? Think of a stationary gold ball size air bubble. As the sonar cone single 1st approaches the air bubble the outer edge of the single is weaker then the stronger center area of the moving sonar signal. The tail of arch is 1st weak sneak approaching the bubble, the thicker center of the arch is near the center of of cone sonar signal, then tapered off tail end is the outer signal edge passing it bubble, using 2D sonar. Singles that are on the outer edge of the cone left it right side appear as straight lines or upward straight lines.

The lumps and bumps near the bottom are big fish of some species in the center of the cone under the transducer.

Tom

[NoShoes]

  On 5/3/2022 at 2:24 AM, WRB said:

What is a sonar return? 

1. It isn’t flesh and bone.

2. It is the fish air ladder, far more dense the tissue.

3. What is a sonar arch? Think of a stationary gold ball size air bubble. As the sonar cone single 1st approaches the air bubble the outer edge of the single is weaker then the stronger center area of the moving sonar signal. The tail of arch is 1st weak sneak approaching the bubble, the thicker center of the arch is near the center of of cone sonar signal, then tapered off tail end is the outer signal edge passing it bubble, using 2D sonar. Singles that are on the outer edge of the cone left it right side appear as straight lines or upward straight lines.

The lumps and bumps near the bottom are big fish of some species in the center of the cone under the transducer.

Tom

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I’ve always thought the big lumps were rocks. Oops. ?

[MN Fisher]

  On 5/4/2022 at 12:02 AM, NoShoes said:

I’ve always thought the big lumps were rocks. Oops. ?

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They aren't dense enough (too little red) to be rocks. If you look close, there's a bit of arching off the bottom - slight gap between the 'rock' and the actual bottom on the right side. That says 'fish' to me.

[NoShoes]

  On 5/4/2022 at 12:09 AM, MN Fisher said:

They aren't dense enough (too little red) to be rocks. If you look close, there's a bit of arching off the bottom - slight gap between the 'rock' and the actual bottom on the right side. That says 'fish' to me.

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Probably why I suck off shore. I learn something new on this forum everyday.

[Bird]

That's a lot of fish in 12ft of water, I'm guessing suspending vegetation.

I've not seen that on my graphs.

[MN Fisher]

  On 5/4/2022 at 12:48 AM, Bird said:

That's a lot of fish in 12ft of water, I'm guessing suspending vegetation.

I've not seen that on my graphs.

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I've seen schools of crappie look like that on my screen.

[gim]

Could be a school of minnows or small panfish. I doubt it’s a school of bass though. I agree with @MN Fisher that those stumps on the bottom could be fish too. Some fish really like to hug the bottom.

[WRB]

The easiest way is make a circle and go over the same spot, rocks don’t move. 

The “bumps” on the OP’s screen shot are off the bottom with lighter color on the underside, rocks don’t float.

What are they...fish of some kind that air bladders like carp, catfish or bass?

If you tune the sonar to show secondary echos rocks always echo, fish don’t.

Tom

[Bankc]

  On 5/4/2022 at 12:48 AM, Bird said:

That's a lot of fish in 12ft of water, I'm guessing suspending vegetation.

I've not seen that on my graphs.

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That's what I'm thinking.  

 

It's hard to tell just from one picture.  If you move around the lake and everything looks like that, then it's probably not fish, but something else.  If you find pockets that look like this and other places that look empty, then it's probably fish.  However, it's probably not largemouth bass, as they don't often congregate all throughout the water column like this (in my experience).  In my local lakes, a picture like this usually means white bass or crappie.  Largemouth bass will usually show up as 1-10 fish, all huddled around a piece of cover or structure, at around the same depth.  Usually.  We don't have large smallmouth populations near me, and I understand their behavior is different, but I don't know exactly how so.  

[casts_by_fly]

It is a trout stocked lake?  There are a couple lakes around here where you'll get that picture this time of year and a lot of time it is fresh stocked trout that haven't figured out life yet.

[Swest18x]

It is a trout stocked lake...but it looked like this in most places 12 feet or less and I only had one bite all day. That bite came on a lipless crank I was hopping over an area where I clearly saw a fish hugging the bottom. So vegetation makes sense to me. BTW, water temps were low to mid 40s, just a real frustrating day overall! I'm hoping to figure out how to use this fishfinder so trips like this can be more productive.