FFS questions: high wind, how to stop catching Gar, changing appearance with range, bottom fish

[txchaser]

1) Wind was gusting 35+ according to the weather service, so probably faster on the downwind end of the lake this weekend. 

Man I was really having a hard time staying on fish, finding my bait, etc. Probably only 1/5 of my casts were any good. 

Is this solvable in any way? Skill up and eventually you'll figure it out? Or just get in coves/areas that aren't getting blasted? I wanted to be out on main lake points and their transitions into creek arms. But it was just silly hard. 

 

2) the gar. The dang longnose gar. Is there a reliable way to ID gar? I keep catching them and it's a bit maddening. They seemed to stay at similar depths as the largemouth that are biting. 

 

3) I leave the range on 100'. I've noticed that past about 50 everything looks 'tall' in the return, and as it gets to 50' it tends to blob out, get more horizontal. Is that just how it always is? 

 

4) it kinda seems like the bass that will eat tend to be in the same 5-ish foot depth range. Am I noticing this right or I'm crazy? 

 

5) Tips on identifying size of fish that are on the bottom? I can usually notice them vs weeds, but it's hard to tell how big they are. Trying to not waste time chasing smaller fish. 

 

[casts_by_fly]

1- you’re going to struggle in high wind. Even if you’ve got double poles down (which isn’t a normal ffs scenario) you’re still talking about lighter baits/line/rods a lot of the time. And at that wind speed you’re going to be doing everything you can just to move the boat around. 
 

2- we have pike and musky, so same

body shape as gar. Play with your setting a little. You should be able to recognize the difference between long skinny fish and shorter chunky fish. Now a 15” crappie?  That looks just like a bass. 
 

3- depends on the transducer you have. Mega live 1 doesn’t have enough power to do well much beyond 50’ or so. At that range it’s losing power too much to differentiate shapes and sizes. Not sure which xd you have though. 
 

4- that’s just the fish you have and the techniques you’re using. Could be the time of year and the mood your fish are in. Plenty of bass have been caught deeper than 10’ on ffs. 
 

5- fish laying on the bottom are tougher. You need good target separation. Play with your settings. Dial down the contrast so you can try to make out the edges of the cover and the edges of the fish. Get closer and set your range to 50’ and your depth to 2’ deeper than the water. That will get the most pixels on the fish. From there you can compare the fish to the grid size on the screen. 

[Logan S]

1:  This is when stop looking at it and go fish for real with a spinnerbait or something .

 

2:  I have this same issue with catfish...I think there's always going to be some misidentification.  One thing that usually proves true to me is that actual bass are more active on the screen than catfish or crappie or others...They move more, they react to your bait from farther away, etc.  

 

3:  I have my range at 80' (AT1).  I generally only use 10', 20', and 30' for my depth so I get comfortable with how things are presented at each range.  

 

4:  If it works keep at it.  It probably varies.  

 

5:  If they're on the bottom, its tough to see them.  Last time I was out I caught around 15 fish off a single point and the screen was bare as a desert the entire time, they were right on the bottom.