Bass On The Depth Finder Help (Pic)

[jmed999]

Guys, I'm kinda new to bass fishing. I mostly fish the 8 acre pond behind the house. The depth ranges from 3 to 13 ft. When trolling around on the jon boat I always see a thick green band across the top of the water on the depth finder. I also see suspended oval shapes not arches. I assume the ovals are bass and the reason they are not arches is because I'm going slow.

-Is it true that the oval suspended things are fish even though they are not arches (like fish usually look on depth finders)?

-What is the green band at the top? What is the yellow band under the green? My depth finder is mounted to the bottom of the trolling motor which is only about 1.5' from the top of the water. The green band goes down to about 3 feet depth and the yellow band is right below the green band...not sure what either are.

-What do the very thin red vertical line represent?

Thanks for the help!

[Wayne P.]

The color band at the top is called Surface Clutter--the different colors are different echo intensities. The clutter is from the sonar pulse echos being reflected by the water surface and any particles near the surface. You should have a setting to reduce that. Your sensitivity is set too high for the conditions. The streaks may be sturred up water from the trolling motor. Sonar can be reflected by water density differences. They may be RF interference lines also caused by the trolling motor.

The "ovals" could be anything in the water column, if you are motionless and they appear and dissappear, they are fish. If the returns form a thick line at that depth across the display, it could be suspended matter or motionless fish.

As for the species, you have to catch one to see what it is or have to know the history of that body of water.

One more thing, read the operation manual at least two more times.

[jmed999]

Thanks for the info!!!

BTW, I have read the manual but I was real disappointed. It tells you about the depth finder and it goes through the settings but does not tell you how to read one. I was hoping it would have pictures of different scenarios telling you what things are. Without that explanation I'm kinda lost.

[Wayne P.]

This is somewhat outdated, but it will be somewhat helpful for your type of unit.

http://www.lowrance.com/en/Support/Tips-and-Tutorials/Sonar-Tutorial/

I agree that the manuals that all mfg put out could do a better job of providing instructions.

[surfer]

Run over thing that you know what they are. For example a boat ramp, or a fallen tree. This will give you an idea of how things look.

Being that you are only in 5 ft of water in that snap shot i would not think those are fish. If so thats some fishy water.

[jmed999]

Run over thing that you know what they are. For example a boat ramp, or a fallen tree. This will give you an idea of how things look.

Being that you are only in 5 ft of water in that snap shot i would not think those are fish. If so thats some fishy water.

What else could it be? I know there are no stumps or logs in that area. Keep in mind, the screen doesn't normally look like that. It is usually clear or just shows some small suspended things. I took the pic because it was showing some larger blobs at that moment and I thought it was cool.

Thanks!

[Wayne P.]

What else it could be is suspended solids due to the lake turn-over. Many times I have seen "globs" of decayed vegetation that was suspended or floating on the surface when the fall turnover occurs. The level of that suspended matter depends on how much gas it contains due to decomposition in relation to the water temperature. My conclusion is based on the water temp in your picture.

[NBR]

IMHO The stuff at the top is surface clutter. Pollen, trash air bubbles anything suspended at the surface. If this was on my ususal lakes I'd think the round balls were a pod of bait but I normally don't see bait pods in water that shallow. You can see pods that shallow but seldom where I fish. Normally fish look like arches because the cone angle of the sound pulse causes the initial signal to be a little farther from the transducer then as the object becomes more centered the pulse is not traveloinf as far.

At 3+ feet of depth you won't see much since the area of the cone at that depth is so small.. At that depth I woould only look for structure or cover actually I seldom look for fish with my sonar. I like to see structure and cover. Balls of bait are a plus as are arches that I think are fish but the lack of fish doesn't send me roaring off somewhere else.

You may have a tutorial on your sonar that would be helpful to watch.

[surfer]

If it's only 4 ft below you try looking at it, poking it, or netting it.