Mead 01-10-2015

[wolfs4evr]

Been a couple trips since I was out on a weekend. The girls are back in school after the holiday break and I had a full week and then some at work. What a difference! Looked like the entire 7th fleet was out on maneuvers. I counted close to 30 boats at one point just sitting there fishing w/o binoculars. What a difference on the Shad from the pervious 3 trips. A pile of the bigger ones. More than we needed. They sure stay alive a long time on the line but I am not so certain they catch any better. I messed around with rigging them differently. Starting with Madi's rod which she usually cleans house on. I rigged hers through the nose, Kate's through the upper lip and mine normal to me. In the back. There's wasn't catching and mine was. Back to hooking them in the back area. IMO they swim more naturally hooked that way. At least for dead under the boat fishing. Slow trolling one of the other two ways for sure or a variant of them.

Anyways the youngest made it out for her second trip ever. Right off the bat after I re-rigged their baits they pull a double on me just to see how I will handle it. lol. That was nothing compared to the one triple we had today. That was a handful especially once the one my youngest had and mine decided to pass each other several times and get our lines all twisted. Took me a few to figure out my rod over hers then under then over then under to free both of us up. I ran to the bow as fast as I could to seperate the three of us as fast as I could reaching over the bow to land mine then run to the back to start netting there's as they got them in. There was one other double in the day and several singles. Only 10 landed and overall they were not near the sizes we caught on our last trip. Quite a few lite strikes that got our Shad and one that broke a leader that I should of changed before the trip.

I didn't take too many pics...

The first double.



Caught lots of Shad this size.



Not the best but not the worst. In this screen shot you can see all 3 of our 1oz weights down there.



Tom
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[wolfs4evr]

Totally digging this! Sure takes some of the pain away having a hobby that isn't gas friendly. 13mpg or so in the truck towing and +/- 4mpg going full speed in the boat sure sucks up some fuel fast!

Finally under 2 bucks in the NW end of town. Never ever thought I would see that again!



Tom
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[StarsnStripers]

Haha I'm loving the fuel price as well!
I was also out yesterday and had the same experience catching bait. I mainly found fish in shallower water and in the basin. It was kinda slow seems like they weren't feeding as vigorously as a few weeks ago. Like you said it was a parking lot out there. Maybe had something to do with it. I wonder why with all the bait there are zero boils anywhere?
I do have a sonar question for you. I have options for sonar beams between 200khz and 455khz for both my sonar and down imaging. Which do you use and recomend. I just got the humminbird 587 and love it so far but just lookin for some advice.
Thanks
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[wolfs4evr]

We rolled into the hoard of boats in the 40-60 foot of water area and though the sonar showed promise I wasn't catching anything. I heard a few people talking here and there the same. Didn't stick around very long. Did way better in the deeper water. Been a looooong time since I last saw a boil...

455 is for down imaging and or side imaging purposes only. More than likely the only setting on yours. My front 798 SI/DI unit is 455 kHz only while my console 898 SI/DI is 455 or 800 kHz. 455 kHz is more or less all that I use. It covers 180 degrees (side imaging) and is less picky setting wise. 800 Khz is only 130 degree wide and can provide a more detailed picture. The newer 899 version of my console mounted 898 is 455 kHz only. I think they went to the single mode to cut costs and most don't use 800 kHz anyways.

The 200 and 83 kHz settings is your 2D sonar. I more or less live on 200 kHz since it is more detailed per se and I just like it more. 200 kHz is a tighter beam. 200 kHz is a 20 degree wide beam/cone heading down while the 83 kHz setting is a 60 degree wide beam/cone. Your depth reading on yours will always come off the 200 kHz freq and can not be turned off. The 83 kHz frequency can be turned on or off and can be set as your primary on the screen if one desires. When both are turning on that is what Humminbird calls "DualBeam PLUS". I have both on almost always and they overlay on the same screen or I can switch to a screen view that has 83 on the left half and 200 on the right half.

As far as "Switchfire" 99% of the time I run my sonar in "Max Mode". There is times for "Clear Mode" but not often. I run mine in Clear Mode when only fishing shallow water. Say less than 20 feet. Clear mode is filtered/computerized view and you don't see everything. Running in Max Mode you see everything. Nothing is filtered out. You really need to be in this mode if one wants to see there weight hanging under the boat or when one is jigging under the boat or using a drop shot, etc. If the water is extremely dirty there really isn't an option and one has to run clear mode otherwise the screen will get clobbered.

Off your manual.

[size 3][font "Calibri"]DualBeam Sonar[/font][/size]
[size 3][font "Calibri"]Your 500 Series™ Fishfinder uses a 200/83 kHz [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"]DualBeam sonar system with a wide (60°) area of [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"]coverage. DualBeam sonar is optimized to show [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"]the greatest bottom definition using a narrow [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"](20°) beam yet can still indicate fish found in the [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"]wide (60°) beam when the Fish ID+™ feature is [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"]turned on. DualBeam is ideal for a wide range of [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"]conditions - from shallow to very deep water in [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"]both fresh and salt water. Depth capability is [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"]affected by such factors as boat speed, wave [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"]action, bottom hardness, water conditions, and [/font][/size][size 3][font "Calibri"]transducer installation.[/font][/size]

A random picture I found.


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[wolfs4evr]

Also DI/SI is essentially 100% useless sitting stationary. You have to be moving to get anything out of DI/SI. It isn't a cone like the 2D sonar picture above. It is a straight line cut of energy like a laser beam that maps a return on your screen as one passes what is below/to the sides.
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[wolfs4evr]

Another note to add to the 83/200 kHz notes above. 83 kHz which is a 60 degrees wide cone equals the depth in diameter. 200 kHz is 1/3rd of the depth in diameter.

Doubt that made sense..

You are in 100 feet of water.

Using 83 kHz the cone is 100 feet wide at the bottom.

Using 200 kHz the cone is 33 feet wide at the bottom.

Why I mainly use 200 kHz for everything. More exact/detail oriented. Under many/most circumstances I don't care what is 50 feet away from my bait on the bottom. He won't see it. I want to know what is 15 feet or so away from my bait on the bottom. Knowing that I might do a little jiggle, move the bait up and down in the water column to get his attention, etc. Now if I am not seeing anything and want to know if there is anything around I can go to 83 kHz for a little wider "view" of what is going on down there.
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[wolfs4evr]

I have some pics like this of my own somewhere but too lazy to look for them so borrowed this off the net. Plus this one has some extra graphics on the side to help with understanding 83/200 and fish ID.

This is using fish ID plus both 83/200 at the same time. Orange fish symbols is denoting the 200 kHz cone and blue fish symbols is off the 83 kHz cone. If one was vertical jigging for these fish one would need to drop their line down to 18 feet or so since there is only a couple fish essentially directly under the boat (orange). All the blue fish are off to the sides of the boat.


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[Shogunofthecity]

Thanks for sharing the report Wolf!
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[frankv702]

Thanks Wolf! Do you always use the fish ID? I definitely need to learn to use my fish finders better.
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[iamthesmf]

The Striper Club was out this weekend for the final tournament of the regular season (20+ boats)

I saw you over at outhouse cove.

If you would have made a right turn out of that cove and stayed on the right side, in 100+ feet was the school of 2.5 & 3 pounders.

1oz in-line weight with a 2/0 light wire circle hook.
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[wolfs4evr]

We cruised into the outhouse cove at the end of the day to screw around and see if maybe a lost LMB might be back in there somewhere. A good part of the day was spent somewhat in the area you are talking about but I was typically further to the north side verse south side.

The majority of stuff we caught was in the 2-3lb range. But for some reason they didn't fight as well as the ones we caught last trip and the last time out all of them were 3 to 3+. I figured for sure there was no way my little one was going to drag one in from 100+ feet w/o getting tired out and asking for help but she didn't.

I spent too much time looking for them and messing around in known not productive waters verse just going to where we did so good at last time out. I suppose no biggie. I really didn't want to have to bring any fish home. I was out for catch and release this trip. Why I spent some time, too much time, in shallower waters. A heck of a lot easier to catch and release a fish caught in the shallow water verse dragging them up 100+ feet and dealing with their air bladders.

What boat do you have? I have no idea who drives what out there and what to look for.
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[wolfs4evr]

[quote frankv702]Thanks Wolf! Do you always use the fish ID? I definitely need to learn to use my fish finders better.[/quote]

I do so I can get the orange or blue fish symbols denoting what beam is seeing something. So fish ID+ to on and that is it. I leave the Fish ID alarm on the off position "O" most of the time. The only time it is on is when I am bored and playing with the unit. Once I get tired of it beeping all the time off it goes.
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[iamthesmf]

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[iamthesmf]

We had 2 boats this weekend. The Pontoon when we saw you at outhouse cove and the 19'-6" MFG parked over at Sand Island for a while.
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[iamthesmf]

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[wolfs4evr]

[quote iamthesmf]We had 2 boats this weekend. The Pontoon when we saw you at outhouse cove and the 19'-6" MFG parked over at Sand Island for a while.[/quote]

I wasn't paying attention to the boats tied up at Sand Island irt what they were exactly but we were a hundred yards and some anchored directly south of 2 boats that pulled up to the island at the same time Saturday. I can't remember if one was a pontoon or not. Seemed like a odd spot at the time to tie a boat up but a good spot if one wanted a place to get out of the wind if it came up since it was nothing but a steep hillside. Not really even an enjoyable spot to be standing on land since nothing looked flat from where I was at.

Did that truck ever get out of there that for whatever crazy reason the owner attempted to park it in the lake? I meant to go over and take a closer look but never did.
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[iamthesmf]

Did not notice if the truck got out or not. The rain kicked us off the lake at 9:30 Sunday morning.
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[StarsnStripers]

Haha now that's an unmistakable fish on the finder there!!! Hahaha
Thanks wolfs you are a plethora of knowledge its nice to know we can ask and get solid answers. I'm real excited to use the DI for bassin this spring and summer. I am generally sick of the summer heat but now that I've started bass fishin the last two years I can't wait for it... good luck everyone!
Thanks again!
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