How would you fish for these?

[gottofish]

Depth is 24ft. Surface temp is 82F. I couldnt get a bite...tried a drift rig with cut shad. Nada. Discourged.

[jmanion8]

Welcome to the BOC, certainly an interesting question! I don't know much about fishfinders, so I'll leave that to someone more knowledgable. Anyhow, welcome to the BOC and I'm sure you'll find an answer sooner or later.

It may also help to know where this is and some of the other variables: time of day, current, what you're fishing for, etc.

[poisonpits]

if you drifting with cut shad and no bites they may not be cats.all the graft tells you is that theres fish there it may be carp,buffalo,try a small hook and some worms.if there cats or some other fish one should bite.

[gottofish]

Thanks, good tip, smaller bait first. You know how it is, you study up, and then go gunnin' for the big stuff with little or no experience. I need to learn some paientience to be sucsessful at this! They could be wipers but this is a known catfish lake as well. The sonar is at about 7:30PM yesterday, 7-29-09. I did just see on this site a "how to" on shad presentation and I was not doing it the same way. I basically split the shad length wise to produc two idenditcal halves with head body and tail on each half. On the hook on side looks like an intact fish and the other side looks like an anatomy lesson.

I see sonars like this all the time but rarley catch fish. I'll keep tryin'.

[jerseycat9]

Depth is 24ft. Surface temp is 82F. I couldnt get a bite...tried a drift rig with cut shad. Nada. Discourged.
As high as the sensitivity is that could very well be larger bait or panfish. Whatever the case judging by the defined arches it doesnt look like they were very active.

[bownero]

Not 100% certain, but from what I was told, is to look for more horizontal lines on the locator. These are supposed to be Catfish. More of an arch, indicates other fish like, walleye, wipers, carp and the such. Have to agree, because from what I see on my locator as horizontal lines, I fish that spot and catch the cats.

Got my info from a tournament catfisherman. believe what he is talking about!

[jerseycat9]

Now if your Lowrance looks like any of these pictures youd better have a lot of bait LOL

[jerseycat9]

Not 100% certain, but from what I was told, is to look for more horizontal lines on the locator. These are supposed to be Catfish. More of an arch, indicates other fish like, walleye, wipers, carp and the such. Have to agree, because from what I see on my locator as horizontal lines, I fish that spot and catch the cats.

Got my info from a tournament catfisherman. believe what he is talking about!
More horizontal lines is usually an indicator of more active fish not so much different fish. At least thats what Ive heard read and learned but hell who knows what the heck is really goin on down there:smile2:

[gottofish]

Jerseycat,

What is your SOG (speed over ground) from the GPS in the above pictures? Looks like its 0.5 mph or less.

[jerseycat9]

Id say.5 on the left and probably around 1.5 on the right picture

[gottofish]

jerseycat9,

I've read everthing Lowrance has out regarding the sonar chart. The older screen pixel vs. arch inches etc. Now, I record almost always and then play it back on the PC using the sonar viewer software. My screen is 1440x900 so mouse pointer is fairly hi-res. If I use the mouse pointer to ID the top and bottom of an arc center, stay with me, some of them, the arches, are 9" to 12" thick. Now that dimensuion could be in most any plane, i.e., the max thickness of the fish or maybe the max length. I think it is more the thickness. The best approximation would be a clear and pronounced arch almost on the bottom. Ant thoughts on this?

[jerseycat9]

From what I have gathered from the seminars and tutorials I have read (blackwaterkatz has some good ones linked) the stronger the arch sometimes has more to do with proximity of the fish to the transducer not so much the size. The big strong arch showing up at 20ft (directly under the ducer most likely) may not be as big of a fish as the faint arch that is showing up at 40ft on the chart. This could be a really big fish that is just on the outside of the cone angle and giving a faint return and also does not necessarily mean the fish is at a depth of 40ft he may just be 40ft away from the ducer' at a depth of 30ft.

The only true way to become a master of the sonar is with time on the water. Im pretty good at reading and understanding what I see on the chart but sometimes what we think we see on there is misinterpreted because of the 3 dimensional world that we are are trying to view on a 2 dimensional outlook.

[GEORGE2]

Mitch, I aint no expert at reading a graph but from what I've learned a catfish(regardless of the size)does not show up the same as fish that have scales. Just as the bottom of the lake will show up in different colors to represent the hardness of the bottom, catfish will reflect the sonar signal different than a fish with hard scales,such as a large striper. The stronger the arch is a indicator that the fish are moving or the boat is moving. Often when you are anchored over a area that holdes fish they will show up as a line across the screen if they are just sitting there below your boat not moving. Next time you are fishing and catch a nice size catfish or any size catfish don't take the hook out, just put it back in the water below your transducer and watch your graph. You will learn very quickly what a catfish looks like and how to judge the size of one also. Hope this is some help.

[gottofish]

All good info! Thanks. I'll try letting the next one swim around hooked up!