Sounder help
Submitted by fords_rule85 on Sun, 2010-04-18 17:16
Hey guys, just picked up my new boat last weekend so was keen as mustard to get it out this weekend. I went out both saturday and sunday but had little to no luck either day. I went out to the mewstones for some tailor then headed out toward rotto from there and then back to the west end of garden island. I spent most of the day looking at the sounder, I have sussed out what ground looks like what but my problem is im not sure what i am meant to be looking for ground wise e.g lumps, holes, flat ground ect. Any help would be much appreciated.Thanx
lurcha
Posts: 455
Date Joined: 29/12/09
a lot of the time good fish
a lot of the time good fish come from flat looking ground, depends on the quality of your sounder to how well you will locate the flat reefy bottom. a lot of it is just trial and error, i spent a few years to locate a lot of my spots. also depends on what depths and what you are fishing for. just look on your charts for likely looking ground (ie the contour lines) and go from there. when the conditions are right pick a section and do long drifts over it and keep doing so in different spots. after a while you will pick up spots and patterns to where the fish are. probably not too much help but thats how i did it.
sea-kem
Posts: 15039
Date Joined: 30/11/09
Totally agree Lurcha. Some
Totally agree Lurcha. Some of my biggest Dhuies have come from the flat coral. What we aren't seeing on the sounder are the cracks in the limestone etc. The crayfishermen can pick these up that's why it's always good to try the pot lines. As a rule the lighter colours on the bottom contour denote harder ground. If you pick up large lumps in deep water 35m+ you've gotten lucky so waypoint them. If they don't produce one day they usually will another, all depends on drift direction tide etc.. hope this helps.
Love the West!
harro
Posts: 1959
Date Joined: 07/02/08
what sounder?
what is it mate?
:::: Bass Hunter ::::
STEVE231
Posts: 1443
Date Joined: 05/01/10
Good ground
A good idea is when you come across pro pots always go and have a look at the ground on your sounder. If it looks the goods, mark it or fish it. I have found some great spots over time that had only 1 cray pot on it, and it's been the only one in sight. These spots are generally a lump in the middle of nowhere and aren't as commonly flogged as more obvious structure thats easily found using a plotter.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Time of the year
Its a waste of time fishing around cray pots early in the season as they drop them in lines in front of where they expect the crays to march out from.
Its better to wait untill after late Feb/March when the are chasing reds not whites.
Take a note of what reef/sand/rubble and weed look like on your sounder in shallow water where you can jump over to check it out.Take special note on a deepening/widening red on a colour sounder as you run over harder bottom compared to sand or weed and if its a black and white jobbie the "greyline"will widen out as the bottom gets harder.
Don't expect great drop offs as they don't occur too often,anything round a metre is a good ledge if you are fishing offshore.
fords_rule85
Posts: 116
Date Joined: 05/03/09
Thanx guys, my sounder is a
Thanx guys, my sounder is a lowrance x135, im pretty sure its entry level stuff coz it aint colour. Maybe its worth upgrading that.