Hey guys! I was out doing some hybrid and white bass fishing at Fort Phantom when I came across a large school of bottom-hugging fish I would have bet money were sandbass. After treating them like sandbass and them not responding, I thought they must be catfish that are just kind of acting like sandbass in the way there were schooling and sure enough, I quickly caught lots of "box" blue catfish in the 1-3 pound range once I dropped some cut shad down to them on a little hook. Made a short video including several screenshots and talking about the experience of how there are no hard and fast rules in reading the sonar. I hope it helps somebody catch more fish and understand their sonar better!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JylSLZIulKE

Very cool! Way to think outside the box. I've seen images like that before while crappie fishing an couldn't get a bite. I normally don't fish that deep, but next time, I'll drop some punch bait and see what happens. I wish there would have been some pics of your catch.

Thanks! Usually you can tell what you are looking at but sometimes you really just don't know till you present bait/tactics to them! All other times I have seen fish cloudy on the bottom of the lake like that you can bet its sandbass but that trip surprised me and proved sometimes you just have to fish to know what you are seeing. Most the time you pretty well know though.....

Thanks Clay! That really does help. I shouldn't be so stuck on what I think I ought to be catching and more on figuring out what's down there. I've see stuff like what you're showing, but couldn't break out of what I expected long enough to catch something.

It�s hard to break out of what you expect to do at the lake with all the preplanning that goes on in your head but it can pay off big if you do! This year I�ve finally learned to be flexible and go with where I find the fish and what they want to bite more than what I planned to do like I use to do.

Enjoyed the Video Buddy!!....Looks like a really good fish Fry to me!!!!

Boy howdy it was lol