Graphs...Side Imaging....Down Scan?

In my opinion, fishermen rely too heavily on these units. The fishing was phenomenal yesterday on LL. I could not help but notice some of the other fishermen and their method of finding fish. They would slowly run by not looking up and concentrating on their graph. I had the trolling motor on Spot Lock and we only moved three times all day. The fish were running in big schools. They would appear under the boat for a while and then leave, only to reappear a short time later. What were these fishermen looking for? Did they need to see the elusive inverted V? Only one other boat was on the first spot. I stopped there because I noticed just a few small bumps on the bottom. They were fish and we commenced to catch fish rapidly. Then they left, but we stayed and soon they were back.
Also, the gulls were active for awhile. A couple of boats would fire up their engines and chase the birds when they moved. After a short time, the gulls would move and here goes the big engines again.

The best method of finding fish is time on the water. You eventually learn where the good fishing should be. GPS, a good graph, and trolling motor (iPilot) are some very good fishing tools.

Good post....and will the guy in the brownish/goldish skeeter not fire up his big outboard and motor through the boats that are obviously catching fish. You have a loud outboard and you are to close....like 15 to 20 yards. Use your trolling motor to exit.

Saw him do it twice....right through the boats at the cut that were on the fish, and once north of twin poles, right by me. Said something to him.....got the blank stare.

North of twin poles was good for around 45 min it seemed and then everyone left....we wore them out for another hour and a half before moving on to some bigger sandies and hybrids.

Don..I've witnessed many times where people would troll or scout through us while we're catching fish. It baffled my mind with active birds hovering and my graph was lit up and why these people just trolling on by looking at their graph and not stop. But you are absolutely right about the fish would come back to the same area. I've went to Lewisville one time this year and yes! Fishing is good right now. Lots of 8 to 9" fish though. Fishing will be great next year! I'll be there more often now. Thanks for the post Don!

I agree Don. If you are the only boat there using your electronics is a must to find fish but, if 3-4 boats are grouped up just stop and watch what they are doing to catch fish. Use your trolling motor to quietly ease in there and start catching. We encourage boats to come over if we are on fish at Hubbard. Just do it quietly and respect those around you. Yesterday there were 4 boats around us everyone quietly catching fish and we were probably no more than 15-20 feet apart from each other.

I troll for whites a lot. Mostly on Somverville.

I know the 'spots' that have consistently rewarded us.

But sometimes there not there and difficult to locate. I recently purchased a HDS 7 Gen 2 touch to replace an outdated unit. After reading, I have ordered the 'foot long' transducer to allow structurescan HD down/side imaging.
I'll be trying it out soon for exactly this; schooling White's on a large lake.

I feel it can only minimize search time. Maybe true, maybe not. Time will tell.

This guy went through six or seven boats on the west side of the cut that were packed tightly together. There was between 10 and at the most 20 yards between these six or seven boats and he motored through them. Real surprised he didn't take a slab to the head.

We see it ever week here better the weather gets the worse it gets,

That's one thing I like about dead stick season, not many people out doing it.

Maybe that's exacly what they were doing? Spending time on the water and trying to learn?

The blank stare , that's a great way to describe the situation , yes lots of time on the water .

There is a big pontoon boat at Lake Lavon that comes over where your at and drops his heavy noisy anchor , chain , winch , then when he pulls up the clanking banging chain and fires up the big noisy outboard he just cruises through everyone, and then the fish disappear for awhile . It looks like him and his buddy love to fish but I can't believe he doesn't realize what he's doing . Then pretty soon he will come back and do it again ? I would buy him a beer just to get him to stop it LOL .

It's great to get on the water and learn but boat etiquette is also something you have to learn in the mean time

Don I noticed the fish doing the same thing on LL. I caught like 20 Magnums for a mothers day fish fry in about 20 min last Friday. They would move in and out under my boat. My trolling motor is broke and I was drifting but they still came and went. I'm saving for a spot lock gps trolling motor. Mine is currently bent and doesnt work. By they way I have a blue and gold bass boat (Astro glass) if you ever see me out on the water. I did go out Saturday evening in the high winds and snuck out to the spot I caught the 20 Mags at on a hump and saw nothing anywhere. Wonder where they went when it's windy. It was to windy to search around and find them so I can't really say i researched the area.

What trolling motor with spotlock would you guys recommend like model price etc?
I also added a pic of them below me when I couldn't reel them in fast enough..

That sounds like something I would do, lol

By myself, I would troll in on trolling motor to hot fish...sit and watch the graph. Even after doing it everyday, I still Enjoy learning and watching fish on 2D, down and side scan. Each time I do it, I learn something. No better time to drop the rod n' reel and watch ur side scan then when the fish are hot!

Thank Salsa. Enjoyed all your educational videos.