Hey guys! I was out fishing at FPH and came across a large school of tightly schooled bottom hugging fish that I would have bet money were white bass. After them not responding to my white bass tactics I decided to drop down some cut shad which quickly proved that this white bass mimicking school was a bunch of "box" blue catfish in the 1-3 pound range. I made a short video of screenshots of the school along with a short talk about reading sonar. I hope it's of some use for others as it certainly was a great learning experience for myself.

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

great video

Fish produce certain arches and shapes. Catfish produce a very noticeable cobra shape where the majority of color and shape are elevated in the head and not a balanced arch. The width and density of the head of the catfish returns the sonar echo faster and with a stronger signal than does the rest of the fish's body being softer and more narrow. In the illustration you see a basic shape that highlights how a catfish may present. White bass present as a more balanced arch with the color near the center of the arch.

Wow you know your stuff amigo

With the way yours is set up, would that be scattered shad over the fish? Or since they are not balled up are they just smaller cats or perch?

Yep there were lots of scattered shad over the schools and in top half of the water column. The shad in these examples are the small spread out red specks.

Y�all ever been in a school of gars? Most easily recognizable fish on sonar

I have a few times! That is cool! I saw one on side imaging yesterday that must have been a big 5 footer longnose. Long skinny solid arc hovering lol. Have you ever hooked one?? I caught about a 4 footer a few months ago and it didn�t fight as hard as a hybrid but put on a big show jumping out of the water!? Pretty cool deal!

Nice! Thank you!