I upgraded from a hand held depth finder to a lowrance elite 7 TI with maps, sonar, downscan and side scan.
I can see so much more now and am still trying to identify what is and is not fish.
While out in the kayak it takes a little bit from the time I go over a spot for me to recognize this is a spot I wish to fish.
I throw out a marker and come back around to it from the upwind side.
I then start fishing all around my kayak and let out the anchor line a little at a time hoping I will drift over or near the same place again.
I have tried setting a way-point but the accuracy is not sufficient to get me right back on top of the fish I saw. Water depth is < 10ft so I am looking for something smaller than a 3 foot circle.
There is a lot of vegetation so hard to identify the location by looking at the vegetation.
Need to try approaching with my kayak sideways and determine if I can see the fish in the water column of the side scan.
I have also tried just drifting through the area, but then can not identify accurately where my bait is when get a bite.

Any thoughts from others on how they go about this?

I can't help you with your question but let me know how you are liking the TI7. I looking for a fish finder that one one bought my attention.

I actually practice locating fish on my kayak fish finder by practicing at my neighborhood swimming pool (crazy as that may sound). I tied some crankbaits of different sizes to lines attached to weights and then throw them into the pool. I'll group some of them together like a school and put others in random spots. Then I would move my kayak around the pool to see how and when the crankbaits would appear on my fish finder so I can get a better idea of where the fish might be in regards to the position of my kayak. I was doing this at first to test my fish finder and to determine the best place and depth to position my transducer and then realized that I could also practice understanding how to locate fish more accurately.

And since no one in the neighborhood uses the pool in the wintertime, I got to practice all afternoon with no interruptions.

High planes drifter,
Good idea on getting used to where fish are relative to the transducer.
Thanks for the input.

The fish seen on the sonar should be in a cone 1/3 the water depth right under the sonar. The downscan should be a cone about the water depth in diameter.
On side scan, would need to set a way point and go over to that area then start a fine search from there.

My main issue is that I am paddling or drifting while watching the finder. It takes a bit for enough data to scroll across the screen for me to recognize a good fishing spot at which time I throw out a marker a little ways behind me.
I am still drifting or gliding further from where I spotted the fish on the target and going away from the target.
I now need to go back to the marker and try to find the spot from there.
It is at this point where I am looking for suggestions on best way to get back to the interesting location.
I will want to anchor so I can fish the spot so the wind is figuring into this also as when I anchor my kayak will be pushed downwind from there based on how much line out.
Seems would have to start on upwind side of marker so when set anchor come back towards the area.

Thinking about this, seems may need to use the trail feature so I see the track of where my kayak was and can go back upwind and position my kayak on the trail gradually moving towards the marker(probably adjusting the anchor in the process) and fishing both sides of my kayak as I go.. Hopefully seeing the spot again on my finder.

Any inputs would be appreciated.

Have you tried entering a marker on your fish finder? If I paddle or drift over anything that looks productive, I hit the enter button and mark it, Dropoffs, humps, trees, etc. I'm marking spots, not fish but the same feature should help you. Once you have a marker, zoom your chartplotter in and paddle back towards that spot. Zooming in helps you get as close as possible. If you mark good looking spots whenever you drift over them, after awhile you will have a bunch of potentially productive places marked on that lake.

YAKnIt,

Thanks for your input.

I have spent a lot of time last couple of days studying up on the chart/nav capabilites on my finder and will try relying on it to get me back next trip out which should be tomorrow.
Somewhere on my finder saw that it indicated accuracy based on the satelite signals that day and it was 12 feet.
I believe that over a small time period the accuracy is much higher so I can use finder with zoomed chart to get back very close to exact spot.
If however I try to go back to a waypoint on another day it could be in a 12 foot circle from where finder indicates. Does this make sense?

While on the lake, I mark mainly fish and a few productive looking spots.
I record my sonar logs while out on the water and look over them at home not only to learn more about the unit but also to mark productive spots I see.

I had also been confused when the unit told me I had arrived at the destination and asked if wanted to keep navigating. I believed I was on the way point when I was actually a preset distance away. This min distance you can set is .1 miles, but need to double check this. Guessing this is really for motor boats so they can switch from main to trolling motor when going back to a spot.

It did not make sense why you would keep navigating once reached the way point. Now that I understand that feature it does make sense.