Let's say I am in 20' of water. Do you consider fish at 20' on the bottom? or at 18'? Close to the bottom? I know it is a pretty basic topic but I am curious. <2' surface >2' but <18' suspended?

On the bottom to me would be belly in the mud kind of on the bottom... That is when the bottom line on your sonar gets thick. Just off the bottom would be within a foot or 3.. suspended would be somewhere in the middle of the water column.
That is just my $0.01 worth...

Somebody post a screen shot of "belly in the mud".

This is fish on the bottom.



I believe you are over analyzing. It really is simple (or I could not do it). All you need is to try it and it will then come naturally. I have found that if I do not fish for a week or so, it takes a while to be able to read the graph correctly.

Seriously, a large percentage of the time, the active fish are on the bottom. One exception is the winter and they will suspend most of the time.

Thanks Don - That's what I was trying to say.

When it's hard to tell the difference between bottom line and fish that is "fish on the bottom". I would imagine that folks who don't spend a lot of time looking at their sonar drive right over these types of fish and never recognize them.

The water would be way over your head, you would be better served to stay in shallower water.

'Fish on the bottom' for me means that when I'm bouncing a slab jig ON the bottom, the bites are coming within an arms lift of the bottom - say 2 to 4 feet.

So say you're in your boat next to mine in 20' of water & you ask how deep I'm cathing them. If I tell you I'm getting bit on the bottom, it could be anything from 16'-20' down.

In water I fish for white bass - 10 to 27 ft - I consider fish on the bottom when I see fish extending from the bottom line up 3 or 4 ft, i.e. within 3 or 4 ft from the bottom.

"fish on the bottom" why split hairs, IMO a few feet from & directly on the bottom.

"Fish on bottom" to me means they are not on the top or mifdle.

____________________________
<-----TOP


<-----Middle


<-----Bottom
____________________________

Just saying..........

....Simply Put.....+1

You guys are making a mountain out of a mole hill. ' On the bottom' means you drag or leave your slab on the bottom of the lake or slighty off the bottom.

I just love these types of discusssions

Now that was funny