Would anyone be open to showing a brother how to scan for brush? I mostly fish for Hybrids and sandies so I don't use my side-imaging much. I would like to start fishing for crappie but really don't know what I'm looking for on the side-imagine. I booked a trip with Earnest Patty last year and he was so kind as to give me a few of his brushpiles on Lewisville. Most of them were on the south side of the lake and since I launch from Hidden Cove or Little Elm it's kind of a hike to get to them.
I would like to learn how to use my electronics to find some brush closer to where I launch. I've got an 1198 on the console and a 788 on the bow. If anyone is interested we can spend a day marking brush and we can share the waypoints. I need help identifying what to fish and what would be a waste of time. I'll take care of the gas, snacks, and beer.

Welcome to the crappie hole wish I was closer I'd be happy to

Thank you sir.

I'm sure someone will take you up on your offer. I'd suggest you go the the top thread on the crappie section and look at all the posts under it. There are lots of graph pics with explanations that will help you a bunch. You might also go to the 'Equipment' section and either the first or second thread will be Humminbird and you can gain a lot of good info in that thread as well.
Good luck and welcome to the forum!

I would suggest you book another trip with Ernest and make it an instructional trip...
Jigum

^^^ this!!

Agreed

Here is how I learned about side imaging....
I usually scan about 75 ft on each side and I look for anything that makes a shadow and mark it with cursor and then go back and look at what I marked.
Eventually you will figure out what you are looking at after you check out a bunch of your marked waypoints.
It can be fun and rewarding and you will learn more each time you go out.
Don't make it harder than it is..... If I can do it, anyone can!

1 - go back to the piles that Ernest showed you and find them. Look at them from every angle and understand what it looks like. You already know those are brush piles, so you don't have to guess if you're really looking at what you think you're looking at.

2 - Go back to the Little Elm bridge (the old one if it's still there). Drive parallel to the pillars and find something that looks like what you figured out in step 1.

3 - put your boat in 18' of water and start driving around the outskirts of the lake staying in/around 18' of water. Find something that looks like what you found in step 2 and recognize from step 1.

Bonus step - build your own and look at that thing from every angle imaginable with your sonar. It just takes time on the water and practice.

Good luck

This is one of my favorite things to do! I'll tell you what I do, not saying it is right or wrong, better or worse, but it works for me.

Bimini top up, cooler full of beverage of choice next to me, stick the boat at 15 ft, sidescan at about 60 -65 ft each direction and enjoy a day on the water. Anything that doesn't look like the bottom (shadows are a dead give away) mark it and drive over it from a different angle.

If you find a concentration of piles in a certain area then make a few more passes, one deeper and one shallower.

Here are a couple of links to forums where there is more information than you can get through in a couple of days. I use these to become comfortable with the use of the electronics. Then go out on the water and put it to use. If I run into problems, I make a note of it and go back to the forums and see if some else has had the same question or problem. Also check out Dougs Youtube channel.

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I agree with advice given. Also I find recording a section of the lake is helpful. Look at the recording at home (maybe watch it several times) and you will normally pick up many things that you miss while driving the boat on the lake in bright light conditions. I find that recording several short segments (about 5-10 minutes) is better than one long segment. When I find something worth checking out next time at the lake, mark the waypoint, then rename it with an "X" as the first letter. Then you know it is not a good waypoint until you check it out.

Best way to learn what you are seeing, is to build something yourself, drop it down & then go scan it. You know what is down there, now when you look at it with the side scan, you will know what you are looking at. Then just apply what you learned to other spots that you find.

You may want to tune the settings and transducer angle before you spend much time searching. This made a huge difference in my ability to find BPs. You can compare your images to those in the "sticky post" to see if you're getting good quality images.

Just a thought.