crappie on hb 998 pic

[Rookie12]

Saw that hockey86 put a pic up of his graph and was asking about it. I snapped a pic the other day while crappie fishing of a school of crappie. Right after I snapped this pic, I had 3 rods get hit and landed 2 of the fish. The school of fish that are just to the right of my cursor is a big school of crappie that were marked slightly off the right side of the boat. Notice how the marks aren't red all the way across, but just in the middle, this is because the fish came in the edge of my sonar cone and not directly in the thickest part of it and straight through it. They just got caught in the edge and were off to the right. I know they were off to the right since 3 out of 4 rods I had on the right side of the boat are the ones that got hit and none on the left. Also in the pic on the bottom are what looks like arches stacked up on top of each other. These aren't fish but standing timber. In between those stacked up arches there are a couple of big thick arches that are only showing about half of an arch. Those are big catfish, most likely blues. This view of crappie is what I've been fishing in lately. These fish are a little challenging to target since they are over open water and there is no rhyme or reason to where they are or where they are headed. I've started using my side imaging on my 998 on the console to spot schools off to the right or left. If they are withn about 40 ft. I will turn and try to intercept them. If they are further than that, I've found that more than likily they will have moved by the time I get there and I won't pass over them. longlining with planer boards would be a great tactic to widen your spread in this situation, but I have yet to try it. I've been tightlining through these fish at about .5 through .8 mph. Sometimes I will run about 1 mph until I see a school and then slam on brakes and back up quickly to get the jigs back down to the right depth. it workd about 75% of the time to get bit. I hope this helps somebody out and answers some questions. Tight lines ya'll!

[EngnrFshrmn]

Nice. Heading back to Badin in the morning. Hope to see the fish where we left them.

[Rookie12]

They there, but it's been tougher to get bit. Hopefully they'll be over this shock of all the fresh water by now. Good luck tomorrow and we found them just as good in several areas similar to that one too. Hope ya'll catch a bunch out there!

[mttoney]

Great tip, I'll have to use this next time I'm out. Explains why I couldn't find a school that I marked the other day before I can get my lines back out when I turned around.

[Rookie12]

Mttorney....I normally look for area with several schools close together since the chances of setting up before they leave is slum to none. Troll figure eights and circles and pay attention to where the schools are. They been traveling certain routes lately it seems. Those open water fish are hard to stay on and they are moving fast.

[mttoney]

Im typically trolling figure eights, but I didn't think of them moving that fast. Im needing to learn my side imaging and downing imaging more, as well as regular 2D. That will definitely help me get on the fish better.

[hockey86]

Thanks for taking the time to upload a pic of your finder and do a little explaining. I tried to take a pic at another time on our trip but it didn't turn out well enough to post. It was reading that the depth was something like 40' but for the bottom 10' it was reading something. I was having a hard time believing that there was a 10' thick bait ball right at the bottom. This went on for several feet not just a couple. I really need to upgrade to a better finder with some side imaging but I want to master what I'm looking at before wasting a few hundred on a fancier toy.

[PAM3417]

Thanks for the picture. It will help when I can upgrade the DF on my boat.

[CrappieTuttle]

That 10' ball may have been a brush pile on the bottom, we got hung in one yesterday in 45 ft of water, Rookie those fish were in the back of the creek yesterday. I think my son and I are gonna go back to Badin Wednesday and try for some stripers. I'll be in a blue and white carolina skiff.

[JordanLimit]

Keep the pictures coming guys with your down imaging and add some side-imaging if you don't mind. We may want to start a thread on here for just posting images from fishfinders. This time of year they are schooled up and looking at your images will help me when I am able to upgrade.