Are these crappie? (Graph interpretation)

[cglarsen]

Took some snapshots of my sonar images from yesterday and need some help deciphering what I'm finding. Do you see crappie on any of these images? Am I seeing baitfish balls or other fish primarily? Should I be seeing this much or are the humminbird settings giving me too much "noise"? I need to know what I'm looking at before I can start fishing properly - appreciate any insight - never had a sonar like this before but I like it.

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[gabowman]

On the 2-D pictures I'd say there were some fish between 10-15 feet of water. Only way to know what kind of fish is to catch some of 'em. You can clean up your 2-D pictures by lowering the sensitivity some. That will get rid of some/most of the clutter. I have SI & down imaging but I seldom look at it.

[happycaster58]

Mostly bait. 1st DI pic shows school of small crappie on far left.

[jay the baptist]

Agreed. 1st DI some crappie around the stump or small brushpile.
Pic 4&5,on 2d. I run in to this often this time of year. Where I live those are shad, skipjack and small crappie. If you can, cast a shad net over them and check it out. Most likely they will be on grassbeds in 2 or 3 weeks if it continues to warm up at night.

[cglarsen]

On the 2-D pictures I'd say there were some fish between 10-15 feet of water. Only way to know what kind of fish is to catch some of 'em. You can clean up your 2-D pictures by lowering the sensitivity some. That will get rid of some/most of the clutter. I have SI & down imaging but I seldom look at it.

Figured so. I will decrease the sensitivity setting. Thanks.

[cglarsen]

Agreed. 1st DI some crappie around the stump or small brushpile.
Pic 4&5,on 2d. I run in to this often this time of year. Where I live those are shad, skipjack and small crappie. If you can, cast a shad net over them and check it out. Most likely they will be on grassbeds in 2 or 3 weeks if it continues to warm up at night.

Thank you. Are you saying the shad/skipjack will move to grassbeds in 2-3 weeks so they won't be showing up like this?

[jay the baptist]

Yes. I'm in west Alabama so it may be a little different where you are. But here as we get warmer weather toward April, the grass beds here will turn green the shad will move toward those shallow coves and points. The bass and crappie will begin to spawn just off these areas. You will see your 2d screen more void of bait fish in the middle of sloughs and creeks however, you will see balls of shad over deep water and bigger arches, game fish, near those stumps, logs and brushpiles.
Balls of shad can be a sign that game fish are not actively feeding at the moment. But when you begin to see streaks running at angles like 45 degrees or so, that can be game fish busting shad feeding.
I learned it all right here at CDC.

[BuckeyeCrappie]

Looks like clutter and bait to me as well. Very nice images though…

[soonerdg]

Bottom 2 pics look to me like sandbass or maybe catfish. They don't look like they're relating to anything so probably not crappie. The SI and DI pics like like crappie or bait. Hard to tell in the size of the pic

[cglarsen]

Yes. I'm in west Alabama so it may be a little different where you are. But here as we get warmer weather toward April, the grass beds here will turn green the shad will move toward those shallow coves and points. The bass and crappie will begin to spawn just off these areas. You will see your 2d screen more void of bait fish in the middle of sloughs and creeks however, you will see balls of shad over deep water and bigger arches, game fish, near those stumps, logs and brushpiles.
Balls of shad can be a sign that game fish are not actively feeding at the moment. But when you begin to see streaks running at angles like 45 degrees or so, that can be game fish busting shad feeding.
I learned it all right here at CDC.

Thanks for this. And that is encouraging because I was getting quite discouraged seeing so much on my 2d yet not having any bites swimming my jig at their depth. But I am determined to find crappie and land some soon.