Thread: SI interpretation 6/4 (drop shot deep gills)

genec

These are some shots in reference to what I found as productive points vs ones that did not produce the size and numbers of gills.
do not reference the cursor as the fishing location (this was just the best fit of the screen for the shot)

When I first started I was just looking for points to scan but found that points with sharp drops left and right and a flat about half way through produced better. These locations needed to show some type of structure, stumps brush ect it seemed to get the most fish to hold as you saw in the earlier SI shots.

These shots show points that match both and the ones I found to be better. The first two show roughly how the slope was compared to the contour map for those that are just learning to use them.

Notice how this point has a slow steady drop going to the end with no flat.





This point has a good drop leading to a flat and a hump at the end. It also had good drop left and right to deeper water.









The following shots show the same and with the aid of the graph up top you will see how to read the contour lines and see the difference in each area. The spots that produced the biggest and most gills were the ones I went over in SI and found a combination of the flat, drops each side and structure. Red/Green showed if I had a gravel or rock bottom that met the mud and silt. Soft bottom points had hardly any fish that I found. Hope it puts ya on some and better help those who asked about this.

As i understand ,you like best a drop off on each side of a point and having a feeding flat,then look for rocks and hard bottom,but the flat do not have to be the spot where the fish will be,it looks like on your lake you majored on 15 to 25 feet but the flat was shallower,so i would not have to find a flatas deep as the fish are for they could move up to feed at their own time,low to no light condition? Correct me if i am wrong, also did not see any defind creeks near,just slowly tapering down till it made or meet a creek drop off? Thanks,i am sure many can use this information

" also did not see any defined creeks near,just slowly tapering down till it made or meet a creek drop off? "

genec these shots being pulled from the HB map dont show the channel, that's a good point you brought up that I forgot to mention. The main channel was at the tip or ran along one side and the tip of the point where I was taking fish. One location I fished had a feeder creek coming in from the right and the main channel ran along the left, they met out near the tip. I found on most of the points that were not near a channel were more mud or silt bottom.

" the flats do not have to be the spot where the fish will be"

I saw fish along the flat but most were closer to the structure.

"it looks like on your lake you majored on 15 to 25 feet but the flat was shallower,so i would not have to find a flat as deep as the fish are for they could move up to feed at their own time"

The depth range was based on location where I saw large groups of fish. When I first went out I was just looking at points but soon found the points in a certain depth range, had flats and structure with drops near a channel just held more fish. I think they are holding there due to having everything they need in one spot. (This was the first time I've taken gills like this well after they have came off beds. Some of the guys on the bream forum told me about it and went searching)

The lower shots are from KY Lake, just north of here. They show points that matched what I found down here that produced and those that did not. If I wanted to go up there and fish I would have used this as a starting point to try and find them. I could change once I saw something different or hopefully stayed with this to get them.

got ya,thanks

Great info...hopefully SI is in my future shortly. Thanks for posting.

This is a great post. I used my si to kill the Gills and shell crackers in the spring and have in the past two weeks started using it to look for the deep water Gills at Center Hill Lake and Laurel Hill Lake. I had seen an article about the red green color palette before but your description is really helpful. Laurel Hill is a 300 acre man made TWRA Lake and it is basically a scooped out hole without a lot of contour...no gravel or rocks. So doing a search in a kayak can be time consuming. I did find some suspended in 27 feet of water on a hump coming out of 50 feet of water. They were at 10-15 foot depth and were moving but got 20 of them before I lost contact with them. Tried using your method at Center Hill but I was not in the right place. Did find them under the docks though. I was surprised I didn't find any deep water gravel but I was just not in right location. I have put off getting a map card but need to do so. Until reading how you did the recording I never thought about pulling over and going through my adjustments...a great tip. In looking back at some of my snapshots I see where I missed fish. Thanks much for the great info.


Regards

One of the guys that I fish with used it on center hill and said the point close too locations where he saw pea gravel along the bank was the ones that produced. He also said he took nice shell cracker off some of the bluff wall down deep.


May be harder to get to in a yak than a boat with motor but try those type locations next time. Good luck

Alphahawk,
I remember fishing Laurel Hill as a kid with my father and on of his friends....one trip we caught gills out of about 25 feet of water it seems like all day long. Dad's friend knew how to find and catch them out deep, this was late 60's o early 70's and we did not have any electronics at all. I may have to put that one on my bucket list along with Reelfoot.