# Fish report and Sonar Ghosts



## Tater Salad (Mar 9, 2004)

I put in at ancarrow yesterday and ran up and down the river for a little bit. We got on a bunch of small catfish. The largest was less than 15 lbs. We had a fun day though.

I will say that the amount of mud on the sides of ancarrows is a pain in my @ss. 

One question though.

I fish the upper james all the time and dispite the fact that the water is much shallower, i seldomly pick up fish on my sonar. However in certain places on the tidal james the thing won't shut up. I guess first, does anyone else see lots of marks on the screen? Or is my sonar a piece of junk?

Second of all if it is fish, what are they and why don't they bite all the time?

I still want to figuire out how on earth to get on the stripers which have to be there by now.


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## JerryB (May 15, 2003)

*sonar issues*

hi tater, 

i think you probably have a sensitivity setting issue on your sonar unit. your experience with rarely marking a fish in shallow water is typical, sonars don't cover much water when the water is shallow and a fish has to be almost directly under the transducer to be marked. so what you experience in the shallower areas is what i would expect. when you move to the deeper tidal areas there is probably much more suspended crud in the water and a high sensitivity setting on the sonar is misreading crud as fish, my sonar will do this if i use the fish ID mode. you can probably manually lower the sensitivity to clean this up. 

also you might find that using the finder without a fish ID feature turned on(if you are) is more helpful as you will be able to recognize schools of bait, individual fish and structure more easily with a little experience. when i got my current finder i soon turned off the fish ID mode and after a few trips i learned alot. 

so depending on the situation, the "fish" you are marking may be "noise" and not really fish. you should check into how to adjust the sensitivity of the sonar unit that you have. most of the sonar manufacturers have good websites.

this website by eagle has a good overview of how sonar units work and the most of the info applies to any sonar brand

http://www.eaglegps.com/Support/Tutorials/Sonar/default.htm


hope this helps
jerry


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## wizardude (May 19, 2002)

*What he said...*

I've used everything from the most simple flasher to paper graphs, and on up. First ya need to know your cone angle, shallow water is always a bust, and irritates me when people go fishing for little bleeeps on the finder. That river is "always" full of crap, set sensitivity low. Look for bait, drops, and underwater points. 

Think like a fish, he's always facing the current. If your more used to slower water, lakes, or bays...re-adjust your thinking. 



> Second of all if it is fish, what are they and why don't they bite all the time?


The place is loaded up with herring, shad, white perch, a little bit of everything right now, besides the heavy amount of trash at high water stages. 

First thing, as far as sonar, I quit using "everything" but flashers. Tells me more than any LCD, and has no delay time, but like everything, takes a little learning. 

That being said, you are persistant, sounds like ya could use a few tips  One, the landing is your friend, no worries...if you can get in and out, it served it's purpose...it'll get better later in the year. If it was better now, just a bigger crowd to deal with.

Give up the cut bait for now, unless ya want mostly cats. You can use whole herring, but I prefer white perch. Go to the $hit plant, anchor up, with light spinning (6lb) and marabou jigs in white and chartreuse. Catch some bait. You can live line there depending on day of the week and # of boats, or run back up river and fish the back side of the island, very deep water there. By no means forget trolling, puts more fish in the boat than anything else during the spawn, just keep in mind water color, and when it dirty, vibration is key.

This should give ya a good start  When I was going this time of year, if we weren't hooked up in a half hour, I was "pissed". Like I said, that's a start...for a small stretch of river, there is a lot to learn about fishing it, hope I didn't piss any other boater's off with the info thus far 

Happy Hunting/Catching....

Maybe I should think about selling a few of my log books from years past


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## Tater Salad (Mar 9, 2004)

I tried going up to the back side of mayo (north side) and it was shallow as h#ll. The water was up and i was only in 3 ft. Maybe i need to go farther. I just need ro refine my techniques. I appreciate the advice.

As for the fish finder none of the buttons for adjusting it work any more so i am will ing to bet what ever mode it is on is what ever mode it will stay on.

I made up some trolling rigs a few weeks ago. They are reminiscent of what we use to troll for them in the ocean. I am not sure if this is good or bad, but it is all i know.

I need to come up with some time to just go down there and figuire it all out. I'm going to be in hatteras this weekend so hopefully i can find some time next week. I know they are down there i just need to come up with a way to start to bust their @sses. 

Some times it sounds so easy but is so difficult in practice.


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## wizardude (May 19, 2002)

Tater Salad said:


> *I tried going up to the back side of mayo (north side) and it was shallow as h#ll. The water was up and i was only in 3 ft. Maybe i need to go farther.
> 
> When thinking of "the" island, think "much" smaller, and a lot closer to the landing
> 
> ...


As always....Tight Lines...


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## inawe (May 24, 2003)

*thats true*



wizardude said:


> *As always....Tight Lines... *


 what he said


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## Tater Salad (Mar 9, 2004)

Gotcha

Well i will rest assured that before too long i'll go out there and beat on it again...

Possibly it has something to do with my mulitfascited approach. I f i would just pick one thing, stick with it, and learn about it i would probably do a little better. I guess the key today is to get out of work in time to go down to 14th st and see if something will eat a bucktail in the 1/2 hour i'll have before dark.

Is that simple enough.


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