Today I fished with Dr. Jim W. of Temple. Jim is a native of south Texas and cut his fishing teeth on black bass down on Amistad.
Although our fish count was light today, Jim got some very good exposure to sonar use and interpretation, which was his goal for the trip.
Jim and I met at my booth at the recent Central Texas Boat Show and immediately got into a discussion about sonar interpretation. We agreed to do a trip here in the cold water season when fish are bunched up deep and in large congregations so as to give him the best chance at seeing such things portrayed on sonar.
At times I felt a bit like a Lowrance sonar salesman, but, did my best to demonstrate all the fish-finding capabilities of today’s sonar units while searching for fish.
Over the course of our trip today we 1) compared and contrasted traditional sonar versus DownScan and SideScan sonar, 2) discussed the difference in transducers and beam types that account for the differences between traditional and Side/DownScan sonar, 3) we specifically searched for timber with the SideScan so Jim could see the distinct signature it gives off, 4) we sought out both gamefish and baitfish and contrasted the sonar signatures of both of them, 5) we reviewed the networking capabilities of multiple units (I use two HDS-10’s on the console), 6) we used the chartplotter to get back to fish locations originally marked with traditional sonar and with Side/DownScan sonar, 7) we watched our downrigger balls and controlled their height above bottom with sonar, 8) we changed frequencies of front/rear units to avoid interference, and, 9) I think of most interest to Jim, we used the flasher mode to watch as several fish chased a lure from a bottom-hugging or suspended posture, right up through the water column and then saw one fish take the bait, become hooked, and be landed. Jim just shook his head when he saw that!
I was personally disappointed with our results today (just 15 fish boated in 5 1/2 hours and with gallons of fuel burned in the effort). We looked together early in the week at the late-week forecast and Thursday looked to be the pick of the week as we were to have wind from the SW at 13-14 from sunrise until around 2pm, and that wind would be from the SW for the first time in 1 1/2 days following a mild cold front. Well, what actually happened is we had flat calm, bright conditions until 10:30, and only then did the wind begin to puff. It wasn’t until 11am that the wind blew with any consistency, and, that’s typically when the morning feed begins to shut down. We caught a few fish here and there (Areas 382 to 369 (3 fish), 692 (3 fish), and 968 (3 fish), with a brief flurry of 6 fish boated around 11:45 at Area 1012, but we never had more than 10-20 fish on the screen at one time, never got a school of fish teased up and biting hard, never saw a single flock of birds work — it was just flat.
I spoke with a pair of very regular black bass fisherman as we loaded up. They’d fished all morning and had landed just one fish and had experience the same frustration at expecting more than nature gave up today.
TALLY = 15 FISH all caught and released
Start Time: 8:00a
End Time: 1:30p
Air Temp: 43F at trip’s start.
Water Surface Temp: 52.0F.
Wind: Winds were slack at trip’s start and only light and variable from the SW until 10:30, then ramping up to SW13 by late morning and staying there through the conclusion of our trip.
Skies: Skies were fair.