Bottom Fishing: Holiday Double 2016

[chris138]

Hey Gang! Tough winter thus far, with lots of storms pushing down to SoCal and making it pretty hard to find a window to get out. And not even any surf to go with them Most of the yakkers on the coast have relegated themselves to bottom fishing for some tasty critters. So we've been doing some bottom fishing of our own.

Without sonar this fishing is nearly impossible. But just having a sonar isn't enough on it's own, you need to know how to make that thing work in the conditions you are facing on the day. Here are some general tips to help you get more out of those electronics in the deep-water target zone.

1. Lower the kHz, the better. 200 kHz isn't going to do much for you when you are fishing bait clouds on the bottom in 180'. If you have a small screen, or can't display dual frequency, you should only use the low frequency. 83 or 50 kHz. Lower kHz also has a wider cone beam, so you can see fish out to the sides and in front out behind you.

Notice how much more this fish shows on 83 kHz...


2. Crank the gain! Also called "sensitivity". In the cold, oxygen rich winter water, plankton thrive. You are always going to have major clutter and "noise" on the surface. This noise is reducing the strength of your signal, and making it hard for your sonar to see below the scattering layer. Crank up that sensitivity until practically the entire top half of the column is washed out. Then up the noise rejection a click or two. You will be amazed how much better you will see fish on the bottom.

Crank the gain and all of a sudden you can see the fish near the bottom! Forget about the top half of the column, we are bottom fishing here!


3. You're looking for the bait just as much as the fish. A lot of the time, when gamefish swim through, you wont see them on the sonar. Often its just how the bait reacts to the predators. If the bait is all pushed around, or walls off really suddenly, that just as good as seeing the arches. Look for gaps in the bait cloud and try to put your mack/iron right in the gap.

This bait got pushed down to the bottom, right before a big yt crushed my mack. I didn't see the arch on my sonar until after i was hooked up.


4. Take pictures of your sonar returns! In the heat of the moment you might forget, but getting that snapshot of the screen will really help you to refine your system configurations. You can text your screenshots to me for sonar coaching, though a $20 per text fee may apply!

Took this shot as I was getting bit. You can see my bait drop right in front of the school!


Luck can only get you so far guys. Get your sonar dialed, and you will reap the rewards... and realize how many fish you are missing! We had a real nice day in between storms... while the fishing was "slow".

30# Hali (well... 29.5#)


Linz' PB yellowtail, 32#


Enjoy... This is some of the best footage I think I've shot yet.

[farreola]

I'm new to the use of a FF, and this was very helpful

Thank you!

[GregAndrew]

Great day and Sweeeet wintertime YT.

[chris138]

Originally Posted by GregAndrew

Great day and Sweeeet wintertime YT.

Linebacker Male. The thing was a brute. When I saw it on the surface I thought it would go at least 35.

[erickp]

Nice

[Iceman]

Big eaters Nice!

[Denis_Ruso]

Dope post Chris. Real cool of you to share some knowledge with everyone.

Congrats on your double. Bet it felt great to get that hally on the game clip. Love the go pro handoff!

[Eric D Man]

Read it twice and took notes

great post

[FullFlavorPike]

Eerybody listen to Chris!

[chris138]

Originally Posted by FullFlavorPike

Eerybody listen to Chris!

You may recognize a certain white floppy hat similar to Gilligan's.

[Bruntoj]

In the first screenshot, which side is 83khz? Left or right?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[chris138]

Originally Posted by Bruntoj

In the first screenshot, which side is 83khz? Left or right?

83 left, 200 right. You can also tell by how much the frequency penetrates the bottom. notice how on 83 the bottom looks way "thicker".

[Bruntoj]

Originally Posted by chris138

83 left, 200 right. You can also tell by how much the frequency penetrates the bottom. notice how on 83 the bottom looks way "thicker".

So we're focusing/discussing the string of objects in the center of the screenshot at the approx 115ft depth?
(Still trying to make sense of fish finder voodoo!)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[chris138]

Originally Posted by Bruntoj

So we're focusing/discussing the string of objects in the center of the screenshot at the approx 115ft depth?
(Still trying to make sense of fish finder voodoo!)

Correct. The fish is the worm looking thing at ~115'. You can see how the bait scattered down when it swam through.

[chris138]

Here's another quality bottom fish caught over the holiday. A bruiser male that went 31#.

[Clickityclack]

Thanks for a great post! You mention that lowering the Khz allows you to see more to the sides and front and back. I have always wondered how to interpred front/back/left/right based on what's on the screen. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[Geno Machino]

Get post Chris! This is what I like about BWE and the kayak community.

Geno

[chris138]

Originally Posted by Clickityclack

Thanks for a great post! You mention that lowering the Khz allows you to see more to the sides and front and back. I have always wondered how to interpred front/back/left/right based on what's on the screen. Any suggestions? Thanks!

There is a way to tell roughly when you are displaying dual frequencies. Essentially if you see both frequencies with equal strength of return, then you know the object is directly beneath you because it is in both cones.

While drifting or paddling, you can use that fact to decipher roughly, but this is a very advanced technique and difficult to explain in a thread post. Start watching you tube videos... there's lots of good ones.