Is it my fish finder or is it fish???

Highball · 03-02-2004, 06:05 PM

I was fishing the lower Willamette today for salmon(with no luck) and last week for sturgeon and both times in certain places marking a ton of fish. In the deeper water 50 to 60 ft, sometimes the screen was full of fish. I've got a Lorance x85 that's been pretty reliable.
Are any of you guys marking the same thing and if so what are they down there?

Fish Tales · 03-02-2004, 06:43 PM

If I think I'm marking to many fish I turn the gain down

Fishfaced · 03-02-2004, 06:45 PM

Turn the fish ID Icon to off and look for the arch. It will keep the frustration level down.

Fish Hawg · 03-02-2004, 07:48 PM

I was doing the same in the MC using a x-15 dual freq. there were big and little arches through out the scren. I set on auto sensitivitie and they were still there. It only did it in certin places.

get hooked · 03-03-2004, 04:08 AM

Hiball, I was out last Saturday and I saw the same thing on my Lowrance X85. Fish all over the place, but I think they were sturgeon. Only problem was that they weren't the biting kind. I don't think there is anything wrong with you fish finder. Good luck!!!!

fishuntr2 · 03-03-2004, 05:20 AM

Last saturday we caught around 25 northern pike minnows in one spot on the lower channel. Maybe massive herds of them critters were moving thru

RiverRogue · 03-03-2004, 06:49 AM

This is a phenomena that can be very misleading. Turning the gain down may help, and I have experienced the same kinds of puzzeling situations. Remember, these things are measuring "air pockets" or fish bladders. Any pocket of air can be misread as a fish. The place that really made me aware of this was up in the John Day arm, fishing for steelhead near the park. Whereever there is vegitation, carbon dioxide may be released into the water. Notice all the bubbles rising. Same goes for turbulent waters. Below Willa Falls for example.

NW JET'N · 03-03-2004, 01:19 PM

Air pockets?????

Wreckless · 03-03-2004, 01:33 PM

I believe what RR is saying is that your sonar is "reading" the air bladder of the fish...not the whole fish. The other "fish" my just be air bubbles...Having said that there are HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of fish in these rivers. Carp, Pea mouth, N.P. minnows, Sturg, boneless browns

.......

C'mon BEN you LURKER...you were a sonar tech in the navy....fill us in!

DJFISHS2XS · 03-03-2004, 02:41 PM

Sonars are designed to read the most dense item they see in the meadiem that they are working in. bubbles thou not a dense meadium are very reflective when the pressure (weight)of the water is placed around them. but one item that is often mis-read as fish is different water temps. it can give a false bottom if temp varies alot.
leaves currents bubbles all can cause returns...the other possibility is huge numbers of smelt are moving up rivers as we speek..>DJ

Silver Hilton · 03-03-2004, 04:01 PM

There are lots of schooling fish that could be at 50-60 feet right now. Crappie, perch, smallmouth, walleye could be in there. That would explain a flurry of signals.

I don't use the fish ID, because the raw signal tells you a lot more about the target.

Uglygreen · 03-03-2004, 05:11 PM

Sounds like you were reading a Thermocline.

UG

Killertraylor · 03-03-2004, 05:26 PM

Who really cares if there were fish there if they weren't biting? That's my opinion of fishfinders! I've been in really clear water before where I could see bottom and the fishfinder was marking fish and there weren't any there. I've also been in water catching fish like crazy and the screen was blank?????I've had a few commercial sturgeon guides in Ilwaco tell me that sturgeon can only be spotted on the expensive color finders, but they might not know what they are talking about either.

bucketmouth · 03-03-2004, 09:15 PM

Silver hilton hit it on the head! In these water temps none of the species he named are any to active. Lockjaw is common with warmwater species in cold water. I have identified schools of crappie and other sun fish with my depthfinder many times and the screen can actually look like a cloud. (That is in the non fish id mode.)

Depthfinders do two things and two things only. They measure depth and density. I'm not sure if air bubbles affect their density readings or not.

WaterDog · 03-03-2004, 09:22 PM

Maybe we need to throw some beano in the water. :blush:

5 Salt · 03-03-2004, 09:33 PM

I like the beano idea

Silver Hilton · 03-03-2004, 09:46 PM

So, you know what I hate about depth finders? It's that they basically keep score on the fish you didn't catch! When I'm sitting in the Columbia, kwickies working away, we set the old Eagle to full music, so we can watch them swimming by at least. There are days in April where it seems like you are just surrounded by springers, and still, you only hit a few fish. It can be a little depressing, how many fish get by you.

[ 03-03-2004, 10:47 PM: Message edited by: Silver Hilton ]

Highball · 03-04-2004, 08:21 AM

Beano it is!!! Thanks for the input guys.

Fish Tales · 03-04-2004, 09:40 AM

I notice with my fishfinder if I have it on fish id with backgrund If I mark a strugeon I'll get several fish across the same arch.