Gills on a hump.
 

Paddled my kayak for 5 hours today at Laurel Hill looking for Gills. Finally found them on a hump coming out of 51 feet of water in the middle of the lake! The hump was 27 feet deep with the Gills holding 10-15 feet. I had a rod rigged with a 3/32 ounce lead head with Trout Magnet and vertical jigged and caught 20 of them before I lost contact with them. This came at the end of my 5 hours....I must admit I worked hard to catch a few fish today....but it was worth it to know that I can find the Gills somewhere in the lake with the si. I looked at many beds today and no fish on them. I am thinking in this heat it might be best to put the kayak in around 5:00 p.m. thinking they will come shallow in the evening looking for food. No pics of the fish but did get the good sonar shot. I have over 1/3 of the lake scanned. I will have to count how many beds I have marked but it is well over 50....and still have the majority of the lake to scan. It will be a great spring next year for me down there. The work has been done. Just wait for water temps to hit low 60's and start fishing. Life is good!



Regards

Wow, those shots are awesome. did you know what type of fish it was or was it a surprise when you caught the first one?

I pretty much guessed Gills and that is what it was. There are very few crappie in the lake and bass, cats, show up much different. But I need to get with you sometime on this deep water fishing and pick your brain...LOL. Those fish were moving and it is very hard to keep up with them in a kayak. I threw my Lindy Marker over and that really helps stay on them but even though they were moving slow they can be hard to find again when they move off.


Regards

That is an amazing shot right there!

Sometimes it's tough keeping up with fish that roam like that. I have learned what some fish look like on 2d sonar but still sometimes like that school you had I would guess Crappie, or whitebass I would not have guessed Bluegill Suspended like that. The only time I catch them deep is on the bluffs during the summer. Feel free to pick the brain when ever, not sure how much brain is left :)

Nice pic. Noticed where you speed was .7mph, what adjustments have you made to your SI as I've heard/read that optimum speed for SI is 2-4mph, at least on a boat, not a yak. I've got SI on my tin boat, but not on my yak, and 2-4mph works good for my set up on the boat.

I just match my chart speed with my kayak speed. Two MPH is a very nice paddle for me but even at one MPH with chart speed set to one I get clear scans. But I mostly keep chart speed on 2.



Regards

Awesome pic! Question....what is that coloration difference on the SI pic.....first line off center.....it's splitting black / orange background....is that possibly start of thermocline?

Could be.....I will have to check into that.



Regards

That's good stuff, Alpha. Way to find the fish.

Just curious on that. Im sure the di/si show thermocline in thier own respective ways like standard sonar does. Makes me wonder if thatz what it is since the bulk of the gills are above that line and the line is at a consistant depth.
Inquiring minds is all!

I will have to go over that point again. It seems a little early for a thermocline. You make a good point though. I would have thought those Gills would be just barely off the bottom.



Regards