J-Doc

Hey, before I learned that technique, I was strictly a basser. :-) I've got some spots and a game plan in mind. Mainly fishing for the fun of it. Not expecting to even place. If we did, that's a bonus.

I am. Glutton for punishment I guess. :-) I haven't fished a tournament in a long time. About a year now so I figure, "hey, let's fish the coldest most miserable tournament possible". LOL!

VERY SOUND ADVICE BRO!!! I was already picturing him on a plate, grilled with some A1 sauce and some Tony C's!! Lol!!

I bet Larry is the owner on Craigslist. Lol! Originals are available for $20ish on avg.

You had me at "delicious".... So the larger ones are not as good flavor wise?

Man.....between you and F&F tonight, a man can keep a secret.... LOL! Ok, so the Shad Rap is definitely no secret. Lots of people use them and they are NOT the magic bait.

After looking at yours and comparing to mine.......... You can clearly see the level of detail that HDS units have over the lower-cost Elite units.

I may be throwing people off by using a white background. Yep, there are some downscans in there that I've posted previously. I have an Elite 5dsi (Gen 1 unit, not HDS) and it's using 455/800khz but I use the "white background setting" because with sun glare on a small screen and my failing eyes, it's easier to spot fish with color on a white background vs. a black background and a tan, red, green, or orange "blip" on the screen. Here's a down scan image from mine where I break down what you're seeing. (white background) Here's one with the factory "sepia" background and before I knew I could do screenshots thru the unit! And one of my favorites using color. To me, this is clearly a school of crappie on a tree (in Esculapia Hollow) Feathers and Fins uses a white or offwhite background on his HDS8 unit and it works well. Thanks again for sharing your screenshots and your interpretations. THAT is what this thread is about!

http://www.agfc.com/enforcement/Documents/FishingRegsPublicComments.pdf 70% public comment were "FOR" the repeal of the restriction Official Approved 2014 changes (Lots of scrolling.....use "Control key + the F key" to perform a search within the PDF: keyword "Beaver" and you'll find it much faster) http://www.agfc.com/enforcement/Documents/FishingRegsApproval.pdf

Final decision was that the length limit will be lifted. Tournaments will stick with the 12" min length rule and not "update" per the new restriction lift. There is probably a link on the AGFC website or it was posted here in this forum within the last 6-7mo.

It's the principle of the thing. You football pulling Lucy you.....

You are correct. The 455khz signal is better for shallow AND......downscan also requires the boat to be moving a little to get the best picture. At least .7-1mph I believe. I forget the exact number. It amazes me how much stronger and clearer the sonar screen is on the Gen2 HDS models vs. a standard "sonar only" model. That's probably because the HDS units have more power (more watts of power, much like an amplifier) and you also have the module that the units connect to which also cleans up the signals I believe. I have a small Lowrance color graph on the bow and it's nothing like your screen shots. Yours look WAY better. Same transducer, just more power and better quality unit. You DO get what you pay for.

(Epic face palm) Good grief......

I have Christmas family stuff this weekend or else you'd see my boat back there.

Why don't you just gas up your boat and tell him to come pick it up and provide GPS coordinates for Pete sake!! Geez! You can't keep a secret. Lol

Thanks for sharing and some really great shots. This shows the quality difference between Gen 1 (Elite Series) and generation 2 (HDS) units when you compare your screen shots against my screenshot I've shared in previous post. Also, the reason your images look better on 800 is because it's a higher frequency and you're going to get crisper or higher definition images than you would with 455. The higher frequency (800) sends a signal down to the bottom and back up faster than 455 which is why you're getting the crisper images. Think about boat speed and the time it takes to send one ping from the boat to the bottom and back up and that logically explains why you get higher definition images with a higher frequency like 800. And I agree with you, I think the horizontal lines are probably feedback from your jack plate.

Translation............ NOW is the time to be fishing instead I'm stuck working.

If your unit had a GPS, you could look at the new Elite 5 or Elite 7 units. The Elite 7 is pretty nice. I believe it has GPS, sonar and structure scan. Keep in mind, it's generation one and not Gen 2 structure scan so the signal is not as crisp and dots per inch resolution on screen is not as high as the newer Gen 2 units but.......the Elite series is more affordable. I have the Elite 5dsi (which is being discontinued for Elite 5 without structure scan because of Hummingbird's competitive units I heard) Something to think about. Depends on what you're looking for and wanting to spend. PM me if you want more info.

That's Beaver for you. I have found the deeper fish are not worth fishing for. At least not yet. There may be a dynamite technique but I haven't found it yet. Working on it though and that's what matters. Sometimes, time on the water is better for you anyway. Skunked it not. It's about the experience, learning from your time on the water and growing as an angler. (Putting a positive spin here). Don't let it get to you. It did me. Skinned means I failed to figure out what to do and I make a note of why and try to learn from it. That's not easy. Sometimes, what you think should work, take a 180 degree turn and fish the opposite way and that's the key.

Nice. I hope you put it back. She looks a bit "stiff" in her pose and I have never seen a cooperative fish pose for me on the edge of the deck. Lol! She's definately been eating good.

Here is the fish finder thread I mentioned....

I have found a couple of baits that out perform the Flickers but I chose to keep that to myself. I think I told F&F about them one day but there is one bait that I have been just knocking the walleye with in a particular color. Doesn't always work every day but I've caught fish on it where the Flicker in a similar color wouldn't get a bite. Point is, buy some Flickers and troll. Learn to watch your fish finder and TROLL WHERE THERE ARE FISH..........otherwise you're wasting gas and probably losing baits for no reason. I started a thread on fish finder knowledge that's turned out to be pretty decent. You might want to take a look through it as anyone can learn something in there. The think I learned this year from F&F about trolling is this: - You have to be in the right area where the fish are (so location of fish is key) - Look for bait, that will lead you to fish - (again..........learn to watch your fish finder) - You have to put the right size bait in the right color at the depth the fish are in (if they are in 15ft, use a bait that runs 12-15ft....I personally like to run about 1-2ft above the fish as most are always looking up such as crappie and walleye) - once you have located fish, depth, etc, find a "connect the dots" type pattern that you can run to keep your bait in that selected depth and hit several targets in a single pass I thought trolling would be boring or "cheating" but after a day on the lake with F&F, I found out you're too busy reeling in fish or focusing on trying to find them to worry about being bored and it's not cheating. It's just like casting with a rod. Your boat becomes the fishing reel vs. you cranking on it all day long. It's still fishing.......just a commercialized form of presentation that covers way more water than your average bass angler. And I say covers more water when I should say, "keeps the bait in the strike zone much longer in a larger area than a typical bass angler". I should know, I was a die-hard basser before F&F passed along his curse on me. Now I fish for whatever is biting.

I bet if you opened his closet at home, it would be risky because you would probably be pelted by boxes and boxes FULL of Flicker shads. Oh and if you go to Hook Line and Sinker, look for the empty slots. Those are the colors you needed but can't buy because SOMEONE ..... (^^) ..... bought them all.

I've seen his boat. Man has more Flicker Shad than sense. :-)

Crappie will be chased hard in Feb.