What do you see? Really like some input.

Anyone care to chime in on what they see? this is from three days ago I was going back to a brush pile I had marked this was not there the first time time I went trough a few hours before. At least I'm pretty confident it wasn't but I could have missed it. I fished it pretty hard for fifteen minutes for one fish. The screen shot is from Lake Dardanelle Arkansas. I'd really like to hear your thoughts. A single fish can always be a fluke. Thanks.
http://www.bbcboards.net/attachment....d=263386&stc=1

Little bait balls of whatever species is in your lake.


Edit: because I didn't look as hard as I thought I had.

What about the bumps along the bottom? I managed to get a 5.10 Bass out of there on a jig. (Only fish of the day) But that does not mean a lot maybe a passer by. Whatever they are they were setup differently than anything else we saw all day. Dardanelle is a typical Southern lake Bass cats etc. No Smallmouth unfortunately.

Doesn't look like your typical picture of bass but I would have fished it to. The ones on bottom don't look broke up like a bait ball so to me they look like fish, just not what I typically see. If you caught one 5lbs that probably means there were a few fish there

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Originally Posted by Trigger753

What about the bumps along the bottom? I managed to get a 5.10 Bass out of there on a jig. (Only fish of the day) But that does not mean a lot maybe a passer by. Whatever they are they were setup differently than anything else we saw all day. Dardanelle is a typical Southern lake Bass cats etc. No Smallmouth unfortunately.

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You might be right, I didn't look at the bottom very well on the di pic, I was looking at the sonar side mostly. Those very well could be some nice sized bass, the di shows separation between the bottom and the fish. This is one of those times that chirp would have shown a better image on the sonar portion. I just saw the lack of separation on the sonar image and assumed it was rocks or more of the baitfish. My apologies and our fish tend to suspend more than what those are.

Looks to be balls of bait fish with bass feeding underneath them. This is where you drop a SPOON and jig it up and down.

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Originally Posted by wmitch2

Looks to be balls of bait fish with bass feeding underneath them. This is where you drop a SPOON and jig it up and down.

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^^This^^

Turn your contrast down and take it off auto. Your washing everything out. That shot would have been much cleaner if your contrast was down. Many make this mistake. You want the image as dark as possible to get the best contrast. In most cases. Also on a side note Dramatic contrast changes can show previously hidden data.

This is good info for both down and side scan.

Bass feeding and holding tight on bottom... A-Rig , 10xd , spoon, drop shot

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Originally Posted by grout-scout

You might be right, I didn't look at the bottom very well on the di pic, I was looking at the sonar side mostly. Those very well could be some nice sized bass, the di shows separation between the bottom and the fish. This is one of those times that chirp would have shown a better image on the sonar portion. I just saw the lack of separation on the sonar image and assumed it was rocks or more of the baitfish. My apologies and our fish tend to suspend more than what those are.

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When you say they suspend more, are the bait fish usually that close to the bottom?

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Originally Posted by Bassbme

When you say they suspend more, are the bait fish usually that close to the bottom?

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I had thought that the baitfish were that close to the bottom, guess I was wrong. Bass on my sonar usually seem to have a different shape than what the OP pic shows and our bass tend to hang up off the bottom more, maybe his were fat bellied football bass. Also we don't tend to have big schools of baitfish around here, mostly bluegills & sunfish and what baitfish we do have schooling tend to be closer to the top. So I'm totally clueless now. Don't listen to anything I said because I was wrong.:doh:

Bass and shad. Any bass bait fished near the bottom could work, it's easy to drift or cast off target the farther from the bank you get. No chirp or change in settings needed, what else is there to see??

I moved the transducer. BPS had installed it in the wrong location I'm getting much better images now. Tried it out again yesterday. Had some success not much but I actually caught something I was seeing on the screen. I'm a bank beater cannot help myself no confidence fishing in the middle of the lake. Yesterday gave me a glimmer of hope though. Now if I can just figure out what fish are what. How would you guys interpret these images?
http://www.bbcboards.net/attachment....d=264073&stc=1http://www.bbcboards.net/attachment....d=264074&stc=1http://www.bbcboards.net/attachment....d=264075&stc=1http://www.bbcboards.net/attachment....d=264076&stc=1http://www.bbcboards.net/attachment....d=264077&stc=1http://www.bbcboards.net/attachment....d=264078&stc=1http://www.bbcboards.net/attachment....d=264079&stc=1http://www.bbcboards.net/attachment....d=264080&stc=1

I would say you were in some REALLY good spots!!! Lots of fish hanging out under bait balls. No way to know for sure what kind they are, but you will get used to seeing certain images that give you a good idea. Such as the way Crappie will really stack up on top of each other, or a school of bass spread out along the bottom.

Throw the A-Rig and hold on...

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Originally Posted by Trigger753

What about the bumps along the bottom? I managed to get a 5.10 Bass out of there on a jig. (Only fish of the day) But that does not mean a lot maybe a passer by. Whatever they are they were setup differently than anything else we saw all day. Dardanelle is a typical Southern lake Bass cats etc. No Smallmouth unfortunately.

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There are a few smallmouth in Dardanelle, just few and far between.

Hey Hunter. Thanks for that post. I caught a smallmouth below the dam at the old river bend at Holla Bend. Arkansas game and Fish said I was mistaken. I know a couple other guys who claim a smallie on Dardanelle but AGAF won't admit to it. Should have taken a picture. Lol. Next time!!!