Shell Beds?

[jam_2087]

I've found a couple from the birds, but 90% of the ones I've located are from hours and hours of idling around staring at the graph. If you really want to find more than just a couple of them, you gotta spend time looking. Once you find a couple, you'll know what to look for as far as depth and topography.

[MARK R]

Or you can do what a jackass did to me the other day which was come off plan and drive within 100 feet of me. He then turned on his electronics and hit the man over board button. Knowing what he as doing I preceded to approach him to see if he needed help. He took off once his graphs come up, needless to say he got a few choice words and the finger. Talk about having no shame in their game....... The nearest bank to me was a mile away.

Stay off my damn spot.

[Manatee Mauler]

Ill race ya Mark but how much of a head star do I get????

[ol man river]

Ill race ya Mark but how much of a head star do I get????

you may need to start a couple hours before him

[BassinJax]

Ive been looking for shells but all i find is grass. I am leaving rods at home just to focus on what I am doing.
So my question is, Is it easier to determine a shell bed with your unit on red/green color palette ?

[ol man river]

carolina rig is the best way to make sure of whats down there. if its shell, you'll know it real quick

[Tundah]

side imaging. look for the "golf balls"

[Orion922]

K-Dawg - Few things that helped me learn over the past 20 years not growing up on the St. Johns. I started my first several years fishing for reds off Heckscher Dr. where tidal fluctuations are severe. There the muscle beds are everywhere and a lot of them become visible at low tide. There--I paid attention to where they were located. Now it does not translate totally to finding a shell bed south of Palatka, but helps. If you can rent a yak down that way and row around at low tide and observe. What I did to help me is I bought every HOTSPOT Map from Oretga to Astor. I will pick a particular part of the river and do two things: 1. Spend the 20 bucks for Navoincs on-line that shows you contour lines and bounce that off the HOTSPOT picking locations that current and mother nature might produce a shell bed, drop-off, etc. 2. I will then sit in my boat in the garage and enter points into GPS. I will then run that part of the river imaging those spots looking for what I want to see then refine my GPS mark. Do not look at the river in total but pick small sections so you do not become overwhelmed. There may be no life there then or ever, however, you will start to build spots which builds confidence. I then repeat the process when time permits up and down the river. If you try and do too much you will go insane. I also have picked my favorite locations on the river and try to learn them the best I can. Trying to learn the whole river will drive you nuts. Just as important, try and read about tides and follow the tides. You can have the best spot and if tide sucks it does not matter. In the end, if you want to fish off-shore you have to be willing to catch nothing and put some hours on the boat. I mostly fun fish so I am not hard set on fishing off-shore so take what I say with a grain of salt. It will not win you a lot of tournaments, but there are always fish shallow on a river system.