Reading a Fish finder (newb edition)

[October]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

First thing you should do is turn the BEEP off.

Next thing you should do is prepare yourself for the type of fish your fishing for.

As an example

I normally fish for halibut but I'm not going to drop my bait down in an area where I see nothing but kelp or rocks/structure. However, the minute I see a sandy bottom near that structure down goes the bait. Why? because I know that hali's hang out in sandy bottoms near kelp and rocks/structure.

What were you fishing for?

i was fishing for large mouth bass. Havent taken it in the ocean yet. but they were everywhere. and then I would be in about 30ft of water with a flat bare bottom and out of nowhere 10 (big) fish would be under me in about 15ft of water and then disappear. These were the striper schools which I do want to eventually target. I just need to know how to actually read where the fish are in terms of real life