Kayak Sonar Discussion

[chris138]

Originally Posted by steveooo

What are these? Are they tasty?



*edit* chewy jacks

PREFACE: no disrespect intended SteveOOO. Thanks for posting! Purely my opinion and I could be completely full of it...

To me, these marks don't look like fish. Not sure that I know exactly where this is, but looks to me to be an outside rocky kelp ledge area. Bull kelp zone.

Note the symmetry and length of the marks. See how they are vertically stacked and all similar length, thickness, and heat. I see how both the "head" and the "tail" of the marks are all very similar, and taper off to a pointy tip, without much change in depth. To me this is indicative of stationary objects, or something that is drifting passively in the current. Yellowtail seldom sit still, and are usually very erratic looking and asymmetrical. The marks will look all "tangled" as the fish change depth and react to each other.

This looks like a deep kelp ledge with a good amount of current, and bait in the bull kelp pinned down to the bottom. No doubt prime YT feeding grounds and epic conditions. Cheers boys!

[steveooo]

Originally Posted by chris138

...Not sure that I know exactly where this is...

That was LJ, out in the sandy squid grounds. We caught yoyo YT off it.

One sonar setting that is worth putting into the discussion is Sonar Scroll Speed. It doesn’t change what you see on the meter, but it does change how it appears on the meter. I find setting a faster scroll speed will give me more of a real time picture of what is under the boat. It also gives more defined, and longer individual fish arches. Our kayaks move relatively slow, and sometimes we are chasing fish that move relatively fast (YT). I think of the slower scroll speed as the history channel, or “old news”, where sometimes what is shown on the meter is long gone, but it just hasn’t left the screen yet.

The best time to experiment with this setting is when making bait. With the new chirp units, adjusting scroll speed to a higher setting can make a bait ball go from looking like a cloud, to showing hundreds of individual tiny arches. IMO thats too much clutter for just making bait, but turning up the scroll speed also does the same for a school of YT, turning that mess of squiggly spaghetti hanging out under the kayak into more defined individual fish.

Fast scroll speed is my preference when yoyo fishing. When its there, its there. When dropper loop fishing or fishing for structure oriented fish, I’ll turn scroll speed back to normal, so I don’t blink and miss anything or leave an area prematurely. Normal or slower scroll speed is also good for giving a little more history of what the fish is doing under the kayak, e.g. showing a YT dive bombing your bait. Its really a matter of preference of how you want the fish & screen to look.

*disclaimer* I’ve caught many more fish through dumb luck than I have by using my sonar.

Good thread

[chris138]

Originally Posted by steveooo

That was LJ, out in the sandy squid grounds. We caught yoyo YT off it.

One sonar setting that is worth putting into the discussion is Sonar Scroll Speed. It doesn’t change what you see on the meter, but it does change how it appears on the meter. I find setting a faster scroll speed will give me more of a real time picture of what is under the boat. It also gives more defined, and longer individual fish arches. Our kayaks move relatively slow, and sometimes we are chasing fish that move relatively fast (YT). I think of the slower scroll speed as the history channel, or “old news”, where sometimes what is shown on the meter is long gone, but it just hasn’t left the screen yet.

The best time to experiment with this setting is when making bait. With the new chirp units, adjusting scroll speed to a higher setting can make a bait ball go from looking like a cloud, to showing hundreds of individual tiny arches. IMO thats too much clutter for just making bait, but turning up the scroll speed also does the same for a school of YT, turning that mess of squiggly spaghetti hanging out under the kayak into more defined individual fish.

Fast scroll speed is my preference when yoyo fishing. When its there, its there. When dropper loop fishing or fishing for structure oriented fish, I’ll turn scroll speed back to normal, so I don’t blink and miss anything or leave an area prematurely. Normal or slower scroll speed is also good for giving a little more history of what the fish is doing under the kayak, e.g. showing a YT dive bombing your bait. Its really a matter of preference of how you want the fish & screen to look.

*disclaimer* I’ve caught many more fish through dumb luck than I have by using my sonar.

Good thread

Thanks for the info, and for joining in the conversation! As I said, I can be completely full of it!