While almost every fisherman owns a fish finder, many fishermen really don't take full advantage of what their fish finder is telling them. Whether you own simple fish finder or a cutting edge side imager adapting your fishing techniques to what the display is showing you is critical.
Fish finders today typically display depth, bottom contours, bottom type, fish, water temperature, speed, and even location if GPS equipped. This is a lot of information for the angler to process, but all this information can help you catch more fish.
Whether you fishing for bass or walleye knowing the depth of a location your fishing is critical for success. Why is this you may ask? In a river situation walleyes will always relate to the bottom, as this is where the current breaks exist. Now if the water is 9 feet deep but your crank bait only runs at 5 feet the odds of catching a walleye holding just of the bottom are slim to none in this situation.
Most fishermen would agree that underwater structure is the key to locating fish of almost any specie. Fish finders will help you identify several different types of underwater structure such as drop offs, humps, points, and wood such as trees or brush piles. Lest costly fish finders will adequately identify points, sunken humps, and drop offs. But only the latest side imagers will effectively distinguish clusters of bait fish from brush piles or small trees. So if you are using a cheaper fish finder keep in mind that a blob connected to the bottom could be bait fish, a rock pile, or simply brush. Whether you know for sure what the blob is it’s most like worth a few casts.
With the use of a fish finder a fisherman can fairly quickly determine the size of underwater structure. This is very important in order to determine which type of presentation would be most effective in the given situation. For instance, if a small hump or rock pile is identified casting or vertical jigging would be more effective than making multiple trolling passes. On the other hand if a large flat is identified trolling would be more effective than casting.
Most fish finders will display the water temperature which is a huge asset to the fisherman in selecting which type of lure or live bait to use. As fish in colder water tend to be less aggressive than fish in warmer water using smaller lures that have a more subtle action would be the best choice. In selecting live bait for walleyes for example minnows typically are the best when the water temperatures is less than 55 degrees Fahrenheit and crawlers best when the water temperature is above 55.
Speed is another piece of important information displayed by many fish finders. Whether drifting or trolling being able to maintain a given boat speed is often critical to consistent fishing success through out a given day. A fish finder equipped with GPS will be capable of displaying a very accurate speed, while a paddle wheel type transducer is more of reference to repeat than an accurate measurement.
In conclusion I hope the above information will help you catch more fish by using your fish finder more effectively and realizing that it is very important to be able to adapt your fishing techniques to the type of location and conditions you’re fishing from day to day.