Does a fishfinder really help you catch more fish?

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Huron Angler

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Re: Does a fishfinder really help you catch more fish?

Here in the great lakes we have always had a few atlantic salmon since they came thru the St. Lawrence. I caught a nice 16lb specimen when I was 10.

The Chinook(pacific) that have been planted(since the 50s) haven't reproduced as well as hoped but the atlantic are doing well, so I think we may be leaning towards atlantic for future plantings. Great sport fish and to eat.:D

It would be nice to have a robust population of them here if we could keep the baitfish around long enough to mature.
 

Bumpus7

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Re: Does a fishfinder really help you catch more fish?

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Here is one way to look at fish finders.


When a person fishes without a fish finder it's all guess work, and everwhere you try may not have any fish in those spots at all.

If you have a finder, at least you know where they are, and are not, and maybe even have an idea of how big they are.

You can also know how deep they are, and how the bottom lays.

Look at it this way, when you move around and the finder shows nothing in that area do you go ahead and drop anchor and fish all day any way, or do you move on to where it shows something is down there.

Everything else is all up to whether or not they will bite, which does not mean you will land a catch even if they do bite, but your odds are greatly increased with a finder in the long run.


bumpus
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bowman316

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Re: Does a fishfinder really help you catch more fish?

IS there any commercial fishing for salmon? maybe near the grand banks?
 

triumphrick

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Re: Does a fishfinder really help you catch more fish?

We regularly run 25 to 50 miles offshore. We fish the West central coast of Florida. 99.8% of the bottom is sand....finding that .2% with structure is the difference between catching keeper fish and trash fish that usually reside on the sandy bottom.
There are a couple of companies that make chips for my Lowrance and other sonar/gps's that will show good fishing spots. Either marked artificial reefs, rockpiles, wrecks, steps or anything the grouper, red snapper, sea bass will hide in and on.
Once on and over those spots, the fish show up as different symbols on the unit. I can choose a fish symbol or use the default arched symbol. Either way, I know when there are fish down there.
I can't imagine going out without something to delineate the bottom structure. It I can't find something down there, we are coming home without any fish!
 

Fisherball

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Mar 19, 2009
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Re: Does a fishfinder really help you catch more fish?

I always have my sonar on even when not on a fishing trip. Ohio's lakes are not known for depth. It's common to be in 30 feet of water & inside of 15' of travel the water is suddenly 5' or 2' deep than 30' again, out in the middle of a lake 300' feet from shore. There are a couple of lakes that most of the lake is only 3'-5' deep. Makes me real nervous.
 

Mark_VTfisherman

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Re: Does a fishfinder really help you catch more fish?

IS there any commercial fishing for salmon? maybe near the grand banks?

I don't believe there is any commercial fishing allowed for Atlantic Salmon. Atlantics are raised sea pens or freshwater farms for sale. But stocked and natural propagation populations of Landlocked Salmon are what I fish for here in Vermont. Also good populations of landlocks in New Hampshire and Maine, some in New York.
 
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