FishNChip

Redseal: When you get this resolved let us know the solution. By the way, noticed the name in your subscript heading. I went to high school in Arkansas with a Dan & David Durio from the Lafayette area. Any relation?

My last post on this issue. Per the Humminbird Factory Outlet website, you original transducer (XNT 9 DI T) could generate signals in 3 frequencies: 83, 200, and 455 kHz. The one you have now (XTM 9 DI 25 T) only has 200 and 455 kHz. Everything I've ever read about CHIRP references a low, mid, and high frequency. Oddly enough, the outlet website says your current transducer will work with the Helix 12 CHIRP. What's up with that! Good luck, I hope it works out for you. Have to edit this post, as some of this info is questionable. While CHIRP comes in Low, Mid, and High, these are ranges of frequencies and not individual frequencies. The CHIRP pulse emits all the frequencies within a given range, ie, 80 to 150 kHz or 160 to 250 kHz. So to imply your transducer can't do this may not be correct.

CHIRP was actually developed in the 50s (?). Sub-bottom profiling was a later use. It emits multiple frequencies at once vs standard sonar which sends out only one.

By no means am I an expert on this, so I hope I am wrong and it is just a settings issue and an omission on their website. What I do know is CHIRP is a different technology than the standard 2-D sonar. It was developed for sub-bottom profiling (seeing into the sediment). Was looking at going in on a professional unit with a friend to search for submerged and buried old growth cypress logs south of New Orleans (another story). It makes no sense that HB would make this compatible with the 5 and 7 but not the 9. Been running HBs for a number of years now and they are good units. But it seems there is always another piece of hardware I need to take full advantage of upgrades.

Don't know if this is the problem, but a review of compatible sonars on the Humminbird web page for the transducer model you stated, does not list the Helix 9 DI Chirp. It does list the Helix 9 DI and the Helix 7 & 5 Chirps. So this seems a bit strange. Did some more searching on the HB website. No matter which way I search, starting with the transducer and looking for compatible units or starting from the units and looking for compatible tranducers, the XTM 9 DI 25 T is stated as being compatible with the Helix 7 & 5 DI Chirp but not the Helix 9. Hopefully this is just an oversight on the part of HB.

Sorry for the late report but had to head out to a job site as soon as I got back. Fished TB last Wed-Sun from Housen south to Lows Creek area (Magee Flats?). Underwater points on the main lake with wood and channels near their end. Drop shot was the ticket in 18-27 feet. Redbug, Green Pumpkin, Junebug Red Flake, and Bloodline (red black core) Finesse and Trick Worms. Use electronics to locate bait and bass so you don't waste time on barren water. Friday was our best day. As BF said, bite was weird, but once you got used to it, pull the trigger and a fish was on. One of the best trips we have made in 25+ years fishing The Bend.

This is true, the Navionics phone app maps are not always accurate. Are your Lowrance HDS Gen 3's combo units with both sonar and charts? These should be close. In response to whether or not a small creek can hold fish, keep in mind the top of the dorsal fin to the bottom of the pectoral fin on a 10lb bass is <12-inches. She can hide in not much change in bottom depth so don't rule out smaller creek channels especially where they meet up with bigger creeks. You have to hit it from all angles to determine how the fish want the lure that day.

On that app, both are channels, one smaller creek then San Miguel. Depends on how deep the water is to scare the fish, but yes you can circle a hump or idle around a point/ridge. if you see a bait ball but no predator fish move on till you find them. Not fishing for shad. Sometimes you will see a school of fish but no bait. if you're not sure what fish can look like on the sonar (they can look like the classic arch but not always), check out Jason Courville's facebook page. He often shows sonar screen shots of his outings. A free electronics lesson.

Points and ridges near channels are good places to start. However, there is no guarantee they actually hold fish. The best looking locations won't produce a bite if the fish aren't there. Even entry level electronics are a must, otherwise you are taking a shot in the dark. Do your pre-trip mapping, then when you're on the water, before you wet a line, make some passes with the sonar to see if you have bait fish and then bigger fish to catch in the area you chosen. If not, move on. You may have to check a number of spots before you actually find the fish. A little perseverance can pay off big. One other thing, especially this time of year. Bass follow the forage, forage follow the plankton, plankton are blown by the wind. The wind is you friend (up to a certain point).

Also, don't think of bass depth in terms of water clarity/visibility. Bass will go as deep as they need to for any number of reasons.

Bass can hang out above or below the thermocline. The difference is those above tend to be active (and catchable) and those below tend to be inactive. A very good tournament angler that lives on the south end of the lake showed me his method to find it. He uses his 2D sonar while running. It shows up as a horizontal band of noise that typically tops out in the 20-25ft range. According to him, any hump or ridge that pierces up through the thermocline is "in play", anything below is not.

Been accused more than once of getting too much into the weeds of a subject. From the Graph of the TBLA Lunker Program website, the three standout March months occurred in 2016, 2015, and 2012 (I think). From the TPW TB 2015 Report, Figure 1, water levels were above full pool in March 2016 and 2015. And while below pool in 2012, levels increased tremendously (10 ft) in the beginning of the year. This isn't conclusive, but it doesn't dispel a possible correlation between higher water levels and larger number of big bass caught on TB.

I believe the rising water did have something to do with March 2016 being a banner month. It's when I caught my PB of 11.33. In general there are more bank beating anglers than deep water anglers, especially in the spring. Fish tend to follow a rising water line but not necessarily a falling one. A Perfect Storm (pun intended) sort of situation occurred in March 2016.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/lake_survey/pwd_rp_t3200_1384_2015.pdf I posted this link on the Learn TB forum also. Great information.

https://tpwd.texas.gov/publications/pwdpubs/media/lake_survey/pwd_rp_t3200_1384_2015.pdf Here's the link to all the info you need. Look at page 29, Table 12, especially the bottom of the table % of legal fish released. How you choose to interpret this data is up to you.

Guess I have to wade into this one more time. Went to the Toledo Bend Lake Association Lunker Bass page hoping to get some historical info. Unfortunately, they only have print outs for last year and the current year. They did however have a bar graph of lunker bass caught by month from 2012-2016. Here's my best attempt to read and add up the data. Please feel free to correct me if my eyes didn't get it right. 2012: 26 2013: 69 2014: 59 2015: 118 2016: 139 2017 to date (not on the graph): 69 Clearly, TB was on an up trend. However, it is a natural system and just like the ocean tide will rise and fall. Was TB dead in 2012 with only 26 big bass? The uptrend in numbers following 2012 suggests obviously not. Maybe 2016 is the outlier and the lake will never produce that many big fish per year again. Only time will tell. As humans we suffer from recency bias. What happened yesterday we expect to happen again today, and what went down today, we expect again tomorrow. Just in our nature and, while on occasion that will be the case, typically it will not.

https://jimrootfishing.com/toledo-bend/ Agree, total BS. Thursday a week ago we killed them. Best 5 was well over 20# with a 7+# kicker that would have been more if she wasn't spawned out. Friday was different. Conditions changed and we didn't, simple as that. From his pics, Bass_Fanatic did just fine on that day. The fish are there and plenty of them. Up to the angler to figure them out.

I guess I have to weigh in on this one (pun intended). Last spring I was fortunate enough to join that list with an 11.33 caught in Indian Creek. After several inquiries, seems the closest official scale to weigh the fish was Fin & Feather. Had to wait till morning because she was boated fairly late in the evening and the wind was howling out the north. Made the run the next morning. Weighed the fish, did the paperwork, and released her right there in Housen. How many other lucky anglers weighing in at F&F have done exactly what I did? Somebody joked the fish would probably beat us back to Indian Creek. The gal at F&F said there was research showing the bass don't cross the major creeks. Is that true? I don't know, not a bass behavioral scientist (though a good angler needs to be). If it is, are we concentrating the proper genetics in the Housen / Indian Mounds area by locally releasing trophy fish weighed in at F&F? Don't know that one either. Just food for thought and not intended to question the Housen / Indian Mounds fishery. This is where I learned to fish TB and they are awesome areas.

Same thing happened to us in early August. Graphed lots of schools and bait but couldn't beg a bite. Told our plight to a local tournament angler who lived next door to where we stay. He asked if the schools were deeper than 20ft, which they were. Said those fish were just below the thermocline and inactive and would not bite until they were good and ready to move up. Took me out on his boat and pointed out the thermocline on his 2D sonar. Now I know what to look for. Not saying that was your situation but something to think about.

Just back from a week on TB. Day time fishing is tough right now. Can't say about night fishing because we were too beat at the end of each day to give it a try. Maybe more cloud cover and a little rain would help (it would sure have helped cool us off). Graphed lots and lots of bait fish with following game fish, but most schools were below 20 ft, which was below the thermocline, and you couldn't beg a bite. Those fish were not active. When we did find fish in less than 20 ft, they would only bite for a short period each morning and evening. For example, main lake point on the south side of Mill Creek. Lots of quality fish schooling. Threw everything but the kitchen sink at them for more than an hour one afternoon. They ignored us for about 45 minutes then bit for 15 and quit again even though they continued to bust shad. Spent 8 hours on Wednesday with a successful TB tournament angler as payment for a custom punch rod I built for him. Took me to a number of brush piles he laid out on humps and ridges. Managed two 3 lb class fish on carolina rig on a brush pile and a dink punching hydrilla. Later in the day, three barely keeper fish and several short ones on carolina rig on secondary points with brush piles up a secondary creek with an in blowing wind. Once the wind quit, so did the bite. On Monday. we did manage a few fish from the south side of Housen. Late afternoon my son hooked one on a deep diving crank bait and when he got it to the boat, there were 5 quality fish following. Thought we had hit the jack pot but that was just TB throwing a teaser our way. To sum up, right now, TB is HOT - and I'm not talking about the fishing. Can't wait till October.

Well put. To be fair to the tables, I guess they aren't really trying to tell you which days to fish, but which time period, on any given day, the fish are likely to be more active. And this, of course, can be altered by local conditions. So as your data suggests, quit worrying about it and just go fishing.

Catt: Throughout the course of this thread you have provided invaluable information. But none, I think, more important than what you just said. Literature is chock full of solunar tables and prime times telling us when we should fish which can trap us into a mind set. If you only fish full and new moons (which I have personally been guilty of) then you don't have a true comparison. Detailed records and objective analysis tell the real story. The best time to fish a non-tidal system is when you can! Excellent post. You may specifically be referring to night fishing. But, since I've waded into the subject, let's question the Holy Grail. Do your records indicate better success fishing the full moon during the spawning months?

Sweet. It's nice when an amazing outing like that comes along. Even more amazing is my remembering that spot. I guess the memory circuits aren't as fried as I thought. Anyway, headed up to TB on Monday for the week with the family. Probably won't night fish, at least not in Housen since we are staying on Indian Creek. Will definitely check that location out along with a bunch of humps, ridges, and ledges mapped out in between. Seem to recall some smaller feeder channels squiggling all through the area, maybe even between the two humps in the photo. Hopefully the fish haven't moved far by the time we get there.

Think I may have marked it. Haven't been back to that spot since that trip in 2011(?).

Looks similar to something I saw on the N side of Housen between Ashmore Branch and Bull Creek (maybe a little more west) when water was below 162. Gin clear. Could see a long ways down.