David Russell

Ha ha, Jeff! You are right, sir. Perhaps I should re-title this to "offshore structure."

So for Father's Day, my wife blessed me with a nice Humminbird 385ci depthfinder for my boat. It's a perfect complement to my setup. It took me a few weeks to find the time to get it completely installed, but I finally finished mounting the transducer last night just in time for an early launch on Lay Lake this morning. Thankfully, everything worked straightaway without need for any tweaking and so I was able to get fishing. More importantly, no major leaks! Now, I've been fishing for about two years and have never used a depthfinder. I just got a boat last summer and only have vague memories of my grandpa using a depthfinder on his pontoon boat when I was a kid. So I had a ton of learning to do. Over the last few weeks, I used several articles from this site and some YouTube videos as a primer on fishing offshore / submerged structure. This morning, I launched at Beeswax and fished some shallow (visible) weed beds in the early hour and caught one keeper-sized largemouth. By 7:00 I hit the main channel and starting playing around with the depthfinder more. I went across to an area where I knew there was a drop-off (5' to 23') and started trying weighted soft plastics from the bottom up and then cranked along the drop. No bites, but I was spending more time playing with the depthfinder screens and settings anyway. One thing I learned in my research is that marker buoys come in handy. So I bought a couple last week and, man, do they ever come in handy! More on that later, but I dropped the two marker buoys right at the top of the drop-off I was fishing. It was awesome to be able to visualize right where that slope started. After a few hours piddling around, half-fishing, half-tweaking the depthfinder, I used the map feature to locate a large area off the main channel that I didn't even realize existed. So I motored over and started looking around and watching the bottom for structure. For the most part, the area consisted of a few drops and flats, from 5' to 10' deep. Then I spotted a narrow entry that led into a wider area. I moved through and found about 600 acres of water that I would ultimately have all to myself. Later on, I found out that the vast majority of this area is about 2' to 3' deep. But at the front part of it, there was a flat about 5' deep. Now the cool thing was that just past this part I rolled over a hump and ditch (while using the main motor idling through.) So I went back over it about 10 yards down and saw the same structure. Zig-zagged another 10 yards down, but found it mostly flat. Circled to the other side and also found it flat, but there was some large structure there (submerged tree or bush, I think.) So I pulled through yet again, and this time dropped marker buoys on each end of the hump so I could visualize where that and the ditch were. I never saw any indication of fish on the depthfinder, but I figured at least I could fish it and "feel out" some of these underwater features. I felt like the ditch was the best option, so I made a large circle, shut down the main motor and switched to trolling and approached from one end. I threw on a firetiger-colored crankbait that dives to 5'. The hump was 4' and the ditch about 7' with 5' flats on either side. I pulled past the marker buoys so they were lined up from my position and fired my first cast parallel with them on the ditch side. I retrieved almost to the boat (15' past one end) and BAM! Two-pound spot, in the boat. AWESOME. This was the first fish I ever caught on underwater structure. I was so stoked. (Still am.) I snapped a quick photo and released the fish. I reset and used the exact approach. Second cast. BAM! Pound and a half spot! I was blown away at this point. I am literally catching fish in a way I have never done before. I immediately felt this amazing sense that the whole lake is now unlocked for me. Rather than beating banks, I can actually find structure and catch fish that I would have previously floated right over on my way to some laydown in 2' of water. Within 7 casts, I had boated and released 4 spots. The activity seemed to quiet after that, though I missed one or two more and after 20 minutes I did catch a very nice crappie, which got off right at the boat. It hit the same crank I had been targeting the spots with! (As a side note, when I retrieved the marker buoys and marked the GPS coordinates, I actually noticed what looked like a ball of baitfish on the flat right in front of the hump. I think the spots were hanging in the ditch waiting to ambush the smaller prey. Not totally sure about that, but that seemed like a logical thought once I saw the baitfish on the graph. For all I know though, the area on the graph could have been something else besides baitfish.) What a day. The main thing I am celebrating today is this next level of fishing for me. It's amazing that technology can help catch fish, but now it's important for me to learn a lot more about what's on the sonar graph, especially how to tell what kind of bottom I'm over and what the various types of structure look like. And I need to learn how to take screenshots on the depthfinder so I can show off my finds. I also need to re-think my arsenal, because so much of my tackle is for shallow water applications. (I've become a nut for soft plastics this past year.) And, of course, I need to learn so much more about how to fish deep. But, wow, I'm really excited about this! Taking my game to a whole new level! If any of you guys have any feedback for me on fishing underwater structure, I'd love to hear it. I'll definitely be learning a lot more on my own, but I am always up to hear tips / best practices from the community here.

Well, a few weeks ago I managed to dredge up this rod and reel! It was pretty awesome to find it. It took about 90 minutes using a contraption built from trot line, saltwater weights and large treble hooks. I pulled up lots of debris and had almost reached my last desire to keep after it when I pulled up a small branch and reached down to pull it free. That's when I saw the very tip of the rod poking out of the water, grabbed it and hoisted it back in the boat. It was underwater for something like 3 months (over winter.) Once I got it home and started cleaning on it, I began to realize that the rod and reel would likely be just fine. I took it completely apart and cleaned then dried everything. A few days later, I was back out with this rig and catching fish. Pretty cool. Before: After:

I've thought about fishing the Cahaba some as well, but access to Lay and the upper part of that lake (which is essentially the Coosa River) is a lot closer for me. I can imagine the size and numbers of bass in the Cahaba are smaller than in larger rivers, like the Coosa chain. But the Cahaba runs very near my work and I've often thought of fishing there on lunch breaks. So I'd also be interested to hear if anyone has had success on the Cahaba.

The mobile site was actually the first change I noticed since I often check the site from my phone. I can tell you now, I will be using the boards a lot more now that there is a really slick, fast and easy to use mobile version. This rocks!

This is AWESOME. As a web designer, I've long dreamed of seeing BR improved in both the aesthetic and functional sides. Much cleaner and I like the added features I've seen so far, especially the social media integration.

Oh I thought about going in. Water temps are pretty cool here now, but it would be worth it if I could find it quickly. So, that's not off the table. I'd just rather stay dry, if possible, and the water is not really that clear. Here's the fish. This was taken after I knocked the rod and reel in the water, and I have no idea how I mustered such a smile. State of shock, I guess.

I saw that post O H I O. I thought about replying there and still might, but wanted to share the story anyway. Perhaps that OP will look in here. The owner of the place we fished said he had lost a couple in his years on the lake. One he never was able to retrieve, but the other he did get using a long pole and some sort of special hook on the end. I think he still has it, so we might give that a go. But it would be interesting to hear other ideas, especially ones that have worked.

Today I finally had a chance to fish seriously for the first time in about three months. My friend hooked me up with a buddy of his who lives on a private lake that was recently deemed overstocked, so we were happy to help the cause and yank some fish. Little did I know, I'd actually be making a deposit into the lake in addition to our withdrawals. My third bass was a beauty. I hooked up on a 5" GY Senko in green pumpkin and the fish initially felt HUGE. In fact, as I was fighting, the fish kept deep and had those very intentional movements like the big fish have. On closer inspection, I saw that a stick had broken off the laydown I had thrown into and was stick near the fish's mouth, with line wrapping it up. So what I thought would be my PB ended up being just a great fish. The scale said 3 lb, dead on. My fishing buddy thought 4, but I'll stick with the scale. Anyway, I did want a photo, but my phone was dead, so I turned around to have my friend take a photo and when I did, I kicked my $150 combo into the lake. With the fish in one hand and the fact that the boat we were in was not something the Lord intended for me to throw my weight around on, I could only watch as the rod and reel sank out of sight. It was the weirdest mix of emotions I have ever had. Elation about the potential lunker, calming down at the sight of reality and then a sick feeling in my gut losing my spinning combo. In fact, it seemed to sink in even more on the way home, no pun intended. This was my first combo I bought for myself when I got into fishing last year. So even though it's one of my most expensive pieces of gear, there's some sentimental attachment that I have now, too. We dragged heavy-weighted treble hooks for about 45 minutes, until the light was nearly gone, but came up empty. We don't know for sure, but the water seemed to be about 10-12' where the rod and reel was lost and because this lake is not very large, we know roughly where it should be. The property owner invited us back to search again and I'll take him up on it. What are my chances of getting my gear back? Any ideas or tools that might help?

Since getting a boat a couple of weeks ago, I've really learned a lot more about fishing. Last weekend, my dad and I fished Lake Jordan, near where he lives. We did pretty well for a quick evening outing. He had the big bass at 2+ lbs and the only thing I could muster was a dink and an ugly channel catfish that was 4 1/2 pounds and almost had me tricked into thinking it was going to be my new PB LMB. (There are photos of that, if anyone cares.) So yesterday, my brother and I hit Lay Lakeour local place to take a boat and wet a line. I had just read a ton of articles on BR about the senko and even though I've had several packs in my tackle bag for awhile, I hadn't fished them much because my confidence in fishing soft plastics is lacking. (In less than a year of bass fishing, I've come to embrace the odds of 6-to-1 that crankbaits provide over single-hook setups. ) Long story short, I decided to really give the senko a shot. We hit the water at 6 AM and even after some heavy rain on Friday, the water was surprisingly clear (maybe this is normal for Lay, I don't know.) So I felt good about tying on a solid green pumpkin senko from Gary Yamamoto. Second cast of the morning. BAM. And a MISS. But still, my head was spinning. "What have I been missing?!" 20 minutes later, another swing and miss, but I was getting really excited. I just needed to calm down and figure out how pay good attention to what was happening underwater and get the right hookset on impact. Find the confidence. We fished a little longer with one more missed opportunity and decided to change locations when the action seemed to die. Without a depthfinder, I'm finding myself really limited in what I can do, so I pulled up Navionics on my iPhone and found an area of the lake where the deep channel lined up close to the shore. We decided to fish docks, rip rap and walls along this area. Five minutes at the new place and I pitched into an the slip of an empty boat dock. It was hot so I felt like hitting the shade of the dock might help our chances. The cast was dead center of where I wanted it (luck to be honest) and I let the senko fall. Tap, tap. Wham! Hookset was dead center top lip and a beautiful 2 1/2 pound spotted bass emerged. Senkos are my new favorite. A half-hour later, I caught another spotted bass that came in just a little under 2 pounds. I was actually shocked about this one because I pitched under an overgrowth that I could only access by getting really close to the bank. My pitch was all of six feet away from the boat and before the senko hit the bottom one time, the fish inhaled it and ran. Hookset was like what I've seen others do fishing drop shotstraight up. Now we had a party. We had to knock off for the day a few minutes after that with not much more action, but I left the lake with way more confidence in general and a big respect for the senko. Maybe the conditions happened to be right for this angler who really doesn't know much yet. But all I could think of were all the articles and people on BR singing the praises of the senko. Well, here's my voice joining that chorus!

bipr8 Funny you should mention that. It's actually the reason I wanted a depthfinder in the first place, just to know how deep the water below the boat is. My dad and I were out fishing in the boat last week and decided to do a little sight seeing. We moved deeper into an area off the main channel of the lake. We got to an area where everything spread out again and it "seemed" like an area with some depth. Thankfully, we weren't in a hurry and since I didn't know the lake, I wasn't running wide open anyway. We were just moving along at idle speed when dad points over beside the boat and says "bottom." So I pulled off the throttle altogether and all around us ahead was about 1-2' of water. I turned around and we left, but it was a little scary to think that such shallow water could be in a place that "felt" so different. All part of the new learning process for me.

Catt None of the Academy stores in my area seem to have any clue about this and none have the item in stock. I also can't seem to find any information about it on the Academy Sports website. Do you have any more information about this deal? Is it in-store only?

Catt Thanks a ton! Academy is five minutes away. I'm going to see if they have any. Crestliner2008 I'm glad you spoke up in favor of the pixel count. I was a little worried because I read about how important resolution is and some guys in that thread mentioned moving up from a 320 to a 480 and being happier about that. Sounds like this will do the trick for me for now. I also read up on the Fish ID vs. standard sonar output. I'll definitely turn off the Fish ID.

Fishing Rhino I normally don't do anything half-hearted. And I love technology. So I think it's going to be a win-win situation for me. Bass-Brat Good point. Well made. Crestliner2008 Very nice link there! I have read through the first section and will finish it all the way up. I actually think reading this will help me make a better purchase, too! Very informative. Thanks for the kind words about the boat. I'm excited about owning it.

dmac14 ++ I did exactly the same thing while learning. Come inside, watch some YouTube videos and read some articles, go out to the back yard and try what I learned.

Shamster I wouldn't want to fish now without my baitcaster. It's worth taking the plunge. The only advice I'd give is to pick up a quality one. I spent $100 on a "last-year" model at BPS and was able to get the basics down fairly quickly. I've picked up friends' "cheap" ones and they just don't seem to work well. Perhaps I just got used to the quality of mine. But I also wonder if the low-end reels are frustrating to anglers trying out baitcasters.

Thanks for all the great advice so far! Sounds like two camps have formed: one for getting something now (even two finders) and upgrade later and one for saving a little and get more. Arcticcat500, zerofivenismo and bear7625: Even though I'm just starting out on the water, I feel really lost not knowing those things. I wondered if other guys just ignored it if they didn't have a depthfinder. But it makes sense that it's a must-have item. All that I've learned about fishing so far puts so much weight on knowing those things. Perhaps it should have been more obvious to me. Thanks for the encouragement. It feels solid all the way around. The only piece I plan on replacing is the bow mount trolling motor platform. This boat had a TM there at one time, but not anymore. And the platform has been used as a "step" from docks into the boat (I believe) and has buckled at the top. I do plan on getting a foot-controlled bow mount TM for it. I can't stand the transom-mount TM that is on there now. I feel like I do more steering than fishing. Other than that small issue, the decking is great. The carpet is just kind of "old school" but it is marine grade. It's plastic and does not seem to retain water. However, the compartment lids did not have any treatment on the underside and some moisture and mildew had formed. I tied the lids open and let the areas air dry and cleaned them and it seems to be fine now. But I wonder if the integrity of the wood was compromised. They still feel pretty good. In fact, I'd stand on them. But they may need to be replaced down the road. Great points about the deck and carpet! Thanks for considering that.

Well, I hadn't quite planned on getting a boat this soon, even though I've had a filtered search on craigslist running for some time. But I ended up with a boat from a business deal and I'm happy about it. It's a 14' jon boat with a 9.9 HP Yamaha outboard. A front deck has been added along with flooring in the center and a basic cover over the seat near the stern. So far, I've had it out twice. Once on Lay Lake and once on Lake Jordan, here in Alabama. The boat handled well each time with two men on board. Now I'm on the hunt for what comes next. Since I've only been fishing seriously for about a year, I only have one good spinning setup and one good baitcasting setup. I'd like to ramp up my collection of rods and reels, but what I have is fairly solid for all-around fishingat least for now. So I am considering getting a depthfinder for the boat. Is this a good idea? Any opinions on what my better investment is at this point? More rods and reels? Or electronics? I stopped by BPS today and a nice guy showed me some lower-end depthfinders, including the "portable" one from Humminbird. That seemed like a decent setup, even though I do have the option of a fully-installed one on this boat since I own it. He also showed me a "casting" one that goes on a spare rod and reel and floats in the water while sending data wirelessly to a receiver attached on the rod. Pretty nifty little thing, but appeared sort of gimmicky to me. My budget is about $200. But within about a month, I could afford a little more if it's worth the wait. For what it's worth, I have a Garmin Vista HCx GPS that I use for geocaching and I take that out on the boat every time. I also have the South Lakes maps from Navionics on my iPhone (also GPS) that I have been able to use for a good estimation of depth. Ideally, I'd be able to get GPS and maps on the depthfinder, but I understand it's more like $500 entry cost for all of that. Also, I really only have enough knowledge of boats to get the boat license to operate this thing. If anyone has an opinion good or bad about what they see in the photos below, I'd love to hear it. I like the boat, but I also want to make sure I have a solid vessel and something that should last awhile. Here are a few photos of the boat with my fishing buddy on board. (Still working on re-arranging the garage so the boat is "comfortable.") [img width=600" height="450]http://davidrussell.net/images/boat-1.jpg The Boat [img width=600" height="450]http://davidrussell.net/images/boat-3.jpg Decking [img width=600" height="450]http://davidrussell.net/images/boat-2.jpg Motor

Creampuffwar, I'm not saying I'm great with a baitcaster just yet. In fact, I only own one. But I like to think I've conquered the basics. If you ever fish Lay, Mitchell or Jordan, let me know. I just got a boat (14' jon) and fish the Coosa River chain lakes. You are welcome along a trip or two with me if you'd like to have someone to work through the basics with. Not that I have much to teach, but we could probably learn together. (P.S. Saw that 10 lber you posted. That's ridiculous man. Way to go.)

Wow, what an evening. I've been fishing seriously for about 9 months. Though my Grandpa used to take my family out when I was a kid, I didn't catch the fever until last year. But I didn't really catch the fever until today. I fished some Thursday evening at our neighborhood lake and caught a 1 1/2 lb spotted bass. Then on Friday, I had the day off work and fished Chambers County Lake here in Alabama. I got skunked. This morning I fished for a couple hours at Oak Mountain. No dice. I've only ever caught dinks or 1-pounders out of our neighborhood lake, so I've just thought that's all the lake was producing. But I've also only fished it since moving here in August. And this afternoon, my mind was blown. I took my family down to the lake to take some photos near some budding dogwoods and my two-year-old son asked to take his "fish pole". So I obliged and decided to take mine as well, just to wet a line. After getting to the lake and snapping some photos, I pulled the fishing gear out of the truck and we walked down to one of our little spots that has produced the most fish for me. I tied on a lipless crankbait and started throwing. I was just working a counter-clockwise throwing pattern, covering as much water as possible since I knew we wouldn't be there long. (The whole family was in towmy wife, our two-year-old and six-month-old.) After about 10 casts, my wife said the baby needed to get back to some warmth, so I told them to go on ahead while I gave it "two more casts". All I needed was one. Before my wife could even turn to start walking, I felt the rod tip bend in my hands. So I set the hook against it and wow. Because my experience has only been with smaller fish, I really thought I was hung or dragging something. But then the line moved very deliberately and yet without all the jerking around, that I knew I was on to something and it seemed like something big. My wife asked, "Do you have one?" "Yes!" was about all I could muster. And then, the fish came to the surface about 12 feet from shore and that big mouth came straight out of the water. The fish jumped and cleared the surface entirely and then fell with a massive splash. That's when I started yelling. And everyone on the lake heard me. I went Ike. The fish surfaced and splashed a second time and I was in heaven. I turned to my wife and asked, "Are you seeing this? This bass is huge!" My wife couldn't believe it. She's seen me so proud of these snapshots I bring home of 1 pound fish. So she knows this is a big deal. I felt fairly confident that I had a good hook set. But I kept the rod tip low and let it play out just enough for her to tire. I pulled her in and hoisted my personal best fish in the air! Score! Another angler, who heard my cries of excitement had just walked up and another lady came over and we all marveled at the fish. The lady was out photographing something else and she had a nice camera (I had put mine back in the truck.) So luckily, we got some really good snaps, even with the whole family there. Very, very cool. Within a few moments, it was all over as I carefully released the fish and she swam elegantly back into the depths. This particular photo was taken with my phone. I'll post the others when the photographer sends them to me. So I've been around this board long enough to know that a 4-pound LMB isn't the biggest fish in the world. But for me, today, it was. And now, bass fever has set in me this evening like those two treble hooks in the mouth of my biggest catch to date. HOOKED.

Bountyhunter - That is awesome!

Our family moved to Birmingham a few months ago and we live a few miles from Highland Lakes, but as I understand it fishing is for residents and guests of residents only. I'm hoping to connect with someone who lives there so I can fish!

quanjig and others, Daytum is a nifty web-based application that you can use to create custom data containers and "collect" or publish routine information into them. I'm thinking of using it this year to track catches, conditions, GPS data, etc. They have a handy mobile interface, too, so you can use it from a web-enabled mobile phone. http://daytum.com/

Wow, thanks again everyone. I'm starting to think I should have kept it! T-Rig, that crank does look a lot like that bass!

my mistake. I wasn't clear enough about that. The neighborhood lake is behind our home Alabama, where the non-keeper size spot was caught.