Hi all! First post here. 
 

I have what I think is a very basic question but something I’ve never really seen a clear answer on. I bought my first fish find this past Christmas. Garmin 73Sv UHD. 
 

What I’ve been doing is first using the map to target likely areas the bass will hangout. 
 

The second part is more of my question. Let’s say I’m cruising along and I see a group of fish on my sonar. What do I do then? Do I just setup around the spot and cast into the area? Sounds simple but I’m just not quite sure what to do.

 

Thanks!

5 minutes ago, Kfowler8 said:

The second part is more of my question. Let’s say I’m cruising along and I see a group of fish on my sonar. What do I do then? Do I just setup around the spot and cast into the area? Sounds simple but I’m just not quite sure what to do.

First determine if it is a school of bass.

Normally, a bass school will be 'loose' - a fair amount of separation between them.

If it's a tightly packed group, it's more probably either a school of baitfish or panfish - so look below that or to the sides for indications of feeding bass.

New water I have three views,,,,,,,,map, side and down.  When I think I see some bass I switch to either side and down or down only to get a bigger and better picture.  

Water I'm familiar with is two views, side and down.

Then I target that spot.

I search in SI to mark cover holding fish, then I will use DI to move in and take a closer look. If it looks promising, then yes, set up and work that spot. In water I'm unfamiliar with, I'll sometimes mark a trail before I fish 

Thanks all. Do any of you you use marker buoys to make sure you’re hitting the right spot?

2 minutes ago, Kfowler8 said:

Thanks all. Do any of you you use marker buoys to make sure you’re hitting the right spot?

Waypoint on my map.

2 hours ago, MN Fisher said:

Waypoint on my map.

I’ve got 18 years of waypoints saved in my Lowrance. Both from my own doing, my brother, and my parents. I’ve upgraded units about 5 times over that span but you can save it to an SD card and upload it to a new unit. Most of them are spots where a sizable bass, walleye, or muskie was caught. Even a few crappie spots on there that I’ll be heading to soon!

The first thing I usually do is use my map whether it's the Lakevu maps on my fish finder, something I downloaded online or paper maps to find a place to start. From there I will often try to cover the area before I fish and if I see a group of fish, I may just mark it before I fish it unless it's in a spot that I'm already aware is a good spot to fish or I see something else in the spot that makes it good, like laydowns or rock piles etc. and then I would come back to it later. The idea is that there were fish there when I passed by, but they may be moving to another location ad by the time my bait hits the area, they're gone, but if they're still there when I come back to it, that means I can probably catch them. This is especially true with smallies as they move a lot. Also if you are using sideview to find fish/structure, passing over that spot on downview can sometimes tell you more about it.

 

That is not to say there are not times where I will not move down the shore and fish everything that looks good. A lot of it depends on the size of the lake, how long I'm going to be there, how much area I hope to cover and so forth.

I look for structure. Then you can get a closer look and maybe identify fish on that structure. 

 

Just seeing a group of fish out in the open usually means those fish are on the move and probably won't still be in that spot by the time you get set up to fish it. 

 

If it is a drop off or point they might be suspended on that out in the open, but I mean just a general flat bottom with no specific features. 

A lot of it depends on what I expect the bass to be doing. If I see what looks like bass, larger fish, loosely grouped and I expect they may be holed up there, I may stop and fish that spot. If I expect they might be on the move - and this especially true with smallies I may mark the area and make a second pass on it and if I still see fish, then I'll work the area. And if those fish are in an area with no notable structure at all, then I will usually assume they are on the move.

 

I will usually mark decent looking structure that can be worth coming back to as well. Sometimes you may find structure that has no fish at the time but if you come back to it later, magically fish appeared.

 

I'm still improving my fish finding technique but this is what I'm figuring out so far.