using this for the sake of discussion lets say last weekend you notice some fishermen catching fish off shore. you stop say 100 feet from them to get a GPS coordinate. The following week you come back to the same spot and try to locate that single brush pile in 15 feet of stained water. typically how long would it take you to locate that brush pile on your sonar???

what kind of electronics are you using ?  

Sent you a away message

I use the triangulation method. I stop in one place and then find at least three features on the bank to line up in the future, one being the boats location and two spots on the bank and another being my location.

A couple of minute. Switch to side scan, sweep the area, Place curser on bushpile and go to it. That what the electronics are for.  I am using humminbird 997 DF and I love it.

I use a Rat-L-Trap.  A few minutes of bouncing that on the bottem and you're guarenteed to find something  ;D

I use a Rat-L-Trap. A few minutes of bouncing that on the bottem and you're guarenteed to find something ;D

;D ;D ;D ;D

" i dont care who you are...thats funny right 'der!"

                       use a Rat-L-Trap.  A few minutes of bouncing that on the bottem and you're guarenteed to find something                                    

Might not be what you are looking for but you will find something.

On my last lowrance graph x85, you couldn't tell where you have been.    By the way, I have been out in the middle where the bank couldn't give you a  reference, and looked for an hour to find the sweet hump that I have been on before.   And didn't find it, only to come back another day and find it right out of the gate the first time.

My new Lowrance shows current tracks of were you have been,   Making it easier to cover more water until you do find it, and once I do this time, I'm marking a waypoint on it.

If your sure they were on a brushpile, then your graph shoud be able to find it sooner or later, and if your not sure, a  c rig is good bottom search bait.

matt

I zig zag back and forth until I locate the structure, drop a buoy marker, then circle the buoy & crisscross the structure until I get a mental picture of what's below. To find the structure again I triangulate with objects on the shore or any thing in the water. Some times I'll make a buoy marker from a 2 liter bottle by attaching a length of nylon string and a weight; this camouflages easily because many angles mark stumps or trot lines with 2 liter bottles.

I sank an orange tree in 20 ft of water and got a GPS mark on it.  it has a yellow milk jug about 6 ft underwater so it is just visible if your on top of it.  The GPS gets me within 50 ft.  It then takes me 10 min to find it with my cheap fish finder and confirm the milk jug.  It is ¼ mile off shore so the shoreline is no help.