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It had been a while since I gave the Lake a go and it appeared that the wind was finally going to cooperate. Had my line in the water by 10am and started trolling on the northeast side of Mercer Island. The wind was blowing out of the southeast at a clip of about 10mph and was pretty darn cold, I was glad I had my Buddy Heater with me. The clouds looked rather ominous and I was expecting rain, hail, snow or a combination of the three but it all seemed to stay to the south. I started off at 15’ down on the rigger until I observed something interesting on my electronics down deep off the northwest tip of Mercer Island. I dropped my gear down and worked it over a bit and was rewarded with a nice 18” cutt. She looked to be recovering nicely after spawning, so back in she went to gain a little more weight. Fished for several more hours finishing up around Groat Point without a bump and called it a day around 1:30pm. The weather really took a turn for the better around noon, the surface temps even warmed up a degree or so to just shy of 50. I was a bit surprised that I didn’t see anyone else fishing while I was out there. The fish took a small watermelon apex behind an Abe and Al flasher. Other items that I tried but didn’t work this day were, Needle Fish, herring and Flatfish. I’ve got a feeling that this weekend’s stable weather will produce some nice fish, so get out after them.

mav186

4/9/2010 10:33:00 PM

I like that...I'm surprised the water temp is as warm as it is, just having been 'mixed'. I will get out there after the up coming Rufus / Roosevelt trip.

BentRod

4/9/2010 11:06:00 PM

Nice. Cool sonar pic!

danm

4/10/2010 12:51:00 AM

Very nice sonar image (better pic than the fish!:-).
Is that a fish or bait on the screen? The green horizontal line is the downrigger?!
what was the sensitivity set on the sonar? Beautiful! Thanks for the report

GJorgy

4/10/2010 3:13:00 AM

I'd love to see more sonar pics like that! Nice cutty too.

G-Man

4/10/2010 7:15:00 AM

Danm, yes the green horizontal line is my downrigger weight and with the sonar set to 200khz I run it at or near max sensitivity. As much as I love my sonar, I'm really looking to upgrade to the Lowrance HDS and LSS-1 Side Imaging system. I'd lump what is showing on the screen into the "bait" category. There maybe some larger fish mixed in with the bait, as they just show up as lines if they are moving fast.

danm

4/10/2010 11:53:00 PM

How deep can you see with the side imaging or how far? I have an HDS -7 with 50/200kz transducer( no LSS-1) and still learning which settings work best. What frequency is best for like bottom fishing in salt water between 40- 200 feet? What about trolling in salt?

dogfish7

4/11/2010 2:16:00 AM

Good release.

G-Man

4/12/2010 6:27:00 AM

Danm, the higher frequency will give you a clearer and more detailed image as the wavelength is shorter and you are less likely to encounter interference in that frequency range. The downside is that on the 50/200 transducers, the 50kz frequency has a wider cone angle. This will allow you to see more of what is in the water underneath your boat but at a cost of reduced image quality. I use the split screen sonar quite a bit, this way you get the best of both worlds. Bottom fishing tn the salt down to 200 feet, I'd go with the 200kz setting. You'll be much more likely to get an image of a fish hugging the bottom and any faint structure using the higher frequency. Trolling for salmon, the 50kz works fine, I'll even use in the the deeper lakes from time to time. Check out the Lowrance website for the side imaging specs, I believe that it is limited in depth to about 140 feet, not sure on the side range.

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