[SteveL]

That pic of the fish fighting next to your boat is an instant Chesapeake classic!

Its an outstanding photo, and that angle and lens makes the boat looks smaller and the fish larger!

 

[Tom Hughes]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge Greg. The pics and vids are a pleasure to see.

 

[iFishMD]

Had a last minute weather window this afternoon after the big blow. Bite was a short window but we still got a couple over 40” on light tackle. Lots of scattered bait and small bait balls on the channel edge. Sitting birds showed us areas to look. It was beautiful afternoon on the Chesapeake Bay.

 

[O sea D]

Had a last minute weather window this afternoon after the big blow. Bite was a short window but we still got a couple over 40” on light tackle. Lots of scattered bait and small bait balls on the channel edge. Sitting birds showed us areas to look. It was beautiful afternoon on the Chesapeake Bay.

Greg I have same furuno would you show me what large fish look like on your unit please

 

[iFishMD]

Greg I have same furuno would you show me what large fish look like on your unit please

I have lots of my Furuno shots here: iFishMD.com

Ran a trip this morning before the weather came in. Started off slow and we only had two fish the first half of the trip just drifting bait balls in the channel, one of which was over 40". However I went looking and found birds working on my radar in 40' of water and that is what I needed. Birds didnt work long but my side scan kept me on them. Ended up on a good bite with a number of fish over 40" with a couple in the upper 40's. We also had a nice pick of fish in the upper 20's and around 30". Great fun on 3000 series spinning combos!!!

 

[longtail]

you didn’t answer his question, Greg

 

[O sea D]

I have lots of my Furuno shots here: iFishMD.com

Ran a trip this morning before the weather came in. Started off slow and we only had two fish the first half of the trip just drifting bait balls in the channel, one of which was over 40". However I went looking and found birds working on my radar in 40' of water and that is what I needed. Birds didnt work long but my side scan kept me on them. Ended up on a good bite with a number of fish over 40" with a couple in the upper 40's. We also had a nice pick of fish in the upper 20's and around 30". Great fun on 3000 series spinning combos!!!

Ok nice fish but I don’t want Anything to do with Facebook so still don’t know what fish look like on your unit

 

[O sea D]

Greg were do you see largefish

 

[Progger]

Greg were do you see largefish View attachment 283945

 

[O sea D]

View attachment 283946

Ha Ha

 

[iFishMD]

Rockfish are arches circled in black bait is circled in red. I have a TM165HW transducer

 

[O sea D]

View attachment 283948
Rockfish are arches circled in black bait is circled in red. I have a TM165HW transducer

Thanks Greg you would think arches would b more defined for furuno.I would have never thought that was large fish

 

[O sea D]

How would you read this

 

[iFishMD]

How would you read this

It appears to me that you are just over small pods of bait. However there are several things to note about your screen shot.

1. You are running a medium band CHIRP transducer based on the MF (medium frequency) icon in the lower left, which has a narrower cone than my high-wide cone CHIRP transducer. The medium band is OK for the bay but better than my transducer for deeper water offshore. Lower frequencies penetrate deeper than higher frequency but gives less detail than higher frequencies generally speaking. I think the high-wide cones are ideal for the Chesapeake Bay's shallower waters because if the detail AND wide cone. (note that regular high frequency transducers are very narrow cones and good for bottom fishing and not great for striped bass fishing. However the newer wide cone cone options for the high frequency are excellent)
2. You are moving over 6kn. The faster you go over your targets the less definition you are going to see with any unit/transducer combo.
3. Given that you are running a medium band CHIRP transducer, I would try pulling back the auto gain setting just a tad given some of the clutter you are showing as well (though that could be from moving 6-7kn). You can touch the gear icon in the lower corner and pull back the gain to -2 or -3 to start and see if it gives you a little more clairty. Furuno auto fishing mode is great. I run in full auto mode 95% of the time and adjust the auto gain setting from zero depending on what I am looking for. Only time I run fully maual gain is when bottom fishing to use color expansion mode, which only works with maual gain mode.

The shot you wanted me to indicate the fish from the bait was at over 70' deep. This time of year I am sometime fishing deep if the fish are there. I prefer it when they come up but sometimes in the winter, this is how you have to fish to pick off a trophy fish or two. I also turn back my TVG (time variable gain) setting on my unit to 1 or 0 from the standard 3. This keeps the gain higher in the water column since I mostly fish shallow waters the rest of the year. With medium CHIRP you may want to reduce that to 1 as well in the bay. (the higher the TVG the further it pushes the gain down in the water column. If you are bottom fishing offshore in deeper water, you may want to turn that up).

The GP1971F is a relatively inexpensive unit (compared to my TZT3) since it has limited capabilities such as non networkable and very limited radar capabilities. However the fish finder in it is top knotch and competes with the best on the market. I use mine as my primary fish finder and use my TZT3 for plotter, radar, and side scan.

Here are some shots of mine with the high-wide CHIRP transducer. My basic settings are auto fishing mode. (May turn up the gain some when looking for thermocline or down some when trying to clear up targets in shallower water). I set the transmit rate to manual and to max in order to take as many "pictures" as possible (only time you wouldnt want this is in deep water offshore - need to slow transmit rate in deep water to get full bounce of signal) and I reduce TVG to get my gain up in the top 35' of water, where I mostly fish.

These are all recent shots from the winter in shallower water.. Note that slow speeds of drifting or idling up give better detail and elongate the arches (in addition to having a wide cone). The bottom one, you can really see the rockfish pounding the bait.

Here is my side scan showing fish in a bait ball from the CCA light tackle tournament in December. My charter end up winning almost every division. (longest fish, longest team stringer, top female angler)

 

[longtail]

Good read

 

[Marshbum]

Awesome thread and even better pix! I cheat and just select the "show large" fish icons that look like the gold fish snacks. Nothing I like more than my wife (usually at the helm) shouts... "Honey we got big crackers on the screen"! Pic from a few years ago in mid summer.

 

[iFishMD]

Awesome thread and even better pix! I cheat and just select the "show large" fish icons that look like the gold fish snacks. Nothing I like more than my wife (usually at the helm) shouts... "Honey we got big crackers on the screen"! Pic from a few years ago in mid summer.

You also are running a medium band CHIRP transducer. When I run a Garmin system, I like the auto settings also. Garmin offers auto low, auto med, and auto high settings. I generally set it to auto low for the bay, especially with the medium band. First thing I generally do is turn off the fish "crackers" though

 

[O sea D]

It appears to me that you are just over small pods of bait. However there are several things to note about your screen shot.

1. You are running a medium band CHIRP transducer based on the MF (medium frequency) icon in the lower left, which has a narrower cone than my high-wide cone CHIRP transducer. The medium band is OK for the bay but better than my transducer for deeper water offshore. Lower frequencies penetrate deeper than higher frequency but gives less detail than higher frequencies generally speaking. I think the high-wide cones are ideal for the Chesapeake Bay's shallower waters because if the detail AND wide cone. (note that regular high frequency transducers are very narrow cones and good for bottom fishing and not great for striped bass fishing. However the newer wide cone cone options for the high frequency are excellent)
2. You are moving over 6kn. The faster you go over your targets the less definition you are going to see with any unit/transducer combo.
3. Given that you are running a medium band CHIRP transducer, I would try pulling back the auto gain setting just a tad given some of the clutter you are showing as well (though that could be from moving 6-7kn). You can touch the gear icon in the lower corner and pull back the gain to -2 or -3 to start and see if it gives you a little more clairty. Furuno auto fishing mode is great. I run in full auto mode 95% of the time and adjust the auto gain setting from zero depending on what I am looking for. Only time I run fully maual gain is when bottom fishing to use color expansion mode, which only works with maual gain mode.

The shot you wanted me to indicate the fish from the bait was at over 70' deep. This time of year I am sometime fishing deep if the fish are there. I prefer it when they come up but sometimes in the winter, this is how you have to fish to pick off a trophy fish or two. I also turn back my TVG (time variable gain) setting on my unit to 1 or 0 from the standard 3. This keeps the gain higher in the water column since I mostly fish shallow waters the rest of the year. With medium CHIRP you may want to reduce that to 1 as well in the bay. (the higher the TVG the further it pushes the gain down in the water column. If you are bottom fishing offshore in deeper water, you may want to turn that up).

The GP1971F is a relatively inexpensive unit (compared to my TZT3) since it has limited capabilities such as non networkable and very limited radar capabilities. However the fish finder in it is top knotch and competes with the best on the market. I use mine as my primary fish finder and use my TZT3 for plotter, radar, and side scan.

Here are some shots of mine with the high-wide CHIRP transducer. My basic settings are auto fishing mode. (May turn up the gain some when looking for thermocline or down some when trying to clear up targets in shallower water). I set the transmit rate to manual and to max in order to take as many "pictures" as possible (only time you wouldnt want this is in deep water offshore - need to slow transmit rate in deep water to get full bounce of signal) and I reduce TVG to get my gain up in the top 35' of water, where I mostly fish.

These are all recent shots from the winter in shallower water.. Note that slow speeds of drifting or idling up give better detail and elongate the arches (in addition to having a wide cone). The bottom one, you can really see the rockfish pounding the bait.

View attachment 283957

View attachment 283956
View attachment 283955
View attachment 283954


Here is my side scan showing fish in a bait ball from the CCA light tackle tournament in December. My charter end up winning almost every division. (longest fish, longest team stringer, top female angler)
View attachment 283958

Thank you so much for taking the time for explaining that I really appreciate it. I wish you the best tight lines. Mark

 

[Marshbum]

Thanks for the tip! That was my old boat/unit that had an external transducer that was much better which include side scan. I have the same model Garmin unit on my sea fox but have the not so good thru hull transducer that came stock with the boat. I will however set her on low as soon as I get out... hopefully next weekend if the weather cooperates!

 

[iFishMD]

Sundays are my family and church day so no fishing for me today. I hope to get out later this week if the weather allows.

I spent the blow day yesterday getting all my new light tackle jigging combos ready for the season. This year I am sticking with Shimano Spheros SW 3000 series reels that I have come to love due to durability and smoothness. However I am changing the rods up this year and going with the Shimano Talavera Inshore rods. Since I want rods that mostly use 3/4 or 1oz heads with plastics for jigging and 1/2oz or 3/8oz heads for casting I went with the 6'6" medium power, fast action rods. However note that they are extra fast action despite the fast action designation. They are spooled with 10b or 15lb Power Pro.