How to work a fish finder

[Koz]

This will be my first fish finder.. ok I think I can figure out the basics.. depth, what's bottom, what's a fish, etc.. but when it reads some fish at 30ft. how do you know your presenting your bait at 30ft. without a line counter?

[Shorty]

More info Steve,,,are you trolling or drifting or anchored...You can typically see your weight on the ff screen going up or down or where ever you place it when you are anchored.

[Koz]

Not sure... Guess we'll be doing a little of everything.. I was looking at a line counter and wanted to know what people do that don't have them and see suspended fish.. How do you know your depth without a line counter. I just read on another forum that, since I'm using level winds, that each pass of the bar represents about 10ft. I'll have to check that one.. But if I want 26 ft then it's 2.5 passes of the leveling bar.. Sounds pretty easy to follow.. I know it will be different when trolling but I think I get the idea.. Just saved myself a few buck on a line counter.. Thanks!

[Shorty]

Thats all you have to do is count the wraps,,,,,,have someone pull out line while you count one wrap and then get the tape and measure to see how many feet went out..Every reel is a little different.. Ofcourse you still have to know how much line gets you to a certain depth with what your pulling......

[Double Duce]

I put out lines by counting number of pulls of line. My standard pull from reel to first eye of rod is two feet. Found this to be the best and fastest so far.

[tprice]

As far as the Fish Finder is practice makes perfect. It will take you a while to realize what you are seeing and to trust you eyes. Again get out on the water
and practice, practice, practice. Hum I think I need to practice some more on mine so I may try it this afternoon.(ha ha)

I am like double duece. When fishing for strippers depth is critical and the old pull to the first eye is around 2'(measured on my down rods) and this works for
the only problem is to remember which one is how deep, I have learned to keep a pen and paper in the boat and mark it on my diagam.


If you need it more exact than that try one of the line counter reels , and yes if you are around the transducer you can see the lure and line.

[savage]

You want to know how to get a line down 30 feet. Here's what I'd recommend.
Assuming that you're fishing with a weight and the current/troll isn't putting too much sideways pull on your presentation, just cast out to the side about 30 feet, set the reel to stop line going out and let the lure fall down to that depth. Its mush easier to judge distances going sideways than to guess at going down.
Somebody else here said that you can measure the left-right line output with your levelwind and that's one solution. The problem there is that you have to keep your eyes on the reel so as not to lose count.
Of course if you really want to fish 30 feet down, you're needing downriggers or planer boards.

[Bailey Boat]

Yesterday I was jigging for white bass that were 12 to 18 feet down. I was in my little boat which is 16 feet long. I sat in the back of the boat and casted even to to front, VIOLA!!!!! 16 feet deep...... We all know the length of our boats, best measure of depth........

[wahoome]

Another way to do it when anchored or drifting is to let your weighted line go from right at the surface and count "one onethousand" and stop it. Hold your rod high and see how much came out, then do the math and count down.