Looking for rocks?

[bassfshin24]

So now that I finally have SI on my boat I am doing a lot of scanning for deeper rocks. I have found a few but most are just from driving around. Those that are experts on finding deeper water structure...is there certain things you look for on the lake that will tell you there might be rocks near by? Is there certain depths that you usually cover to find these rocks. It would be nice to narrow down some of the lake so I don't have to SI the whole thing haha. As of right now I am focused on the 10-20ft range. Any tips would help.

[TruthWalleyes]

Start trolling. You'll find them, or you won't.

If you are strictly looking for hard bottom or rocks, or unique structure in deep water, widen your coverage, switch to red/green and the spots should pop out.

Lots of man made rock piles.

Natural rock piles i generally find in sandy/gravel bottoms.

If you are like me and your SI works at full throttle, you can see piles and structure with your SI speed at 10 and boat speed of 29 (My top end)

[Deitz Dittrich]

i usually grab a sandwich and a pop and just start driving. As for depth, Im not going to look in areas I dont think fish will be.. it would be silly to look for rock in 40 feet of water if the fish would not use it. I generally find the weed edge and then add 10 feet, anything much beyond that and I tend to ignore it. But unless we are talking a super large lake, at just under 3 mph, you can cover many lakes in less than about 4-5 hours. And if you cant do that, at least on my area lakes, I would fish for a few hours and then always sched one hour each visit to the lake to just SI. I still even though I think I have found everything.. spend at least 30 mins most every trip out.

[Craigums]

What DD mentioned is about the only way to do it. It's hard when you only have time to get out once a week and all you want to do it fish though. I've been fishing a lake that is "NO WAKE" so it forces me to idle from spot to spot. I use that as a time to just put around staring at my SI

[bassfshin24]

Thanks for the info guys. I kind of figure just trolling around is probably the way to do it.

The Green/Red screen has definitely helped me identify those hard bottom areas. What a sweet feature.

[bassfshin24]

When you guys fishing rocks you found in a tournament do you guys throw a marker on it? I just feel like I havent seen too many markers used during tournaments.

[PurpleCatMan]

Stop looking! Just kiddin'

I think a lot of guys use a black marker so it's not as obvious. People get real (way too, in my oppinion) territorial in this sport.

[Nick Kuhn]

Try to avoid scanning the deepest flats in the lake, it is almost always 100% muck. Generally the shoreline will give you the best idea where rock piles may lay.

I use the triple screen. Rock or hard bottom will always show up white amongst darker blues, and will be pretty obvious. But on the traditional sonar look for double bottom lines (the lower line being where the hard bottom lies under the muck). Sometimes that will help guide you to a nice rock pile in otherwise barren areas. I have one on my lake that is mostly gravel and probably only 300 square feet (doesn't even rise a full foot from the muck), and it's usually good for a few decent fish.

[MuskieFever]

I have noticed the double return to be helpful as well. As I learned from a Deitz seminar video, use the long pole trick to FEEL out the bottom. Amazing how well it works and you can definitely tell when you hit rocks or gravel. Now i just need to up grade my 8ft long pole to a 20 footer....

[Igor Drackenwolf]

It might be commenting on the obvious, but rock formations on shore often continue into deeper structure.

[Nick Kuhn]

I have noticed the double return to be helpful as well. As I learned from a Deitz seminar video, use the long pole trick to FEEL out the bottom. Amazing how well it works and you can definitely tell when you hit rocks or gravel. Now i just need to up grade my 8ft long pole to a 20 footer....

I like to smack a a "trolls to 30" off the bottom sometimes just to get a feel for what's down there.

[MuskieFever]

Do you go hookless to avoid hang ups?

[Nick Kuhn]

Nope. Never been an issue. You tend to ding up the lip more than anything. Some lures just bounce along the bottom a lot better than others.

[Markula]

The beauty of side imaging is now it's easy to find all the obvious structure many guys have known about and been beating on for decades.

Welcome to community holes!

Some days you'll pull up to one at the right time and the fish will be ready. Most, they will leave you wondering. The worst is, those spot all have resident bass populations, but most of the time they just won't get going over artificials. You can confirm this by dropping a camera on them,, you'll see bass and walleyes all over...they are just very hard to catch. It's all about timing, and luck.

[thatoneguy]

huh?

[corncob]

I just put my Aqua-View down there and have a look around before, during, and after plunking lures around.