Reading bottom composition with a flasher

[FishingWebGuy]

I picked up an LX-5 this season and it is my first experience with a flasher. So far I have learned how to read weed beds pretty well, and I think I have discovered that an extremely muddy bottom will sometimes not register at all because the signal is being absorbed -- I think this is true but have only experienced it once.

What I am wondering is can anyone detect soft, sticky, sand, or rocky bottoms with their flasher?

I definitely notice differences in bottom readings but I'm not sure what they mean since I've never seen the bottom. Sometimes the bottom will be very long on the screen with a band of red near the top and changing to green and yellow with depth -- this would seem like a soft bottom. Sometimes the bottom will be more narrow but all red -- I imagine this could be a harder bottom.

I'm sure being on a flat or a break makes a difference also.

I'd love to be able to detect rocks or other bottom structure but I'm not sure if this is possible.

Am I trying to read too much into this or is there something to be learned by understanding the lines?

[slipperybob]

When you get a hard signal return as thick red line, more than likely it's rock or sand/gravel composition.

You get a few lines of green and yellow and then one thin red line followed by more green and yellow, good indication of muddy bottom.

Sometimes beneath some of that it'll be a thick red line. I think that bottoms can be made of sedimentary deposits and it's possible to get layered sand and silt, mud and clay, bottoms.

You can sort of get a feel by adjusting your gain low or high to get a better idea. As sometimes the first red line signal return is not always the bottom and that may be an indication of a slope, depression, or creek bed when you're not on a flat bottom.

[Surface Tension]

Those are good descriptions.

By adjusting gain up and down you can see weeds, near by rocks, breaks, and bottom content.

Heres where time using the sounder helps.

You could adjust the gain too high and interpret the return incorrectly. Use your jig and gain dial in addition to bottom reading to combination as a reference point for setting the gain and determining bottom content.

[Sandmannd]

Awesome question. I'm new to using a flasher as well (have an FL-8). How do you tell when you see weeds? I like the input on how to find the bottom by the way.

[Surface Tension]

With an FL8 you'll want the suppression cable.

With gain set low, (make the bottom disappear) then slowly increase the gain. Watch as you just start to mark bottom and note the depth. Increase the gain, if a soft bottom the depth will show shallower then when you first marked bottom. This is when you determine bottom content and will use the colors changes and depth changes to determine whats going on below you. What your looking for is a stationary blip above bottom. That would be weed. If you increase the gain more the weed will turn red and read as bottom. Lower the gain till you just get the blip with that separation of bottom. Send your jig down. If you can read your jig decrease the gain till your just able to pick it up. What your doing here is getting rid of the weed(note its depth for reference) and you'll be able to better to see and determine fish as they come into the outside of your cone angle without showing them as hot right off the bat. You want to reserve that hot reading for when they're directly under you. Knowing that you can fine tune your offering to where the fish is in relation to your jig.

It might mean stopping your jigging when that reading is hot. Or you might want to lift the bait away to trigger a strike when hot. When you know when the fish starts leaving your cone angle you know its time to get his interest back.

Those are just a couple examples on how to make full use out of your sounder.