Do you struggle to interpret what you see on your sounder?
Perhaps you think you know what’s down there… but can you be sure?
Over the years I have come to know for a fact what my sounder is saying – that my interpretation is correct – because I go on to catch that species of fish.
This was much easier in days gone by when fish were more plentiful, but these days it can be much harder to put two and two together.
Frequently I have noticed people post screen shots of “barra” or “threadys” in forums and facebook groups, when I know from experience that’s not what the sounder is showing.
In my online masterclass Barra Basics, I assist students with sounder interpretation and more importantly, to fish in a place where the fish are likely to be at that time and tide.
Recently, one of my students was fishing in a place that showed a ton of barra, but they weren’t on the bite.
He then dropped down an underwater camera to confirm what he thought was correct and there they were – big barra milling about with some other species thrown in for good measure.
Even more exciting was that he sent in the footage and I have included it on the video below.
In fact I had a chance to take a look at these neat little units when visiting my local BCF Deeragun store.
The cameras are called Water Wolf. They are waterproof to 100m, film for 4 hours, have a range of attachments (tripod fitting, railing clamp, suction cup, ball joint) and can be used just about anywhere. They are streamlined and designed not to spin while trolling, so you can capture hits on lures etc. and they are designed to work in low light conditions and thus great for the application I spoke of before – interpreting your sounder for barra! Assuming of course the water is not too turbid.
You can get the Water Wolf underwater camera at BCF online or at any BCF store and while you are there be sure to join the BCF club as you get heaps of neat deals.
Fishing success is all about being in the right place at the right time, and part of that is knowing how best to interpret your sounder.
Nowadays I run the Gamin CHIRP units but prior to that I used a traditional sounder.
You can check out some of my sounder screen shots and what they show at the following links;
Threadfin Salmon on Garmin Chirp
And find more information about my online barra masterclass Barra Basics by clicking here.
