Where's the Activity?

• Drive your boat across the body of water and make note of the depth at which you see fish on your sonar. You may not know the species of fish you're seeing, but it really doesn't matter at this point. If, for example, you see fish at 15 feet on your sonar, search for fish-holding areas that are in 15 feet of water. Likely areas are drop-offs, weed edges, the edges of humps and reefs, and cover like vegetation or flooded timber.
  
  

Search the Area

• Once you have located a general area that you believe should hold fish, use your sonar to search for specific fish-holding areas. Look for places where a drop-off makes an inside turn (as you motor along a drop-off, this is where the water suddenly becomes deeper), a point, or where the drop-off is especially steep. Further refine your search by looking for vegetation (it appears on sonar as lines extending from the bottom), rocks (solid dark spots on the sonar), or anything that looks out of the ordinary. Fish often are attracted to areas that are just a little different than the terrain around them.
  
  

Look for fish

• Look for fish on the sonar. Some units display fish as objects shaped like fish, other units display fish as boomerang shapes. It is important to keep in mind that just because the sonar does not show fish, it doesn't mean there are no fish in the area. They could just be sitting tight to the bottom, making it difficult for your sonar to separate them from the bottom. However, sonar is especially helpful in determining if the fish are suspended in the water column between the surface and the bottom. If that is the case, fish with lures that reach the depth at which the fish are holding.
  
  

Use a Marker

• Toss out a marker buoy when you see a spot on your sonar that you would like to fish, or when you catch a fish. Sometimes, one fish could signal the presence of a school and you might have the opportunity to catch multiple fish from a single spot. Unless your sonar also has a Global Positioning System, the unit will not "remember" where you just were, which is where a marker buoy can come in handy.