Identifying structure edges and transitions with your Humminbird Side Imaging system
Dr. Jason Halfen
Professional Walleye Angler
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Check out the screen capture below. I collected it while moving off a shallow, weedy bar into deeper water. The depth at the top of the screen capture is ~ 50 feet, while it is more like 3-5 at the bottom.
The first edge I want to point out to you is noted with green lines in the image below. These green lines denote the edges of a band of cabbage weeds growing on bar as it breaks into deeper water. The cabbage band starts at about 6 feet and grows out to 12 feet....then cleanly stops, forming a well-defined structure edge that anglers target for bass, walleye, and musky.
The second set of edges are towards the top of the image, marked with blue lines. They reflect the transition between an isolated rock bar (marked with the cursor) and the surrounding soft bottom. The rock bar starts in ~ 12 feet of water and extends out to 20-25 feet. Think any walleyes or smallies might use this bar? I never knew this rockbar existed until I imaged it with my Humminbird 1197....and I've had the chance to revisit it several times this summer with great success!
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One of the most powerful capabilities of Humminbird's industry-leading Side Imaging technology is its ability to clearly identify structure edges, or said another way, transitions from one type of structure/bottom content to another. I thought we'd take a quick look at a piece of structure that has several such transitions, and see how easily Humminbird's Side Imaging locators can identify these edges.
Here's a different portion of that shallow weedy bar, shown with a split screen; traditional 2D sonar on the left and side imaging on the right.
Check out the brown vertical lines on the 2D portion; they reflect the well-defined band of cabbage growing on the break of the bar. That same band can be seen on the Side Imaging view on the right, also noted with brown lines.
Once a guy recognizes what cabbage looks like in Side Imaging, it's easy to see other bands of cabbage growing on the same bar. I've marked another band in the image below.
For comparison, I included the image shown above. If you look carefully, you can see the transition from the junk weeds on top of the bar to the cabbage bed...it looks like a dark line at the lower (shallow; inner) edge of the cabbage. Look back and forth between the two images; you'll see what I'm talking about.
One more edge to check out....or rather, one more transition between structure types.
This screen capture is of a shallow flat that has scattered clumps of cabbage and coontail over a relatively soft bottom. There is one area of this flat that consistently holds active, catchable walleyes, particularly after dark in the early part of the season. Can you pick it out?
Here it is...noted by the red arrow on the left side of the image. An isolated area of gravel, about 20' x 20'. We never knew why fish held in this specific area until we had a chance to image it with my Humminbird 1197. Now we know why....walleyes are relating to the gravel patch and the transition between hard and the surrounding soft bottom.
With fall trolling season coming up soon, we'll all be reminded time and time again about the importance of transition areas....boundaries between rock and sand, between sand and weeds, between weeds and rock, etc etc. If you're wondering how to find and target these areas, wonder no longer: Humminbird Side Imaging fishing systems are your answer.
