# Screenshots - Schools of Crappie



## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

Thought some of you might like to see a couple of screenshots I took of schools of crappie holding on standing timber. While I thought I should be catching crappie shallow, I just couldn't make myself leave this type of structure that was holding fish. Caught very few of the ones that were holding in the 10'-15' range, but the deeper holding fish would bite if you were patient.

-LP


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## rubberducky (Mar 19, 2010)

Awesome. Sure wish I could find them stacked up like that.
James


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

That's cheating. Just kidding, I need to get one of those. 

Can you meet me at the Cape Royale marina one day? I'd love to look under the floating docks and get a couple of pics.


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

If they have some depth under the docks it works pretty good Danny.


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## whackmaster (Apr 2, 2010)

rubberducky said:


> Awesome. Sure wish* I could find them stacked up like that.*
> James


You can,all you need is one of those very nice fish finders...LOL:biggrin:


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## crewdgras (Feb 23, 2011)

I got the fish finder,,, I just dont know how to use it to get those results!!!


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## rubberducky (Mar 19, 2010)

I have a hummingbird 787 sure have never got any shots like that maybe I don't know how to use it right lol
James


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## shadslinger (Aug 21, 2005)

Those are great comparison shots LSP, very cool seeing two perspectives.


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

Great lookin' Crappie Tree, Russ. I've been working with mine, and hope to have some great shots soon. Who needs leaves, when you have Crappie. Hmmmm Goood ... LOL


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

Thanks SS. My dad, brother, and two nephews came down from Kansas on Saturday and we fished Sunday thru yesterday. I found probably 6-8 trees that looked like those two in the screenshots. I've seen trees loaded up like that before but never remembered to take a screenshot cause I was to excited! 

Tbone - those aren't the same tree LOL!!


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## slabnabbin (May 25, 2010)

Awesome pics! I need to get all the house building behind me so I can get back to the lake.


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## tbone2374 (Feb 27, 2010)

Yeah, I know ... different depths.


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## whackmaster (Apr 2, 2010)

I understand what I'm looking at in the left pic with the crappie suspended but the right pic I'm not sure..Is that a shot of the same crappie but different angle.... Just trying to clear things up in my head...:help:


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## Bama 82 (Mar 23, 2010)

How did you get these great screen shots? What menu selection did you use?


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

whackmaster said:


> I understand what I'm looking at in the left pic with the crappie suspended but the right pic I'm not sure..Is that a shot of the same crappie but different angle.... Just trying to clear things up in my head...:help:


Both screens are of the same thing at the same time. The downscan shot is much easier to determine what you're looking at, sidescan takes awhile to get used to but once you understand it you can search areas alot quicker because you can set your side range to look at a wider path than the transducer will accomplish on 2D sonar or on the downscan transducer angle.
Sidescan is hard to describe but here is an attempt using the second picture above...... the beam down the middle is the boat and the screen moves from the top to the bottom, meaning that your transducer (boat) is at the very top. Imagine that the picture is a piece of paper, fold the paper in half right down the middle of the 'Beam". Now fold each side of the paper up along the line created by the water column, which in this case is at about 27-28'. you now have an inverted "T". The piece of paper that is folded up is what was directly under your boat, the wings of the "T" are the lake bottom to each side.
If I would have had the range set out further you could see more lake bottom, in this case you are looking at roughly 22' out to each side.

Clear as mud right??? LOL!

-LP


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

Richardwd1 said:


> How did you get these great screen shots? What menu selection did you use?


If you are using a Lowrance HDS unit with Structure Scan I can tell you how, but I don't have a clue how the HB units work.........

-LP


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

Great shots! Think I might want one of those gadgets for Mother's Day!


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

Pet Spoon said:


> Great shots! Think I might want one of those gadgets for Mother's Day!


You heard that didn't you Danny LOL????


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## HGX_Fisherman (Feb 26, 2009)

LSP can you get me one of those for my canoe? I don't need the depth finder, just the tree!!! :biggrin:


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## rocket34 (Jul 7, 2009)

LP, is the king of StructureScan Danny, getting those kind of shots is not automatic, I think LP is an artist at setting that thing up.


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## Marshman (Jul 24, 2008)

LP, you just cost me another bag of money. Someone stole my old Garmin off my flats boat last year. We moved to Lake Conroe, and I was going to get a new GPS/sounder, and after I saw your pictures..... well.... you know.... had to have one. 

The brown Christmsa truck should deliver shortly. All I have to do is tell the wife it's gun parts and I am OK. I don't count the shoes, she don't count the guns....


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## Garagedoorguy (Mar 9, 2011)

*wow*

ive never had a fish finder on my boat what kind is that those are awsome screenshots


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## ronniewelsh (Feb 3, 2011)

*AWESOME!*

Man all I can say is those screens are awesome THANKS for sharing!


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

HGX_Fisherman said:


> LSP can you get me one of those for my canoe? I don't need the depth finder, just the tree!!! :biggrin:


I don't have full blown "Alzheimer's" yet......but I do have "Sometimer's" so I don't really remember where I was when I took those shots LOL!!!



rocket34 said:


> LP, is the king of StructureScan Danny, getting those kind of shots is not automatic, I think LP is an artist at setting that thing up.


Thanks for the compliments David! I'm no expert by any sense of the imagination, but I have spent many, many hours on the water with it in the 9 weeks since I installed it, and continue to learn more everytime I go out! At first I would go out with no intentions of fishing, just looking and learning. Fortunately, I'm between projects right now so I have the time to be on the water using it.



Marshman said:


> LP, you just cost me another bag of money. Someone stole my old Garmin off my flats boat last year. We moved to Lake Conroe, and I was going to get a new GPS/sounder, and after I saw your pictures..... well.... you know.... had to have one.
> 
> The brown Christmsa truck should deliver shortly. All I have to do is tell the wife it's gun parts and I am OK. I don't count the shoes, she don't count the guns....


Sounds like a good "agreement" y'all have there Marshman!



Garagedoorguy said:


> ive never had a fish finder on my boat what kind is that those are awsome screenshots


It is a Lowrance HDS-7 with the LSS-1 StructureScan module. I also have a HDS-5 located up front which is linked to the LSS-1 so I can also view the same images up front if I wish.



ronniewelsh said:


> Man all I can say is those screens are awesome THANKS for sharing!


Thanks Ronnie. I'm not real consistent with taking screen shots of stuff I find, but those loaded trees were just way to cool to pass up getting a shot of!
I'm ready for the whitebass to get back into the main lake so I can take some shots of them schooled up on humps and structure while I have a slab & fly dropped down in their faces, I love doing that about as much as vertical jiggin for crappie!

-LP


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## AggieCowboy98 (Feb 25, 2007)

Please give us (me) some advice on getting shots that clear. I have an HDS10 w/ structure scan. I've fished over several brush piles I know how to find and none looked remotely that clear. 

Seeing your shots gives me hope in getting mine fine tuned. I was starting to think the pics on Lowrance's website were photoshopped...

Thanks!


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## Meadowlark (Jul 19, 2008)

Lonestar Proud said:


> I'm ready for the whitebass to get back into the main lake so I can take some shots of them schooled up on humps and structure while I have a slab & fly dropped down in their faces, I love doing that about as much as vertical jiggin for crappie!
> 
> -LP


Lonestar Proud,

Is this kind of what you had in mind? Just snapped with digital today...too busy to get screenshots.


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

AggieCowboy98 said:


> Please give us (me) some advice on getting shots that clear. I have an HDS10 w/ structure scan. I've fished over several brush piles I know how to find and none looked remotely that clear.
> 
> Seeing your shots gives me hope in getting mine fine tuned. I was starting to think the pics on Lowrance's website were photoshopped...
> 
> Thanks!


Give me till tomorrow and I'll go out to and plug mine in and verify all my settings, then post them up for you. I will say this....every unit seems to have a slightly different temperment, but I think I can get you close enough to start tweeking it to your preference. I will say this, I have seen times that strong sustained winds has screwed up my clarity to where I thought the unit had screwed up....till I realized it was picking up all the debris that was being stirred up under the surface!


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

Meadowlark said:


> Lonestar Proud,
> 
> Is this kind of what you had in mind? Just snapped with digital today...too busy to get screenshots.


YES, YES, YES!!!!! 
I'm assuming thats striper's? Gosh that would be so fun with a jiggin spoon or a sassy shad!!!!


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

I went out to the shed this morning and plugged in my HDS-7 on the console to confirm my settings. Here is how I'm currently set-up for 2D sonar, and it is consistent with the HDS-5 up front on the TM as well;
- First of all, ensure that you have the proper transducer type selected in the Transducer Type scrolldown menu.
- Sensitivity: Auto, 0% to +4% (depending on clutter).
- Colorline: Normally always right around 75
- 200kHz
- Ping Speed: 19
- Noise Rejection: Low
- Surface Clarity: Low (depending on clutter).
- Scroll Speed: Normal
- Fishing Mode: Shallow Water (be sure of this).

LSS-1 Settings;
- Contrast: Always right around 70% (depending on clutter).
- 800kHz
- Palette: personal preferance, I like #6 unless water is cluttered, in which case I'll use #5 as it's a darker screen and some of the underwater clutter doesn't show up as well.
- Surface Clarity: Normally on Low but clutter and water turbidity may require Med or even High.
- Structure Noise rejection: On

Hope this helps!

-LP


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## FishinCowboy (Sep 8, 2010)

Thanks for taking the time to make this list,
I have not had time to tweek mine much, so this should get me on the correct track.

Again Thanks


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

FishinCowboy said:


> Thanks for taking the time to make this list,
> I have not had time to tweek mine much, so this should get me on the correct track.
> 
> Again Thanks


No problem, glad to help!

-LP


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## AggieCowboy98 (Feb 25, 2007)

Thanks for the info. According to UPS tracking, my replacement unit is supposed to be delivered today. With a little luck I'll try out the settings you recommend this weekend.


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## Die Terrorists Die (Sep 18, 2009)

Dangit-bunch of red x's


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## chile450 (Jun 22, 2011)

*Crappie tree*

Very nice, what kind of fish finder were you using? I need to get one and at this point I am getting all the information I can to make the right decision


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

Lowrance HDS-7 on the console and HDS-5 on the bow with Structure Scan.

-LP


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## ProCraft (Jul 16, 2010)

lonestar, i have been wanting to find the summer time crappie on livingston, i see you are in about 25' of water but are you finding these wads of crappie on the main lake or in the creeks? we do alot of fishing from the bridge up to browns creek and was going searching for crappie this weekend, any help would be appreciated. i hope to get some screen shots on my DI like you found.


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## Lonestar Proud (Oct 26, 2010)

This post originated March 24, but I'd be looking for the same type of structure in hot summertime also. I haven't really crappie fished since the end of April has I've been busy with work and the wind has just sucked on the days I did get a chance to fish.
Summer crappie are gonna be suspended around structure in mid depth and deeper water...... standing timber, brushpiles, ect. If you can find structure like this close to a creek channel drop off or a main lake point that has some deeper water close by you're liable to find some crappie in the area. Fish vertically above brushpiles or beside the standing timber, preferably on the shady side. Fish slow and watch your line cause most of the time they will just take the jig and your line will go slack.

Hope this helps, good luck!

-LP


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