The purpose of boat electronics has always been to locate fish and structures that will likely hold fish. We began with flashers and graduated to screens that showed the bottom contour and suspended fish. Today’s locators will show you the fish, weeds, stumps, rocks, and creek channels and tell you where not to fish.
I’ll admit fish electronics have passed me by. My success in the 1980s bass tournaments cannot be duplicated today. I’d be fishing too much dead water. I don’t want to spend time or money getting caught up; it’s unnecessary. All I have to do is go with someone with the gear and understanding.
James Lasswell, 18 years my junior, embodies the passion and energy for fishing tournaments that I once had. His state-of-the-art electronics are now teaching this old deep-water fisherman where not to fish, and the learning process is both exciting and engaging.
One locator is equipped with a contour map of Geist or any other lake you wish to add. He has three fish finding electronics in his boat. I’m sitting in the back, watching one screen. James is watching fish on a camera called Garmin livescope.
He reports on what I’m about to see on my screen and often adjusts the Garmin livescope transducer. He might say, “There’s a big school of fish at ten o’clock, twenty feet off the front. “
My fishing trips with Lasswell are not just educational, they’re also incredibly fun. Combining his experience with crappie and bass with my own research on redears, each day we fish together is a rewarding and enjoyable learning experience.
I find big redears on main lake flats with weeds in four to ten feet of water. These are massive areas, and much time can be wasted in unproductive sections. Most importantly, the Garmin livescope will tell us where not to fish.
The mistake I and others make is believing redears are strictly bottom feeders. A Florida fisheries biologist was once asked, when addressing a lake association meeting, “Why can we only catch shellcrackers (redears) when they are spawning in the lily pads?”
He explained, that the redear will return to the main lake and suspend. All sorts of bugs, snails, and tiny mussels attach themselves to weeds. All of the food is not on the bottom. Of course, each lake varies.
The electronics show us how the fish relate to their environment. On cloudy days, I’ve had to use a bobber over my plastic grubs and jigs. Big shellcrackers were just two feet under the surface in six feet of water. These redear sunfish were positioned in the tops of the weeds.
The bottom composition is different. Usually, no weeds no fish.
Using very light braided lines, similar to sewing thread, we can cast 1/32 nd. ounce jigs a long way, even further, under a weighted bobber. This allows us to cover a lot of productive water in a short time, showcasing the impressive efficiency and time-saving benefits of modern fishing equipment.
On a windy day like last Saturday, the Garmin livescope shows a big school of fish. We will drop anchor and milk the school.
On this day, James wanted to see if he could catch redear sunfish on a different grub than I was using. He also chose not to tip them with wax worms. Both of us caught a lot of fish. I caught several fish on a Berkley Gulp Alive minnow, but the small bluegill liked it too well.
We tried a shallow bay to escape the wind and boat traffic. Most of the redear there were small.
The Garmin livescope showed Lasswell there were big schools of crappie under two docks. It was time for me to take a break and watch a master dock shooter ply his skills.
My friend used a seven-foot B’n’M dock shooting rod. He would let out line half the length of the rod and grab the jig between his thumb and forefinger. He loads it like a bow back to the butt of the rod, aims and lets go.
I’ve seen the jig skip three times, going far back in the shaded area under a docked boat.
James milked those shaded crappies pretty well. We finished the day on a weedy main lake point. Lasswell caught one redear that may have measured 12 inches and a yellow perch of 14 inches.
We had a good day that would have been even more productive if the wind and boat traffic had not kept us off an offshore hot spot.
This fall’s cooler water temperatures will surely bring some more good redear fishing fun.
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