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View Full Version : What's in Awoonga?



Owen
13-12-2005, 07:44 PM
Hoping some of the Awoonga experts can pass on a bit of info to a novice [smiley=help.gif]
I went for a bit of a run last Saturday.
Grand tally was one catfish, a set of trebles up my back (don't ask), rescued a cormerant that had his leg caught in a branch and was hanging upside down (it tried to bite me for my trouble).

Anyway, it was the first time I'd been out there since I got my new sounder.
Kept seeing heaps of arches on the sounder, but nearly all around the 4M mark.

Was it weed? Seemed strange that the majority were at the same depth.
Plus I wouldn't have thought weed would give that strong a return.

This is a pic from the sounder. It's not of the regular returns I'm talking about. What I was seeing were like the return on the left at about 10M. I would have thought weed would be more like the return on the far right at about 9M.

cheers,
Owen

BG
13-12-2005, 08:10 PM
Sounds like a job for johnny m , he is the awoonga guru. ;)

Awoonga
13-12-2005, 08:18 PM
That's Mr Guru to you...Ben... Anyway could have been bait boils..Over to you Mitch !

McCod
13-12-2005, 08:40 PM
Owen... the returns on the left are good fish.... and the one on the right are why they are there.... Bait fish balled up tight. Well... thats what it looks like from here.... Not a bad show as its looks like ya not zoomed in.

Cheers Les

Owen
13-12-2005, 09:14 PM
Les,
No I wasn't zoomed in at that point.

OK, I've added some numbers to help make it clearer.
The returns I was seeing were mainly like number 1 but sometimes like 5 (but almost all at 4-5M depth and lots of them - seemed too many to be barra)
I figured on this pic that 1 & 2 was fish.
3 was maybe bait fish (not sure what in the dam)
I thought 4 was maybe weed being a weaker (green) return.

I deliberately ran around a few weedy bays to check out how the bottom looked and I could see the weaker return on the bottom.

Next question is;
If they are fish, how do I get a bloody lure down 30 feet to them :-?

cheers,
Owen

Awoonga
13-12-2005, 09:19 PM
Halco Crazy deeps will go down about 20ft depends what leader/ line that you are using....

McCod
13-12-2005, 10:25 PM
Yeah mate most of the #1s would have been Catfish....
#3, #5 look like Bait fish.... small Bony Bream that could be into some Plankton ? Looks like a bit of and arch just under #2.... #4 not shore ?
One way to find out if there Caties is to drop a 3 or 4 inch Rubber like a Storm shad or Sguidgie in ther face ... If there Caties ya should be on in minutes. There is a few Diving hard body lures that will get down there on the troll.... Halco Scorpion Crazy deep will run aroand 30 feet on 30 lb braid. Killalure 20+ Barra Baits , Killalure 20+ River Rats, Storm Deep thunder Cranks, And the DK Scale Raisers in the 20+ will get in there face also. Just a tip..... when ya get a show like that in deep water... set ya upper and lower limits on ya sounder to something like this.... upper limit set at 2 mtrs, Lower #set on 12 or 13 mtrs as you will see a lot more detail as it is a waist of pixels on the unit looking down below this and ya won't see much above 2 mtrs,

# # Cheers Les

the_matrix
14-12-2005, 09:13 AM
Owen.
Not sure if I can help mate because each sounder has different characteristics. That looks like a Furuno FCL 600L. If it is they are a great blue water sounder according to my mate who has one, but struggle a little with definition in shallow water.

If those echoes were on my Lowrance gear I would be extremely confident that they were catties mixed in with some bony etc. The fact that the centre of the majority of returns are red constitutes a solid target, ie fish. Weed tends to give a softer return as it has no solid centre, and generally gives a weedy type of look on your screen. When I mark barra on the sounder the archs are huge, unmistakable and quite convincably barra.

As said in the above post, next time drop a plastic over, believe me it wont take long for those catties to nail it, they LOVE soft plastics and cant resist them. A good tip by Mcod as well regarding your upper and lower limits.You can tell he knows his sounder. Take the time to read the literature you get with todays sounders. They are highly technical, incredibly user friendly and fairly easy to customise to suit your own piece of water.

Another tip is put on a Halco trembler or big soft plastic and send it down into the beam. Have a look at the size of the return you get on your screen and then you have a base line. Its a good way to gauge what size fish you are dealing with as you can compare it to a flithy big shad or trembler.

Its amazing how you can transform your average looking sounder screen to an endless stream of information for you to add to the arsenal.
Hope some of the info can help you.
Happy fishing. Jas ;)

Owen
14-12-2005, 09:54 AM
Thanks guys,
The sounder is a Garmin GPSMap 178C
When that particular shot was taken I was just cruising across the middle of the dam at a fair rate of knots, hence I had it zoomed right out.
When I got to where I wanted to go I played with the range & zoom as you have suggested.
Still have a lot to learn about this sounder, but one thing is for sure; As they come from the factory they tell you bugger all. Amazing what you can pick up with a bit of tweaking.
I have found that in shallow water I sometimes get a double echo from the bottom that I can't seem to tune out with the gain.

Also if anyone knows these sounders, I'm buggered if I can figure out the use for the "target level"
Seems to just change the colour of the returns. i.e. You can make a return that is normally reds (say) show up weaker, or vise versa.

cheers,

Owen

the_matrix
14-12-2005, 10:30 AM
Owen
Yeh sorry mate, just assumed you recieved a novel like I did for my dual freq bow mount sounder and my console sounder. Im not sure If you have a dual beam transducer, but set your freq to 200khz as that is the best frequency for shallow. (you may already have that set).
Like you said, fiddling is great and having a simulator mode helps as well.
If its anything like my sounders mate, it'll take a few weeks to get the best out of it.
Jas

scott_b
14-12-2005, 11:11 AM
Gday
Iv'e had a matrix 37 for about 12 months and still havn't seen an arch as clear as that . Think the finder is way smarter than me.
wamjam

A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE
14-12-2005, 04:37 PM
Barra are the biggest, and the apex predator in the Awoonga system. Barra tend to move as singular fish, not necessarily following in tight bunches or tight schools, although it can happen at times! Singular, well spaced fish are very distinct on a sounder's display in open water, or they can be cluttered and a bit indistinct in amongst cover such as horizontal timber, or concealed within weeds. The second largest fish species (on average weight) in the system, is actually mullet, but their habits very rarely see them venture into any situation where upon they can be viewed on a sounder's display screen. Mullet are usually visually identified with the naked eye on or near the surface in shallow water, in depths where sounders become useless fish finding tools.
Catfish (1 to 3 kg) school in varying sizes from a handful to house sized schools. They are a much smaller fish than that of the common 10-20 kg barra that inhabit Awoonga. Displayed images vary from one sounder to the next because of variations in vertical and horizontal pixel count, depth ranges used, gain settings ,transducer type etc etc etc. Everything is relative at some point as displayed images are shown as representatives to the size of sounded objects. I have noticed that catfish tend to have a short, sharp arch, whilst barra have a much longer, and obviously proportional longer arch length to catfish.
Bony bream schools are common in sizes similar to that of the average car, although bony bream and other wandering type baitfish species can be quite sparse and more loosely packed at times; hence the reason for cloud like formations on your display screen.
Increasing water temps through summer sees the whole lake system warm to temperatures that at times can feel uncomfortable to fish. Awoonga is situated at the southern end of the 'Tropical' region of Queensland, yet it still experiences, (like now,38 d/c, 14/dec/2005), very hot days which reflect strongly and highly influence water temperatures and therefore barra behaviour, (as well as other species)! The deep waters of the lake warm to certain depths which is regulated by the severity of the summer weather.
All animals have 'comfort levels', and barra have a certain 'water temperature zone' in which they feel most comfortable! Barra are not actively on the search for food 24hrs a day, so at times they enjoy a relax in favourable, comforting, soothing water which in this case is deeper/cooler water. Tolerable water on the other hand, is any water that can be located in Awoonga. Barra can tolerate high temps, but just like most animals, will search for cooler areas to rest in when required.(like people and air cons).
Thermoclines lay at varying levels in the depths of Awoonga, and the 30 feet mark you mention sees the convergence of the thermocline in many places in the lake at present time. Below the thermocline is much cooler water, and above it is warmer water layers of varying stages and the temp increases steadily towards the surface. Eg, surface temp 30 d/c, 15 feet down, 27 d/c, 30 feet down 25 d/c, and at 33feet, (3 more feet down, below the t/cline) it quite often drops about 4 or 5 d/c. This is why many barra continually show at the same depths, and also why many other forms of life hold at the same depth.(its a comfortable depth, and temperature). Every animal has a different tolerance, and therfore they all find their happy medium somewhere in the water column.
But in saying all that, comfortable temps and tolerable temps are 2 totally different situations. Many barra are trolled from the depths on 30 ft lures, as well as 10 foot lures in the same locations. Whilst this is happening, 33d/c water temp in shallow water sees wild fishing sessions on hungry and pumped up barra. Big barra trolled in 30 ft mid lake whilst also captured casting to the shoreline at the same time, same day.

Most weed is either attached to the bottom in 5 m or less and thriving, attached and dying, or dead and floating. Mid water weed is not what you are sounding!!
Fine tuning of your sounder is required for max results. Understand what lives in your area,,,,as your post asked????,,,, and your well on your way to interperating what is being displayed.
Common lifeforms and objects which become common images on your sounder are things such as:
barra, catfish, bony bream, planktonic blooms at times, (usually mid water) longtom, banded grunters, gar fish, turtles, diving birds,
trees, weedbanks, logs, rocks, thermoclines, etc etc.
*zoom features help in identifying objects.
*vary gain settings for varying depths for max definition
*target level helps you place emphasis on different levels of target density. ,,,if you are searching for less dense items, and closely looking for any changes in density, lower your target level, and vice versa for harder objects. run it on normal for everyday use, but be careful to change it back when you are finished otherwise future confusion can be had.
I'll stop ravin' on now.
Johnny M
Lake Awoonga Barra Fishing Charters
I hope this is of some help

Owen
14-12-2005, 05:19 PM
I hope this is of some help


Some help?
I couldn't have wished for a more comprehensive reply
Thanks Johnny, you're a legend.
[smiley=dankk2.gif]

cheers,
Owen