Using Sonar to Find Fish Near Weeds and Trees - How to Find Fish in Weeds On June 30, 2013

Looking for fish near weeds can be difficult because the fish and weeds look similar with sonar. Whether you have DownScan or not, these examples will help you understand your sonar better. My understanding of using sonar to fish near weeds has improved with the DownScan feature on my Lowrance HDS. The cone is narrower with the DownScan and the transducer is a higher frequency so you get improved target separation. I would not be surprised if Lowrance offers DownScan only instead of traditional sonar in the future. The first example is weeds close to the bottom with small fish schooled together but close to the bottom.

The next screenshot is using DownScan taken simultaneously. The fish now appear separate and suspended with the weeds being connected to the bottom.

Trees can make arches and confuse us from identifying fish from the trees. The next screen shot is from a river with trees and fish. The fish and trees are easier to figure out with the DownScan. With DownScan the fish show up as white dots. With regular sonar the fish show up as arches. Since the fish are shallow and close to the transducer in this example they do not arch since the tails of a fish arch are the fish on the edge of the cone and the cone is too narrow in shallow water to make tails. The DownScan does not make fish arches (only dots) because the cone is narrow and there is no edge of the cone as you approach fish.  Learning how to use sonar to find fish near weeds and trees and learning how to find fish in weeds will drastically improve the amount of fish you catch!