I have a question for you guys. How do you find live bottom out there in the open water like by the jetties and other inshore areas. I was told if you can locate live bottom you will locate black sea bass and other fish on them.
Any helpful info would be appreciated… You can PM me if need be… Thanks
They are referring to finding structure on the bottom.
Old bridge rubble, rock piles, sunken boats/ships/barges, downed trees, etc…
How? By spending time on the water and watching the fishfinder. Side imaging helps. Hot spots map is also a good start. Some of the places marked have some kind of structure.
Even aimlessly wandering around can help. I found a huge mound of debris off shore one day chasing birds. Made a way point and now I can revisit a non-pressured location.
Thanks for the response Friogatto. Yeah im from the upstate and i don’t get down much. But when i start making i down and if its a pretty day i will try and go out by jetties and do some bottom searching and use what you mentioned to try and mark some spots…
Thanks again…
I find a lot of live bottom when I’m Trolling. I constantly watch my depth sounder. Some days, I just go out and drive around in likely areas and mark what I find
Leave the jetties and head toward the Gardens on a map and work around until you find a prime area, this is a good area to start because it is known hard/live bottom and should help you figure out what your looking at on your screen. Live bottom is harder and shows up thicker than sand or mud on a screen and you should focus on the bottom to about ten ft up and look for slight changes like small areas of relief, you will often mark bait fish around these area. The best way to help yourself is to figure out how to read your equipment and how it displays hard/live bottom and how it displays sand and mud. Small fish usually mark as blue or green and larger fish usually mark with a little red or a more pronounced check on the screen of most fish finders. You can also figure this out by the fish you are catching, different fish populate different areas of the sea floor and depths of the water column. You can get on good live/hard bottom fishing in water from 40ft and beyond 70-90ft can hold some impressive fish. Remember that the more popular or public the fishing area is the more fishing pressure it receives, which is the same for the larger the structure is the more likely some one else has found and fished. That’s why some of the areas of live/hard bottom that have just slight changes can hold great fish because they are easier to over look and receive less fishing pressure. Natural live bottom is usually limestone substrate and is has more areas that are not go to spots for every body with a chart than artificial structure.
Friogatto,Bosun and 40Inchreds thank you guys so much for explaining your knowledge of the saltwater to me. I’m in the upstate so i fish freshwater but i am trying to learn the saltwater more. I appreciate your help… I have a new unit on my center console and trying to learn it more and more as i hit the water.
Any time you are out watch your sounder. The MOB or Mark button on you GPS is your friend!!
J Ford
Thanks again. About to do some scouting tomorrow when i touch down
You are just talking about inshore? I could expand a lot on offshore, but it sounds like you are talking about inside of the jetties.
Yes Skinneej mainly about 400 yards from the shore to the jetties and about 400-500 yards out each direction from jetties…
quote:That's out of my jurisdiction right now...
Originally posted by gonefishingYes Skinneej mainly about 400 yards from the shore to the jetties and about 400-500 yards out each direction from jetties…
What vessel do you have?
quote:
Originally posted by gonefishingYes Skinneej mainly about 400 yards from the shore to the jetties and about 400-500 yards out each direction from jetties…
You basically have 3 types of live bottom where you’re asking about. The north jetty rocks, the grillage, and the south jetty rocks. Seriously.
What hoppy said. It’s utterly useless to try and find live bottom within a few hundred yards of the jetties because it isn’t there and you should just fish the jetties. You need to go further (on the order of a few to several miles at least)to find live bottom. Inshore or nearshore anomalies on the depth finder are far more likely to be debris or rock piles than actual live bottom.
Skinneej i have a 18ft Scout with a 90hp Saltwater series motor
You got lots of options with that rig.
Olde Man Charters
We have live bottom right off the beach around MI. No reason it’s not down there.
quote:That's what I was thinking. There is some true live bottom full of BSB in 50-60'. Not looking at my chart but probably 7-8 miles from the beach. I have a neighbor who I helped find some BSB in his 17' Pioneer.
Originally posted by sulcatamanYou got lots of options with that rig.
Olde Man Charters
Yeah i figured its some areas out there holding black sea bass somewhere…
If your motor is reliable and its a good calm day with no change in forecast foreseeable there isn’t really a reason you wouldn’t be able to push out far enough to get in to some excellent fishing. I’m sure your boat goes over thirty so in a thirty minute range once leaving the jetties that gives you a ton of option. I know when its a really calm day its safer and not as rough on the open nearshore waters then all the traffic and wake produce around or in the jetties, some of the boats put of solid four foot wake that is tight and the funneling of water in and out the jetties produces some quick swells also. The only thing is if you haven’t done a trip outside the rocks is the confidants/comfort factor which can be greatly eased by buddy boating, preparation and planning.
Good info also 40inchreds. Yeah my motor is very reliable. Honestly i havent took that ride to the jetties yet in my new boat but is ready to do it asap. Would rather take a partner the first time for a better comfort zone. My last center console was a 18.5 ft C.C. and i actually took it to the jetties by myself. Now going outside the jetties will take me a few trips out to jetties first before i make a longer trip. I Remember taking the charter boat trips thru the jetties to the gulf and yeah them jetties stretch pretty far…
But need to get my comfort zone tighter on big water.