How to find ground
Submitted by Jackson Dwyer on Sat, 2018-01-27 15:29
Hi There,
I'm very new to fishing (dad & i have just bought a boat) and are primarily fishing out of dunsborough. Is anyone able to give me some help on finding good ground? Is it just a matter of looking at some charts and then driving around sounding for lumps/drop-offs etc?
Secondly, once you've found good ground what is the best way to anchor up over it? We're concerned about dropping the anchor and getting it snagged as we're not sure how to tell on the sounder whether we're above sand or something more snaggy.
Thanks in advance!
sea-kem
Posts: 14857
Date Joined: 30/11/09
First thing if you are going
First thing if you are going for demersals forget dropping anchor and drift instead, better to cover an area. Get yourself a drift anchor and get the next size up suited to your boat. Finding ground is the tricky thing but best place to start is along contour lines on your charts or anything that looks like anything. What size boat have you got?
Love the West!
Dale
Posts: 7930
Date Joined: 13/09/05
See if you can get hold of John Adam’s book How to use an Echo Sounder / Fish Finder. Site sponsors Oceanside should have it if you get near them in O’Connor or they may do a mail order for you.
"Just because you are a Character, Doesn't mean you have Character."
Mr Wolf
Feral
Posts: 1508
Date Joined: 01/11/06
Drop into 2 oceans tackle
Drop into 2 oceans tackle (busso) and ask Chris or Tien to give you a bit of a demo on thier sounder wall , they also do info nights on how to use sounders etc . . What sort of fish are you chasing and size of boat etc ? Flick me a pm and i can help you out a bit
Brock O
Posts: 3163
Date Joined: 11/01/08
As the boys say above...plus
As the boys say above...plus read and understand your sounder...read the manual if not down load it.
Any willing to show you in more detail as Feral has offered is worth taking.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8627
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Travelling to and from
A spot to get a start on is Wrights bank just north of Cape Naturaliste but when ypu travel to it and back do not follw the exact track, move over a 100 metres or more each time and keep a close eye on the sounder for anything that changes colours on the bottom
The artificial reef is marked on most charts I think but if its not then drop in to the tackle shop in Dunsborough and Damian will sort you out