Reading a fish finder

[connor1219]

When folks say find the bait find the fish is this what they’re referring to? I was just surprised since it seemed pretty shallow, I was seeing this pretty regularly all the way until like 50 fow. I was trolling some flashy 4inch spoons through here but no luck, I went all the way out to about 120fow but I didn’t really see much but maybe 3/4 suspended fish around the 50-60foot mark when I was in 100fow, but no bait.

I guess my question is should I have just stayed trolling where the bait was showing despite it being so shallow?

For reference I launched from the notty and headed out to the bay from there.

[connor1219]

Image for reference!

[mykola]

I like fishing with the bait hanging around. But that’s just me for smaller inland lakes. But there is a such thing as too much bait lol.

[sabmgb]

Could that be perch. I'm certainly not and expert and have no idea.

[connor1219]

Totally could have been! Never fished for perch though so I'm not sure how "spooky" they usually are, I threw some small baits down at the school and off to the sides of the school and they seemingly scattered every time.

[MarkDv]

In my view it could be anything. It could be a dense school of small fish, a clump of suspended weed, reflection of nearby structure (if there is one) etc. You have to know your sonar very well to get an idea what that is.
I’ve seen something similar to that twice when I put a camera on downrigger weight. Once there was a real school of bait and another one was nothing. Also I often see something similar when I go near a structure.
My few cents but I do not consider myself any knowledgeable or good angler.

[Disco]

IMO it’s bait of some kind.

I hate finding bait in bottom. My theory is the bait isn’t being chased/predated on. I find bait balls up high in the water column usually have fish in or around them feeding. I ignore bait on bottom normally.