Fishing Adventures

LOWRANCE IN ACTION
HDS 10 with StructureScan provides confidence and guidance for an Australian fisherman to catch this giant barramundi on Lake Awoonga, Central Queensland Coast, Australia. Read the story direct from this very grateful Lowrance owner and guide.

“It was a cool mid winter’s day, hardly perfect for a tropical species like Barramundi. On his very first day of a 4 day charter with Barramadness Sports fishing, first time barra angler Glenn Smith was nervous. A few minutes earlier, I had called Glenn back to the console of my bass boat to have a look at the HDS 10 display. Even without any knowledge of these fish, Glenn could clearly see the Barra “Shadows” provided from the LSS-1 StructureScan. He mumbled an expletive before returning to the fore deck and commenced casting. “Gosh, without that sounder I’d lose confidence pretty quickly in this weather”, said Glenn. Figure 1 - Glenn Smith (right) and guide with 80lb Barramundi

As a specialist Barra guide, I know the importance of getting it right for trophy captures. This day was no different. I kept the instruction clear and concise; making sure Glenn’s every cast had the technique required to entice one of Lake Awoonga’s big barramundi. “Stay focused and make sure you get a good hook set. You and I both know the fish are there,” I finished.

And then it happened. The big barra smashed his soft plastic swimbait, Glenn set the hooks, and then the huge fish hit the afterburners. Within what seemed like a few seconds, Glenn was getting desperately low on braid. I kicked the trolling motor into overdrive, and closed the gap on the fish. Like most barramundi, the big fish jumped and thrashed around like mad and a torrid fight ensued. With the fight drawing past fifteen minutes, it was becoming more evident by the minute that this was a special fish.

At the twenty minute mark the big barra came up alongside [the boat] completely spent and we struggled to get her into the oversized enviro net. I knew she was big, but it wasn’t until we measured her did we realise just how big she was. At 132cm long, 100cm in girth and 36.56kgs (52 inches long, 39.4 inches in girth and 80.6 lbs), the monster barra was one kilo short of the current all tackle world record of 37kgs (81.6 lbs). I have seen a lot of big barra in my time as a Barra fisherman and guide and we catch great numbers of metre plus barramundi on charter but this fish is much bigger than anything I have ever seen before. Figure 2 - StructureScan showing massive barramundi lurking in the depths

HDS and LSS-1 have been a revelation for me personally as a fishing guide. It takes away the guess work and gives you the confidence you need on a pressured Lake or in tough fishing conditions. That day both boxes were ticked, but we came home with the goods and nearly a world record. [As a guide] You need your clients to have the same confidence you have, but you don’t have 30 years to give it to them. Having LSS-1 makes that job so much easier!

Thanks Lowrance, LSS-1 has clearly had the biggest impact on my fishing since first picking up a rod over 30 years ago. What a confidence builder.

Jason Wilhelm
Barramadness Sports Fishing
Australia

This fall King taken in the Straight of Juan De Fuca probably weighed in around 40 pounds. "I barely had enough time to look at my fishfinding screen, an X-85, when this brute gobbled up my offering in the first five minutes of fishing", stated Captain Bruce Evans. A white flasher with a bluish green squid right around 100' deep did the trick. The "Marlin Monroe" had a great year of fishing, and we owe it all to our trusty Lowrance fishfinder. With six large Chinook, two hooknose Coho's and two dozen Pinks, the late summer salmon bite was sizzling near the greater Seattle area.

Captain Todd of The Shad Taxi Striper Guide Service captured these Sonar recordings (using his Lowrance X15) on striper fishing trips.



See the Lowrance Ice Fishing Adventure on Lake Mille Lacs near St. Cloud, Minnesota.	.

	Danny Stout of Owasso, Oklahoma with his grandchildren, Jaden, Lauren, Brooke and Jennie - and a 38 pound striper. Danny was fishing on Beaver Lake with Big Dog Guide Service and caught the striper with the assistance of a Lowrance X-15MT.

	Kent, Mark and Steve catching barracuda and yellow fin off the southern California coast near Catalina Island..


	Steve and Dale land a 137 pound Alligator Gar fishing the Trinity River near Dallas, Texas with guide Capt. Kirk Kirkland. Capt. Kirk uses a Lowrance LCX-104c to find deep holes in the river where they catch these giants.

Wreck Fishing Sonar Recording
A fine example of a sonar recording obtained by Prostaffer Russ Symons from a 27' sport fishing charter boat off Lizard Point, Southwest England in August 2004. The boat runs two Lowrance LCX-104 units. The boat is drifting over the position and the LCX-104 is detecting the wreck and the fish activity around it. The unit is set on 200 kHz, upper limit at 200 feet (66 meters) and lower limit at 290 feet (95 meters), THST 50/200DX transducer.
The Wreck

1. Wreck - see how the unit is separating the structure from the bottom itself 2. Bottom - yellow color indicates soft bottom ground, probably sand 3 & 4. Shoal of Pollock - these are very active fish as they are suspended above the structure Notice how each individual fish echo is detected even though the fish are in a shoal formation. SLG file post processed with the following settings: ASP off, Sensitivity 93%, Colorline 75%. Upper limit 200 feet, lower limit 290 feet to concentrate all available pixels in a window of 90 feet (29 meters). This increases the resolution on the area within those limits.
Fishing the Wreck

1. Shoal of Pollock 2. Jig and sabikini feathers dropping and rising 3. Straight jigs dropping and rising 4. Hooked fish being played up towards the surface 5. Sandy bottom The fishing takes place either directly onto the wreck structure or close in, in the lee of the wreck. Anglers onboard caught 30 Pollock between 8 and 21 pounds. The LCX-104 units helped in locating the wreck, controlling the drift and at monitoring the drops of jigs amongst active fish.

I caught this thing the other evening while trolling for Walleye. Surprise!

Submitted by JD Abshire My walleye trolling rig consists of a 7' Eagle Claw glass rod, a Quantum big iron reel, 100 yards of 18# test lead core and about 20 feet of Berkley 14# test Fireline for leader. My wife Debbie and I were at Philpott (Virginia) marking several big bait balls in 10-15 feet of water with big arches near the bait. I put a homemade worm harness/spinner on both rods with a live crawler on my wife's rig. I had picked up a pack of the Berkley GULP in sinking minnow, chartreuse/pepper color and just had to try them so I strung one of my rig. We pulled through the bait and arches which were 10-15 feet deep over 30-35 feet of water when I heard a whack which was the sound of my rod tip hitting the boat, my rod holder straining and the drag singing. I thought I was hung up on something. I stopped the boat and pulled some line off the reel so I could get the rod out of the holder, but before I could lift it out, the line got tight again and started jerking real hard. I said to my wife: "Debbie I'm not hung, something's on there." I finally got the rod free after I loosened the drag quite a bit. I tightened back down on the drag and tried to put the brakes on this thing, but when she made her first big run I felt truly helpless. She made a total of six runs. I saw where the leadcore joined the leader five times then disappear. Every time I saw it I thought to myself, did I wrap that uni-knot 4 or 6 time? When did I change the leader last? Did I use 12 or 17# test for my snell? Boy, I'm glad I just tied on a new swivel. You know what I'm talking about. By this time Debbie had been holding the net in the water for at least ten minutes. She kept saying, "If you bring it over here I'll net it and throw it in the boat, you've just got a big 'ole walleye." I said "This ain't no walleye. You might net it, but you're not going to throw it anywhere." I finally got some leader on my reel and started feeling a little better, I was almost counting the inches. First thing I saw was a big blue-gray head, then the rest of her. I kept pulling and finally lead her to the net. Debbie scooped her in but not up. I put down my rod and we both heaved the thing over the side. I really don't know how long it took, but it was around 8:20 p.m. when I first hooked her, and we used flashlights to put her in the livewell. I left both aerators running all night and changed the water the next morning. I took her to a catch and release catfish operation. She weighed in at 44.5 pounds, 42 inches long. I checked on her today and she's doing fine. I would love to be there when some 10 or 12 year old gets her on the line.

	Pierfrancesco Salvatori with another spear-fishing adventure in Italy



Mike Childress with a 34 lbs. striper caught on the lower Illinois River in Oklahoma
Deep Water Recording in Corsica Richard Colchen is a great fan of extreme deep water fishing. Using an electric reel and braided polyethylene line, he can send bait down to 3300 feet (1000 meters) to catch wreckfish (same family as grouper) and six-gilled shark. Richard uses a Lowrance LCX-104c with an HPDFX260 transducer with FB260 faring block. He recorded some amazing deep water detection in July 2004 showing the positioning of his boat above a 400 feet drop off located between 2900 feet and 3300 feet. At the bottom of this structure Richard caught a 150 lbs six-gilled shark on the first drift and a 50 lbs wreckfish on the second drift. The image below is an extract of the slg file post processed with the Sonar Viewer.
A = Boat speed 4 knots B = Boat in neutral drifting over structure C = Solid bottom echo in 3346 feet (1104 meters) The arrow is pointing to the top of the structure at 2900 feet (957 meters.) Settings: Sensitivity 91%, Colorline 80%, Ping Speed 75%, 50 kHz, all manual settings. ASP at normal setting. Sea Conditions: excellent, flat and calm Recording taken in North Corsica

	Steve with a 20 pound, 33 inches long King Salmon caught on the 4th of July off the southwest shore of Vancouver Island.

	Tony and Lance with an Alligator Gar It is a great benefit having a Lowrance locator. By using the LCX-104C, we were able to locate the fish in deep holes. All we had to do is wait for them to come to the surface.


Outdoor Adventures Submit your Adventures Archives Deep Water Test Results for the LCX-16CI in the Canyon of Calvi Canadian Fishing Adventure for Lowrance Employees and Family Fishing for Seabass in North Brittany, France 2003 2002 Fall 2001 Summer 2001