# Do you show fish in 7-800' water



## frydaddy (Oct 1, 2007)

I fish with a friend that has a furuno 585 and when we are in deep water, 700-900', we will be catching fish but never show anything on the bottom. Even when crossing the pipeline, we don't see anything on the bottom in 600'. 

Any of you guys see anything at those depths, have the same machine that shows anything or should we be seeing anything? 

Frydaddy


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

I usually see some kind of life on spots I'm fishing in 550-900ft. On some spots though, especially with golden tilefish, nothing will show up on the sounder.

Transducer size and output frequency will have a lot to do with it too of course. For deep dropping, I always prefer at least 1KW


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## Mullethead (Oct 4, 2007)

I have a 585 - with B164 ducer - set at 1 kW ... and sometimes I mark fish as deep as 900 ft (as deep as a I have bottom fished ... most of the time I go into a split screen bottom lock mode... and look for steps or humps in the big range ... and 'fuzz' just above the bottom on the bottom lock side.... as Chris said - tile fish/mud bottom may not show fish at all


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

*This is the Furuno 585 and TM260 combo I had on my last boat. Great pair!!*


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## JD7.62 (Feb 13, 2008)

Ok stupid question time. I've never been deep dropping, so, how is one suppose to find the tile fish colonies? From what I understand, tiles are a wrasse species that live in holes in mud bottom. Are you just using your machine to find different bottom hardness? I've never really paid attention to a graph in water much over 300ft so I have no idea!


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

JD7.62 said:


> Ok stupid question time. I've never been deep dropping, so, how is one suppose to find the tile fish colonies? From what I understand, tiles are a wrasse species that live in holes in mud bottom. Are you just using your machine to find different bottom hardness? I've never really paid attention to a graph in water much over 300ft so I have no idea!


Generally the mud bottom will be flat. You will have to spend some time scouting different areas. 

Best way is to just bomb it. If your in the right spot, The bite will be quick.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Jason, I got jump-started on Tilefish from talking to ROV operators who gave me great starting areas. After going a bunch and marking every bite, every hookup and every mark we did actually make on the screen I was able to narrow down the colonies which ended up looking like strips of red Xs on the plotter. You will also know immediately if the area is good mud bottom on your first drop. The weight will go about 2-3ft into the mud and you will feel like you are snagged. I pull it up out of the mud and slowly let it back down.

Tilefish are not a Wrasse, but belong to the small family Melacanthidae


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## reel sorry (Aug 7, 2011)

Why are tilefish known to contain mercury?


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

reel sorry said:


> Why are tilefish known to contain mercury?



Because they grow very very slowly. Lots of time to accumulate mercury. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

I like the taste of mercury.

If these fish held such high levels, I'd be dead ten times over.

Some of my regulars from Michigan who are diehard Salmon anglers told me of an alert sent out to fishermen on the great lakes a while back. They said that you weren't supposed to eat the Salmon because biologists were finding very high levels of mercury in them. The Canadian biologists were also testing fish but instead of testing a "soup" made from processing the whole fish, they tested the meat, individual organs, etc. They found that certain organs of the fish held the higher levels of mercury and that the filets were still at safe-to-eat levels.


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## reel sorry (Aug 7, 2011)

Do you think that mercury (which is a natural element) would occur in fish regardless of man? Would the levels be about the same or less w/out us? I mean how much do we really contribute? Are some areas worse than others? Tuna grow pretty fast. So do swords. Both are know to contain elevated mercury levels? Any ideas?


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## FenderBender (Oct 2, 2007)

reel sorry said:


> Do you think that mercury (which is a natural element) would occur in fish regardless of man? Would the levels be about the same or less w/out us? I mean how much do we really contribute? Are some areas worse than others? Tuna grow pretty fast. So do swords. Both are know to contain elevated mercury levels? Any ideas?



Here ya go. I learned something myself. Power plants. 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-does-mercury-get-into/


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## reel sorry (Aug 7, 2011)

Interesting. Now I know what's wrong with me. Thanks. If it's airborne why doesn't it settle into pastures, corn fields, etc. with the result that it's ingested by cattle, chicken (the almighty), swine, etc. which are then eaten by man? Or maybe it does I don't know?


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## submariner (Oct 2, 2007)

I wouldn't believe everything you read on the internet. Did you see who sponsored the article, the same people who want you to catch and release and support separation on charter and rec fisherman. Interesting point on the salmon levels. Apparently the answer changes on who does the tests.

Almost forgot, the emission from coal fired plants has decreased over the years so why wasn't the levels higher in the past than now ?? And the comment about airborne settling on the ground crops/ Veg and winding up in cows and pigs also strikes me as a good question! 

:no:

Sorry for the derail ed



FenderBender said:


> Here ya go. I learned something myself. Power plants.
> 
> http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-does-mercury-get-into/
> 
> ...


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Here are a couple pics I had on the work computer. The top pic shows a few small rocks with Barrelfish and bait above and just off of the spot. The next two pics show a typical return on a good tilefish spot, which basically is no return at all, just a good, flat spot. The two red Xs on the plotter represent two hook ups we had after drifting over the two flat spots in the picture.


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## FLWhaler (Oct 1, 2007)

*I can't quite see the lat on lon*

Can you expand the screen the show lat an lon? JK


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Of course! I'll get on that as soon as you PM me your credit card number....


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## Chasin' Tales (Oct 2, 2007)

I started a new thread to discuss the mercury issue as to not derail this thread.

http://www.pensacolafishingforum.com/f33/mercury-metal-not-engine-415426/#post3453954

Chris V and others that eat a lot of fish, I encourage you to check it out and get the $20 hair test done.


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## Chris V (Oct 18, 2007)

Good read. Bear in mind what I said about the testing was "hear-say" and we all know how that goes


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## BobJack (Nov 4, 2009)

Very informative read… Thanks, for the info and screen shots! This is what the forum should be about ….NOT blasting each other about the smallest things!!


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## markw4321 (Oct 4, 2007)

rocks or hard shell bottom will give you a return on your sounder that "bleeds" through the bottom contour line on your machine. in the picture below the sounder is set so that the deep red indicates/rock or hard bottom. 

Note the arrow and circled area on the screen shot below that indicates rock or hard bottom. (not a deep water shot, but the principle is the same).


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## Xpac (Jun 22, 2011)

jlw1972 said:


> View attachment 354818
> 
> 
> *This is the Furuno 585 and TM260 combo I had on my last boat. Great pair!!*


That's the money shot Joey!


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## frydaddy (Oct 1, 2007)

Thanks for all of the responses. Our last trip out, we did have a school of something pass under the boat that marked between 50 and 120'. Must have been a school of some kind of bait best we could figure but was really cool to see it pass under us. We did good on tiles and got our first yellow edge. Just a solid line on the bottom with a good red line. Definitely a muddy bottom, weights getting stuck and everything, best of all, fish!

Going to remember the camera one of these days.

Frydaddy


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

Put it on the lowest frequency (50kw) you have


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

Chris V said:


> I like the taste of mercury.
> 
> If these fish held such high levels, I'd be dead ten times over.
> 
> Some of my regulars from Michigan who are diehard Salmon anglers told me of an alert sent out to fishermen on the great lakes a while back. They said that you weren't supposed to eat the Salmon because biologists were finding very high levels of mercury in them. The Canadian biologists were also testing fish but instead of testing a "soup" made from processing the whole fish, they tested the meat, individual organs, etc. They found that certain organs of the fish held the higher levels of mercury and that the filets were still at safe-to-eat levels.


I always love hearing all these goons tell me how sick I am going to be from eating fish 6 nights a week. Shut the hell up.


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