In between Lake Casitas bass fishing guide trips this winter I will be able to write some of these instructional bass fishing tips for fishing Southern California and Lake Casitas. I've had several anglers hire me for the sole purpose of me taking them out and helping them better understand their fish finder or what we will call a "sonar unit" throughout this article. I personally use a Lowrance HDS 8 on my personal bass boat. I've told many anglers if they have the option and the finances to purchase a good sonar unit they should select a unit that has a minimum of a 7 inch screen. That's the smallest television that I recommend anglers to use and still be effective. Yes, I called my sonar unit a television screen, and basically it's the exact same technology that's used on our flatscreen televisions and cell phones. You need at least a 7 inch screen to see bottom contours, bait and fish properly. The very first thing that you want to do in the wintertime is as you leave the launch ramp you want to look for the over all activity zone of the bait fish in the reservoir that your fishing. This is far and away the most important indicator as to what depth the fish are holding or set up at. So first question: What do bait fish look like on the sonar unit? Baitfish will appear in a cloudlike form on your sonar screen. This is for obvious reasons, Threadfin shad travel in very tight schools, so tight that the transducer signal from your sonar cannot even penetrate many of the shad schools. The shad are so thick and in such a tight ball that the depth finder actually reads it much like it reads the bottom. The transducer signal actually reflects back off of the thick ball of Shad and will appear as a round ball or "cloud" on your sonar unit. If you leave the launch ramp turn on your Lowrance sonar unit and notice that throughout the day you see bait fish in depths ranging from 0 to 120 feet and you automatically know that there is no thermocline in the Lake and that the fish have the ability to be stratified from top to bottom. This makes things very clear for you as an angler. You can see that the bait is scattered all over it all kinds of depths and therefore you know that the bass are scattered at all depths also. This will be the case in all of your bass fishing that you do throughout the West in the wintertime. There is no thermocline in the wintertime and the fish can be stratified from top to bottom. This is what makes wintertime fishing so difficult. What you want to focus on is where you're seeing the greatest majority of baitfish on your sonar. This is the zone that you want to focus your fishing on. If I go out on a guided fishing trip at Lake Casitas in Southern California, and I notice that all of the baitfish, or at least the largest schools of baitfish are all in 65 feet of water, that's where I want to concentrate my efforts. I will go out and spend a large amount of time focusing on that 65 foot level. Your sonar gives you the ability to focus on the areas that contain the greatest amount of bait, and therefore have the highest percentages of producing for you as an angler. Next, Waypoints and potential fishing targets. My next must-have and most important tool on my sonar unit is the ability to be able to Waypoint specific fishing locations. It's an absolute must and one of the most important features on my Lowrance sonar unit. If you're on your favorite lake and you're looking for specific target, i.e. a pile of rocks, and old Bridge, and isolated tree, or any other structure that you feel like you should be able to see on your sonar, make sure you mark it. You don't have to be absolutely positive that is the exact spot you're looking for. If it looks like a bridge on your depth finder, it's most likely a bridge, hit waypoint! A trick that many pro-anglers use is after they have waypointed a particular structure that they believe to be for instance, an underwater bridge, they will waypoint that, then they will come back to that waypoint and drop an underwater camera on that spot. The waypoint is what allows you to bring yourself back to that spot, once you found that spot dropping the camera on it allows you to physically look at it with your own eyes. Now you can line up from where your camera is to where your waypoint is and determine if you found the exact spot. This affords you a tremendous advantage over other anglers. You have found a fishing spot that you believe has a special structure on it, you have looked at it with your own eyes with a camera. You have the waypoint exactly on top of the spot. Now you can return to that location for the rest of your days and always know that you're making a cast at that spot you know for sure is a bridge, and that your waypoint is directly on top of that bridge. The underwater camera allows you to absolutely qualify any special spot that you've waypointed. Next best thing to an underwater camera are your own eyes. As you idle around on any of your favorite lakes in the west and you notice up on the shoreline, or maybe even at water's edge a huge tree, a large rock that setting all by itself, an old launch ramp, whatever it might be. If the object is at water's edge drive your boat right up next to the object, or get your boat as close as possible to the object, then click waypoint. Now you have that spot saved, and you have looked at that spot with your own two eyes, you will know that when the water rises in the spring you will be making a cast exactly on that specific spot. Take the time to study your favorite lake when the waters low. Waypoint every single large and obvious piece of structure that you see to save for your spring and summer fishing. For the young and the daring, become a "Foot Solider". What I mean by foot soldier is actually taking a handheld GPS and walking shorelines and flats on your favorite lakes. I know a lot of my friends, and young aggressive anglers that are big-time foot soldiers at this time of year. When lakes stay low and dry for long periods of time they become a nice place to get out and walk. Carry a handheld GPS with you and if you run across anything that you believe one day will be underwater and looks like an obviously great fishing location simply waypoint it. Try to use your sonar unit and focus on the simplest of details. For instance as you watch your depth finder if you notice that there is a double echo (double reading) on the bottom that you are obviously idling over an area that has a very hard bottom. If you have a very faint reading as you idle over a particular fishing spot you obviously know that your over a soft bottom. As you watch your sonar if you see anything between the surface and the bottom it's obviously a fish. It could be bait, it could be carp, it could be bass. It's real simple if it's not connected to the bottom it's obviously fish. If anything that you see is connected to the bottom you should always interpret that as being some type of grass, brush, or bottom cover. Yes marks that are very close to the bottom can also be bass, but I never absolutely count on those being fish. If it's connected to the bottom I always lean toward the side of that being bottom cover. And last but not least try to spend a large amount of time this winter fishing vertically underneath your sonar. Take a jig and drop it vertically straight underneath your depth finder right to the bottom. Try to watch your jig fall on your sonar screen. Try to watch the bottom and look at the bottom reading your getting, and if it looks like a double echo, hard bottom, bounce your jig up and down off of it so you get a feel of what that hard bottom feels like. Now you're beginning to really look at your screen, watch your bait, interpret what the bottom is, and have a better understanding of how your sonar works. If any of you need more help with your ability to read your sonar unit more efficiently feel free to contact me at the "Contact Rich Tauber" link at the top of the page. If you're in the Southern California area I would be more than happy to get you out on the water and help you become more proficient with your sonar unit.