Humminbird Side Imaging reveals Wissota railroad

I had a chance to capture some really nice Side Images using my Humminbird 997 during today’s Wissota walleye guide trip. Among them are images of what must be an old railroad that existed before Wissota was flooded in 1917.

In the first image, you see the railroad bed on the right image (with a beautiful set of parallel rails), and a whole bunch of bright white returns on the left side image. We’ll get back to those returns on the left shortly.

In the second image, I’ve taken the right side image of the railroad and rotated it 90 degrees clockwise. It seems pretty obvious to me that the rails sit on an elevated bed. The image is brighter white on the upper slope of the elevated bed because that’s the side closer to the boat; the side father from the boat is darker. The area noted by the green arrow looks like it’s either falling apart, or that there is a more pronounced change in elevation from the top of the bed to the bottom (like a nearly vertical portion) which would be hard to image very well, especially on the far side of this rise. Note also the feature noted with the red arrow. That sure looks like a small bridge to me, presumably over what used to be a small creek. You can even see the sonar shadows from the rails extending over this (one-time) creekbed.

The third image is a zoomed-in picture of the bridge over the creekbed.

The fourth image is an example of what we were catching in this area….at least some of those bright white returns on the left side image in the first pic are walleyes! The one on the right, held by my guest Chris, is a very healthy Wissota 22″, while my other guest Jim is holding a small Wissota slotter. Today was Chris and Jim’s first exposure to Humminbird’s Side Imaging technology, and after a brief tutorial, they were spotting fish left and right (pun intended! ).

I had no idea there was a railroad bed running through Wissota. Very cool!

Sully

SULLY it was right under your boat first place you stoped on Tues night I beleve Jason was on Pee point, right Jason?

Sweeeeet pics! I had an idea just a confirmation on my speculations.Thats awesum!I will say for H Bird.Oh boy I can see the bank account getting a couple K’s lighter. Just getting that past the war dept(spouse) is another story. Keep up the great shots!See you on the home pond soon. WHITE TIP

Kevin, I was south and east of “Halfen’s Landing”.

By the way, thanks for helping me out this afternoon.

Great shots Jason.

Got a ? for ya though. Are you using a photo editor to post your images, or how are you getting rid of the depth/speed/temp etc on your posted pictures? With a 997, they are on the left side. 1197 on the bottom. Not sure on a 797 or 798.
R

there is one on larson’s point too I am told… Ready to go farming (hint 13’of water and it is a good place to go kitty hunting at night) get it go to the farm kitty hunting

I am using Adobe Photoshop to crop out all that info.

Below is a “before and after” pair.

I’m not doing anything to the images at all, other than cropping out the unwanted info, adding the arrows to point items out, and zooming in just a touch.

Thanks, Knowing the depth of the image helps to put it all into perspective.

Great shots for 25 fow!

Whats the history of Wissota? River/ turned into a reservoir?

I have some shots of an old railroad bed over the Missouri river in SD. The tracks were removed, prior to filling. The important part, is the riprap is still in place where the tracks hit the old shoreline, in 25 fow.

1947 maps and Fugawi got me close and my Humminbird confirmed it.

Incredible technology, thats for sure!

Wissota is a reservior, ~ 6300 acres, formed by damming the Chippewa River. Two primary rivers now feed the reservior, the Chippewa and the Yellow, with a handful of small creeks also adding small volumes of water. The dam that backs up the lake is a hydroelectric dam, as are the dams that are above the lake (~ 10 miles upstream) and below (~ 2 miles below the lake).

There is a bit of additional info, and some really cool images, at this site: Wissota historical photos.

WOW… very cool images. does the display look that clear all of the time? even when it wavy? how fast can you go and still get good images?

Jason,
Keep it up !! I bought my 997c si from Skeeter Boat Center and am learning more about the unit everyday. Your posts have been a great help in seeing how the screens SHOULD look. It’s taken a bit of tweaking to maximize the AWESOME capabilites of this unit. The more I use it the easier it’s getting. I’m also running a Lowrance LCX 18c at the same time and must admit that there is no comparison in the traditional depth sounder capabilities.
(I WAS a diehard Lowrance guy) and currently own 5 Lowrance units.
My only problem is I spend too much time looking and forgetting that I’m there to fish !

Hookem:

I can collect clear images up to ~ 5 mph. The key issue is having the chart speed correlate with the boat speed. Slow boat speed (trolling speed) = slower screen speed. Faster boat speed = faster screen speed.

I collected yesterday’s images in a nice chop caused by NW winds 10-15. There’s certainly no need for “perfect” conditions to collect very nice Side Images using the Humminbird products.

In terms of clarity…I have experienced fantastic results from my Humminbird 997, doing next to nothing other than plugging it in and running the factory defaults.

Would you knock it off. It won’t be long an this technology will be outlawed like the under water cameras, flasher etc….

Great pics man. I’m finally starting to be able to “read” what you are showing. I know, slow learner.

Thanks Kooty!

Beyond showing off the “cool” factor, I want to use these threads to teach people how to interpret the Humminbird Side Images, as well as demonstrate just how easy the technology is to use.

When you’re ready to step up to the plate, don’t forget about the Humminbird sales/install promotion now being run by Skeeter Boat Center. For more details on that promo, check out this link.

Do those tracks run for a long ways, or was it just a section of track that you came accross?

VERY cool.

Thanks for sharing!!

Mike

The bed that the tracks used to rest on runs for a long ways. Some of the rails were apparently removed or covered up, as I have found part of the bed that is “rail free”.