Centerville Pump House Side Imaging Photos

I got the boat out for the first time last night and since it was my first time on Centerville with my Humminbird 981C I figured I’d do a little exploring.

I went by the pump house and haere are a couple imaged I got. Unfortunately there was a boat anchored right on the pump house so I did’nt want to disturb them more than I did so I wasn’t able to get in for a close up shot.

The pics were taken with Humminbird’s inverted color scheme (darker readings are harder) so I also made a negative that would look more like a regular SI image.

Inverted:

Inverted:

Here’s the google map link that shows my GPS position when I took this:

Google Map

Notice in the secnod shot the cloudiness between the surface and the bottom (in the middle of the photo, directly below the boat).

There were certain parts of the lake that had this and I don’t know what it was. It dropped a panfish jig down to no avail. It doesn’t look like the usual schools of sunfish I normally see like below:

Anybody have a guess?

I might be a little slow, and I have done no reading about this product, but how should I interpret the image. Obviously I can see the outline of the structure, but what is actually underwater there. I have never been on Centerville in a boat, and just a couple of times ice fishing. What is underneath to generate an image like that, frame, pump, hoses? Just wondering as the technology seems very impressive.

Ok I read the following and now I get it….

Interpreting the Side Imaging View
The Side Imaging “picture” is very different than a traditional sonar view, but is easily understood with just a couple of basic tips. First, since Side Imaging looks to the sides, the position of your boat is moved to the top middle of the screen and is represented by a boat icon. Sonar returns coming from the left and right side of boat are drawn on the corresponding side of this icon. The most current sonar information appears at the top of the screen, and the older sonar history scrolls towards the bottom. Second, when the sonar ping is first emitted, it travels through the “water column” that shows up as a dark, symmetrical band down the middle of the screen. This band will show returns from fish, structure and other objects below and slightly to the sides of boat. The left and right edges of the water column vary as the depth changes – much like traditional sonar, but turned 90 degrees. Lastly, once Side Imaging profiles the bottom below the boat, it continues to look further and further to the sides of the boat to define the bottom contour out to 360 feet using a topographic style shaded image. Remember, Side Imaging uses sonar, so strong sonar returns appear bright and weak sonar returns appear dark. To gain the most from this image, just apply these rules of thumb:

Lighter shades of blue typically represent terrain rising from the bottom. Sometimes, very hard bottoms caused by solid rock surfaces also appear as whiter shades.
Neutral shades of blue represent flatter terrain.
Dark shades of blue represent descending terrain.
Objects standing off the bottom typically appear as a bright spot or clearly defined bright shape with an adjacent dark “sonar shadow”. This shadow is not caused by light, but is actually the lack of sonar return because the object has already reflected the sonar energy. Generally, long shadows indicate the object is tall, and small shadows indicate a short object. Its important to note the shadow will often tell you more about the object than the primary sonar reflection. Objects suspended off the bottom (fish) do not have an adjacent shadow; often you can see a shadow, but at some distance away from the object. The greater this distance, the further the object is off the bottom.

Yup, you beat me to it…

I actually am still a little confused by the pic I got. I understand what it says but I don’t quite believe it. Next time I’m out there hopefully there won’t be anybody on the pumphouse so I can get in closer and do a one sided shot so we get more resolution. I would also like to get it from a few other angles. If you look at the Google link I provided, you’ll see the position of my boat relative to the pump house. I was traveling pretty close to west so that’s why the pump house is at an angle.

BTW, as I kind of explained before and to clear up any confusion, you can change the color of your sonar readout. I had mine set on inverted grey on Centerville. The blue one was in blue on South Center.

One thing stands out from the instructions, and that is the long shadow being objects well off the bottom. The shadow from the pumphouse goes all the way off the screen. But the shadow is the width of the object, if it were just posts coming down, I guess I would wonder if some of the sonar would shoot between them.

I think you would see light in between the shadows as long as you are parallel to the row of posts.

The long shadow that goes off the screen is the only thing that makes sense to me in the pic. That shadow is the main body of the pumphouse. And I believe that the medium gray area in between the long shadow and the triangles is the footings of the pumphouse.

I can’t make sense of the triangles though. It’s some sort of structure out in front of the pumphouse. I just can’t logically figure out what it is. Kind of looks like a ramp.

Well whatever the case it looks like fun. Nothing compares to trying out new toys. I would be interested to see more pics when you get back out, my assumption is this technology will become mainstream accross all manufacturers over the next year or two.

Pretty sweet pics. I fish that lake a lot. I have put the camera down there in the winter ice fishing and all I have ever seen is a pipe than runs out to a box looking thing like on your graph. Plus about 1,000,000 jigs hanging on that pipe. And a few anchors.

Some of those jigs are mine. I fish there in the summer occasionaly. And in the winter i have a perm. I could use that sonar to search a couple areas and find the sunken rocks/trees that people have dropped in for structure.

Is there a maximum or optimum speed you should be moving for best results?

Great…. Now I want one

Yeah, get one money bags, so I can use it.

I know I’ve lost some jigs there too…

I wonder if there’s two pipes there…