After turning on your Fishfinder, call up the chart for the body of water you are on. Most good Fishfinders today have databases of the bodies of waters where most people are most interested in fishing. At the same time, it is assumed you also have a paper chart of the area as well.

Look at the charts and plot your hunting expedition. You know your fish and look at the areas that where they are most likely to be. You need to bone up on your fish of choice and there are many references on the net and up on Amazon that can get you up to speed quickly.

Many Fishfinders have tutorials and they will also help you. Mark your chart with your locations that you want to check out.

Look at your Fishfinder's chart on the display and locate the same places. You mapped out earlier. Set a waypoint(s) for each of them. Your Fishfinder's GPS will now show you where you are on the chart, you now only have to set course at the helm of your boat, and you are now on your way.

Modern shipping follows a similar process as do military vessels. Depending on your model and make of your Fishfinder, you may even get an ETA for when you will reach your area of interest.

Focus is the key here. You need to narrow your search to the most likely areas to find your quarry otherwise you could spend days in fruitless searching a body of water and come home with nothing but a suntan.

Using your waypoints set up a grid. You will now contour map the area you are going to hunt in. In thisway you will see where the fish are and what obstructions are down there that could snag a line or where the lurkers are/may be hiding. As your quarter the area, vary the depth settings to get the best return image.

Make note of the fish you are seeing and remember sound startles them so use stealth as you move about. You may at this time pick up a fish you are interested in and by all means now, is the time to cast your line (More about that later). Once you have mapped the area you are now ready to hunt your prey.

Once you are in your search zone you can now examine the various denizens who are beneath you and decide which are likely candidates for your line.

Many Fishfinders offer icons that identify fish. In the beginning, you can use this to help you choose the most likely ones to go after.

However, do not rely on icons alone. Look at what you are seeing and watch how it moves and the shape and intensity of the echo. After a while, you can get a good idea about the size and a species of the fish under you. This will further your chances of getting the fish you want.

Of course, if you are just fishing for the joy of fishing, then find a concentration of fish and try your luck. The trophy fish, however, are often solitary and hide in wait for their prey and this is why in the above you mapped out the bottom in order to suss out their hiding places.

Select you rod carefully, especially if you are Cranking. The length, power, and flex all have a bearing on the control and depth you are going to operate at.

Choose you lure's weight and size for the fish you are looking at along with the line weight that gives you the best drop rate. Make your cast and allow your lure to reach the depth where your fish are.

Now bring you lure into the general area and begin to tease and entice the fish to strike. Since a Fishfinder is looking down you may have to maneuver the boat to get you into the right position.

You are now in the best set up to get the fish you want or the best chance to catch more than the people who are randomly dropping their lures willy-nilly about the water in the random hope of attracting a passing fish.

Instead of dropping hook after you have located a group or a solitary fish of interest, you might want to watch it/them and see where they are going and what they are doing. Game fish are often territorial and others go to places where the feeding is good.

Like a hunter in the bush, you can fish these underwater gathering places and your catch will multiply accordingly.

Remember you now can see where the fish are and this gives you an advantage you never had before. This keeps you from spending needless hours fishing in a place where the fish aren't. Meanwhile, a few hundred yards over there is an entire school feeding and you would miss them if it were not for your Fish finder.

While you are, mapping and scanning the area on the lake make sure you are recording the waypoint and locations. This information becomes an invaluable resource for future fishing expeditions in the future.

Though the charts you get with your Fishfinder have information that helps you raise the number you catch. There is nothing like firsthand information that is current and up to date.

In this way, you mark out and record the areas where the fish are found and their favorite feeding spots along with changes of the bottom conditions.

In this way your personal knowledge of a particular body of water allows you to take more trophy fish or the fish you want for the table as well.

Saving the information after everything that was done is a subject that is overlooked. Many Fishfinders today along with recording your travels on a body of water also record it as well for later viewing on a computer. You get the software and an SD card to take the information off the boat with you.

You can often show it to others or review what you did and learn from what you did right and things you could have done better. But, the most important thing about saving this information offline is the fact is you can go back to the exact same spot repeatedly for more fishing pleasure and large catches. At the other extreme, you can mark the area as a No-Go and on your next trip try a different area.