The Outdoor Line Forum

Here's a shot that might help you determine if there's squid in the area you're fishing. There's a lot of squid in the waters around Craig, Alaska right now and salmon love to stuff their bellies with them.

You can see how they are banded and most of the time you'll find them in less than 100 feet of water. They are also usually on or close to the bottom. Horse herring will look sometimes banded like that but they will generally be suspended in the water column. Hope that helps and feel free to post any other questions. I'll try to post different bait formations as I come across them.

Last year we spotted several whales and a large flock of birds working. We motored over and saw several large bait balls on the surface. We caught several fish and then Linda started to photograph the whales and birds. When we got home and looked at the pictures there had actually been a mass of cuttlefish under the bait ball of small herring. The salmon were also full of cuttlefish. It's cool to be able to see what the screen looks like with different bait. Thanks for sharing the great sonar shots, the new HDS 3 looks great.

Gary