I have fished offshore a lot, but have just recently bought an offshore boat. Have any of you had much experience at using depthfinders over wrecks and small bottom changes? What makes one wreck in the same area pay off better than another? What kind of bottom machine, (depth finder) do you use?

Some times you just have to fish the wreck to find out. My depth finder just shows a rise in the bottom when I go over a wreck. My advice would be to fish it. A lot of the smaller fish will be under it and the bigger ones will be cruising around itl. There fore, it will be tough to judge that there are fish there by the depth finder alone. You have yto experiment. If the tide and wind anren't too much, drift over the reef and mark the spot where you start getting hits.

Scott Meier
White Oak Lodge

One may have been fished out if its a popular wreck and may need a few days to regroup. One may have more nooks and cranies for fish to hide in or maybe in deeper water, diff temp etc. The bottom currents come into play here also. I've fished on wrecks that only held fish on one side or particular section. Some species like the bottom of the wreck while others hover in the top or just above masts,rigging, cabins etc. As far as depth finders, if you can afford a colored recorder they are great, such as a si-tex or furuno.
http://si-tex.com/
http://furuno.com/

the boat I just got has a brand new Hummingbird depth finder and I just went and bought a nice GPS. It is the Garmin 176 c model. I am still reading up on it to learn all the features.

Some of the older wrecks start getting covered up in sand after a while. They also fall apart and lose their profile. You can get information on some of the wrecks like GPS and Loran location, how old the wreck is, what it consists of and how long it's been down there. The state DNR might have that info as well as some fishing charts. I have this info for at least 100 wrecks/artificial reefs in DE Bay and the NJ coast as well as Delaware, Maryland, Florida and the Bahamas.

Scott Meier
White Oak Lodge