Fish Finder Elementary School

[sds888]

I need help. I have watched my new sonar a lot and cant seem to get it. I have also read a lot on the finders and it seems to be helpful but when I get on the lake it just seems greek to me all overagain. I dont want to go to the fish id thing again. I look at pictures on the internet and they seem so defind but wen I am on the boat I am going was that a school of fish or a tree or a hump or maybe disturbace. If anyone could provide me with a 101 course It would be very helpful or I could just go get some scuba gear and look at the finder then dive and see what is really down there. lol
I think this would helpful to alot of members if we could get different pictures and maybe some guidence in those picures.

Thanks
Stephen

[blackwaterkatz]

Stephen, check out these tutorials. The first one gives really good explanations of what you are seeing on the screen.

http://www.hightechfishing.com/other/Lowrance_Tutorial.pdf

This one explains how sonar works, etc. It is helpful to set up your unit and get the most from it. Go through the tutorial step by step and I think you will find it helpful:

http://www.lowrance.com/tutorials/sonar/sonar_tutorial_01.asp

You can also find quite a lot of good info in the forum: http://www.catfish1.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=327

Good luck, and don’t hesitate to ask questions. If you have screen shots to post, I’m sure someone can help explain them.
One feature I like about my newest Lowrance lms-337c gps/sonar is the recording feature. I can record interesting stuff and then review them either on my pc or on the sonar.
I hope this will help you, friend. :smile2:

[heavyduty]

Stephen, I had the same trouble with my first depthfinder. I thought it was me but came to find out i had a bad unit. The darn thing almost made me give up on depthfinders all together,it would tell me the wrong depth or show me fish when there werent any or wrong structure.
I'm not sayin this is your trouble but if you cant get it figured out in a few trips i would definitely get it replaced. When i replaced mine it didnt take long until i had it figured out,now days i cant do without one.

[rcneman]

I'm real green at using the sonar myself. There are some pretty good tutorials available online. I think the Lowrance website helped me quite a bit.
One thing i did for the heck of it was to put a large weight and lure on one of my poles and drop it behind the boat.
I jigged it quite a bit and i could watch it on the sonar. Guess i'm bein a bit weird, but it "felt good" to see somethin on the screen that i knew what it was.
This past weekend i went out and there was so much debri in the river that my screen was pretty much full of returns the whole time it was on. in that case, i just used it for lookin at the bottom of the river and watching for humps, holes or ledges....i then fished those areas.

When there was less current in past fishin trips...i took some time away from fishin and played with the sensitivity/ping speed and chart speed setting and i was able to filter out most of the signatures and leave mostly arches or half-arches, which would seem to be fish of some sort from everything that i have read.

Another part of the sonar that i want to play with is setting the "zone" to the bottom 20 feet of the water column. This should give a better "picture" of the bottom and ,in theory, increase the return reliability...not sure tho. I have not tried that yet, cause i can't shake the idea that i might miss something in the upper water....lol

I guess at the end of the day...i just need a lot more time on the water, dedicated to continual learning of readin my sonar. That can be difficult in a "fast food" society, as we have been groomed to having stuff right now.

I'm sure both of us will get better over time.

cyas
rc

[sds888]

I guess I am going to have to start suba diving. lol anyone out there willing to help?

[sds888]

thanks for all the help I dont know why that last message poped up I posted that days ago. When I get the chance I am going to go to those websites and see what I can figure out.
Stephen

[FishBrew]

Not sure what type or style you have but my 2 cents:
Assuming your equipment is working right, and the transducer is level and properly located. Transducers can come loose or get bumped, good idea to make sure it is "level" and secure before each launching.
The key is knowing how to set up your unit for your water. They can be very sensitive, even air bubbles from the prop and effect when turning one direction or another. Depending on your unit, you can set them for "hard" or "soft" bottoms. If this is not set right, its possible to get a bad sonar bounce back (reading).
I know this sounds like a beating but my first steps with a new unit goes something like this ...
1) read the whole book first
2) then take the boat to the water with the book (I leave all fishing equipment/tackle at home ... just to tempting)
3) spend as much time as needed trying different settings (according to the book). View all senstivity settings at different depths, different speeds, different bottoms, anything you can think of. Just sitting and drifting with the wind,current can be one test.
4) the goal: find the most useful and common settings for you and your water.
Good luck.

[blackwaterkatz]

Some good advice given by all. One final note, though. If you go to the lowrance (or your favorite mfg, maybe) website, you can download a free simulator that allows you to practice with your choice of units right on your pc at home. Then, when you get on the water, you wil (hopefully :tounge_out: ) know what all the menu choices are, and what effect they have on the screen display.
Practice, Practice, Practice

[slimcat]

It would be nice to go to some actual sonar classes. I hear lowrance has a few each year.

[jim]

Tommy I know you probably know this but when you playback the recording on your computer ,you can use all the features of the unit like "Zoom"etc.Thats what make the recording so valuable in that you can go back and evaluate the structure at your leisure without having to keep one eye on the water as you steer the boat.:smile2:

[blackwaterkatz]

Thanks, Jim. I've only used the sonar viewer a few times, and when I zoom in, I have trouble getting it to return to full view. I finally managed to delete the 2 files from my memory chip. Now I have to go fishing and record some more. Darn!
I sometimes have trouble with my computer reading the card. My card reader came installed on the new computer, plus my printer has one. I sometimes have to switch around to get one or the other to work. I think I will order the lowrance card reader when I get around to it. Maybe even the whole 'mapcreate' deal.

[blackwaterkatz]

What is on this thread that requires approval and delay of the posts? I can see some of the threads in this forum needing approval, but this is more of a general discussion, and it seems to me that the process could be sped up. Just a question that's been on my mind. Thanks


Answer :

Here is the problem all the posts that come in here have to be approved I can't just set up certain areas of this to be or not to be all them have to come thru, and if you want to pay me for 24 hours I would be glad to sit here and just watch this section and approve them when they come in.. lol The reason for approval is due to some of the stuff that comes on here, if it was not regulated it would of been a mess by now believe me. There is close to 4-5 a week that is not approved in here for something else, one the other day was wanting to sell his boat on a section here and one guy wanted to know about deer hunting in West Virgina, I am not sure but I know it don't belong in this section..lol

I am sorry for being so slow but I do have other things to do here at home guys I will try to keep a closer eye on it for you.

Thanks
D/H

[blackwaterkatz]

OK, DH, I can go along with that. Thanks for the response. :smile2:
It's just that sometimes really good info lines get going, and it takes time to read the replies. No problem, though. I must learn patience, I must learn patience, I must le.....
:haha: :0a31: