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...e_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/so...utorial_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.

[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?