Fine Tuning Lowrance Elite 4 for Willamette and Columbia Conditions

I was reading the recent thread on Installation Understanding on the Lowrance Elite Series Fish Finder.  I know this is a popular model for kayakers.  I have the Elite 4 as well, which I bought last year, and really like it.  This is the standard color sonar/chartplotter, not the DSI model.

However, the manual is horrible, and there isn't much on the web to help configure it beyond fully automatic settings.  I wanted to see if anyone has any thoughts, recommendations or suggestions on how to fine tune it in the Advanced mode to set it up right for fishing in the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.

So far, I have it setup for shallow water, fastest ping rate, and the Fish ID On.  Beyond that, not sure what to do.

I have it setup on my 2014 Outback, using the awesome pocket and plate under the boat, so its in the water and protected.  It performed well this week on the water, but I'm sure there are things I can do to tweak it.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I am still fine tuning mine, but I recommend turning the fish ID off as it will tell you pretty much everything is a fish.  I found this page very helpful.  He has some other more general tips on his website too.  http://doctorsonar.com/blogs/educational-articles/12390089-elite-4-and-5-not-elite-dsi-or-hdi

I also added a shallow water alarm at 2 ft so I have some warning before my fins hit something. 

No wonder I was marking so many "fish" on Tuesday!  They were everywhere!

I keep my fish identifier on but only set the alarm to go off for the largest fish.

Fish ID off.  Read the arches and look for the swim bladder. If it has one.

www.dosits.org/tutorials/technology/findfish

Fish ID off.  Read the arches and look for the swim bladder. If it has one.

www.dosits.org/tutorials/technology/findfish

+1 I leave mine on "fresh water mode" and try not to bug with the settings too much. So far it's worked very well.