Fish Finder Training

NWnoob's post got me to thinking... I have a good gps and it might as well be a fell service espresso stand with me getting black coffee from it.  Mind you, there is nothing wrong with black coffee... except it is disgusting... I like my coffee with copious amounts of vanilla creamer... or a vanilla latte, extra vanilla... made with whole milk... although a breve is better... What was I talking about... fishfinders... so, what is a good resource to learn how you use your fish finder properly... or understand it beyond it telling you how to get back and where the bottom is?  I have read my manual a couple of times... but that didn't really help much.  Thoughts?

Great question. I'm curious what people have to say about this. I've been using the Lowrance Elite 4 and I love it. However I have a hard time calibrating it partially because I'm not sure when it's "correct".


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Same boat here. Lowrance Mark 4 DSI.

I am watching the bottom scroll by and I realize that I don't know if what I'm seeing is directly under my transducer, or behind or what. What is my viewpoint? Straight down or from some angle? I'm lost. And I know that I don't understand the value of some features that are there. A good tutorial would be welcome.

Same boat here. Lowrance Mark 4 DSI.

I am watching the bottom scroll by and I realize that I don't know if what I'm seeing is directly under my transducer, or behind or what. What is my viewpoint? Straight down or from some angle? I'm lost. And I know that I don't understand the value of some features that are there. A good tutorial would be welcome.

How do you like the mark 4dsi?  I have been mulling it over for a few months, but I have heard mixed reviews for the ocean.  I have heard they are great for fisherman that are always moving but if you anchor  up, there are issues.

NWnoob's post got me to thinking... I have a good gps and it might as well be a fell service espresso stand with me getting black coffee from it.  Mind you, there is nothing wrong with black coffee... except it is disgusting... I like my coffee with copious amounts of vanilla creamer... or a vanilla latte, extra vanilla... made with whole milk... although a breve is better... ... Thoughts?

So, basically, you like coffee-flavored milk candy.  The world really is going to hell-in-a-hand-basket.

Mark the locations where you catch fish.  Look for bottom structure/contours that hold/attrack/guide/channel fish.

Google is your friend.

Here is a nutshell approach to fish finder 101.
http://www.lowrance.com/Support/Tips-and-Tutorials/Sonar-Tutorial/


More of a guys personal breakdown of fish finder "how it works".
http://fishinweb.com/messages/messages/13028/13028.html?1254779454

Yeah it would be great to see some screen shots. Like here is a bait ball, here is a fish, here is some junk etc.

The lowrance tutorial is pretty sub par in my opinion.

I'd also like to know what the colors mean on the screen.

So far through lots of use I think I'm figuring it out anyway.

Fish are always black I think on the screen. Vegetation is green and the bottom is brown. I'd like to know what a rock shows up as.

Yeah, bout that coffee bro...I would not admit to that around here, not that I drink mine that way.  Vanilla Creamer??  I give my wife a bad time about that dude....come on, man up!

Oh, was this about a fish finder? 

I am man enough the drink my vanilla milk candy... Hold on, the seam is my stocking isn't straight... There... Anyway, I like my coffe that way. 

An uncle of mine (he was an 'ol cowhand...black coffee ONLY) asked me once if I wanted a little "cream" with my coffee...
I wasn't exactly sure I even wanted to tempt fate with an answer, but rolled the dice anyway.  Asking "what kind of 'cream' do you mean?", he quietly told me that there I only 2 types of cream to put in coffee...and only 1 that can be drank, and it comes in either a fifth or half gallon...the other kind the girls drink...
Always thought that was funny...

Yeah it would be great to see some screen shots. Like here is a bait ball, here is a fish, here is some junk etc. ...

I'd also like to know what the colors mean on the screen. ...

Fish are always black I think on the screen. Vegetation is green and the bottom is brown. I'd like to know what a rock shows up as.

It is going to depend on your unit.  Fish on my screen are generally blue lines, the most dense returns (bottom and dense bait balls) are red, vegetation is blue/green/yellow. 

I suppose we could start sticky threads of representative screen shots from the most common manufacturers.  I often save screen shots from my H'bird.  The .PNGs are very small files.

Actually I'm struggling with mine too.  (not man enough to admit it) I'm figuring out the GPS Function and marking fish but since my first use the bottom detail and fish finding capabilities seem to have vanished.  I thought it was bubbles or something.  I tried several different setups to come up with a foam puck sort of idea, (finally found one at walmart and changed over to the setup) So I'm wondering if I inadvertently changed settings or what.

Saw your post a while back Demonick, similar sort of feedback on mine, what did you do to resolve that?  Did you already discuss it?

... Saw your post a while back Demonick, similar sort of feedback on mine, what did you do to resolve that?  Did you already discuss it?

Yes, my H'bird seemed to so sour a while back.  I was getting inconsistent returns regardless of the inside-the-hull mounting I used.  I went back to the tried and true foam block and have the same issue.  One moment I'll be getting good returns and the next not-so-much.  With the transducer directly in the water things look good, but not always.  Since someone did not return my through-the-scupper transducer I loaned them and they have apparently vanished from this forum, I bought another transom mount transducer and installed it over the weekend.  Maiden voyage should be today or tomorrow, or soon thereafter.

Postscript: 2012-06-12 - I posted another thread describing my transducer saga.  It turns out it was a bad transducer, probably trashed by being immersed in grease: http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=8495.0

Look forward to hearing if the issue is resolved, thanks.

Its not a tut, but lowrance has a couple of emulators that run on your computer that lets you play with all the features while your "watching" a movie you don't want to see with your significant other.

http://www.lowrance.com/en/Downloads/Product-Emulators/

http://www.lowrance.com/upload/Lowrance/Emulators/Elite5_demo.zip 

Doesn't do much for your WAF though.