Fish finder set-up tips/help

Guys, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not sure I have any idea of how I should have my Fish finder set-up… Currently I’m running an Lowrance X-51, but to me it never seems to do a whole lot. I have yet to ever identify any spots of bait fish, I feel that it doesn’t really see the fish or the bottom real well. People say I should be able to do things to it to be able to see the Thermoclines, honestly I’m lost… Right now the basic setting I’m running are grayline at about 65%, scroll speed at either full speed or 80%. 100% sensitivity I’m running in “fish” mode, because I can’t seem to figure out the other modes. Overall it doen’t seem to be much of a fishing aide, other than depth. It never shows the bottom well, it doesn’t seem to ever mark fish below the last 2-3 feet of the depth.
Does anyone have tips on how to properly set this thing up? or links to a general how to? I heard there is videos out there but have never seen one. Sure, I’m 24 grew up with computers and VCR’s, video games, fuel injection, and this thing puzzles the heck out of me. I have the owner’s manual, and have read it, but it never seems to help me either. Help a guy out here

-Nick

Rider Go to there web page….they have an inneractive site that will show you how to operate your model sonar and how to read it…some of the pros give talks at the stores on how to use them also…then water time will help

Nick, if you are running 100% sensitivity your screen should be loaded with information. By having it in fish mode, do you mean that an icon in the shape of a fish appears on the screen? If so do not run in this mode. What will happen is instead of seeing a pod of baitfish, you will just see that fish icon.

As far as not seeing the bottom very well: check your zoom setting. It may be zooming the first few feet under the boat and not locking onto the bottom. This has happened to me a few times. Your other settings should be fine. I like running the scroll speed maxed, and my grayscale between 65 to 100%

It’s also possible that you either have a defective transducer or have it mounted improperly. Make sure it is mounted so that the bottom of the transducer is flat to the bottom of the lake/river when the boat is in the water. (Not just sitting on the trailer.)

Jon J.

I also have the X51. You’ve gotten some good info from the above posts already. Definately turn off your fish ID mode. It’s junk. You will be able to pick up small schools of bait fish and fish on the bottom then. The bait fish will basically look like a small thumb print on your screen, suspended generally. With fish ID mode OFF, your fish will not generally be anything close to perfect archs. Instead, you will most likely get half-archs. Also, in my opinion, the x51 is not the greatest at picking up and displaying subtle changes in bottom structure. It will definately show you whats down there for weeds, but trying to determine rocky or sandy bottom as opposed to muck or mudd is tough. Rocky bottom tends to appear like little rolling waves on the bottom, or little humps or bumps. Practice with it and you’ll notice the changes in the bottom. It’s just not as clear with the x51 as it is with some of the upper end units.

There is a great tutorial on the Lowrance Website (tutorial) . Definately read that if you have not already.

Lowrance also has these sweet Product Emulators here! . These emulators can be loaded to your computer and you can run them like a real unit. I’ve done a few and they are great.

My personal plan is to eventually put my x51 on the bow and upgrade to a more powerful unit on the console. But for now she get’s the job done.

Good Luck!

Wade

Yeah I know the fish mode is part of my problem, but when I change to the other mode it’s totally unreadable, I can’t seen nice archs or bait fish…

The transducer is actually brand spankin’ new, just had it replaced since the temp gauge wasn’t working

I’m going to try and play with the simulator thanks for the link, for some reason I could never find too much help at lowrance’s site… I’ll try this out and report back thanks

Good luck and please let us know the results.

Thanks,

Wade

If you turn off fish ID mode and the screen is too cluttered, turn the sensitivity down. I think I run my Eagle 320 at about 60% and it works pretty well. There is an ‘auto sensitivity’ on mine as well, but I don’t know how similar the Lowrance unit is.