Fish finder basics

  • jwmii
    La Crosse, Wi
    Posts: 177
    June 20, 2004 at 11:30 pm #1244477

    Hi all! Well I have had my new fishing boat for about a year and a half now. With it I bought a Fish Easy II fish finder. I know it is not the top of the line but having never used one for anything but checking the depth so I didn’t run a-ground with my pontoon boat I thought I would start small and learn how to really use it and then, if needed, for the fishing I do (strictly recreational)upgrade. Well after one full season of really trying to USE it for information gathering, and having read and re-read the manual several times, I am only a little beyond where I was to begin with. I can tell the depth, see some structure (although I don’t know what it is) and even have spotted a few fish! What I would like to do is be able to tell what kind of bottom I am over (muck, sand, gravel, rock, how to spot bait fish (and know that that is what it is), see a submerged weed line and know what is bottom and what is weeds. I would also like to learn how to use my fish finder in manual mode so I can fine tune the settings to optimize what I can see. I hear so many people talk about doing these things but I have not yet figured it out. If I could look at pictures of a graph identifying what I am looking at that would help me recognize the same type of thing on mine in real life. I have done a search on this sight and came up with alot of discussions about the pro’s and con’s of this graph VS that and opinions as to which one to buy, but nothing to help a novice user know what he is looking at . Any help from some of the many great minds out there wether it be referring me to a web sight or trying to explain it to me would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks in advance for your help!

    jwmii
    La Crosse, Wi
    Posts: 177
    June 21, 2004 at 12:56 am #309386

    Thanks Wade That is exactly the type of thing I was looking for! I can’t wait to get back on the water to plat with it ! This even makes some of the things I have read in my manual make sense. I knew you guys would come through!

    John

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    June 21, 2004 at 1:19 pm #309420

    Wade…or anyone else. The directions for my 19c aren’t what I would call clear about what you see on the screen.

    Can anyone read this screen shot? (Can’t load the Lowrance program on my work computer)

    James Holst
    Keymaster
    SE Minnesota
    Posts: 18926
    June 21, 2004 at 2:24 pm #309426

    Looks like you went over some short 2 – 3 foot weeds with one good potential “mark” bottom right.

    wade_kuehl
    Northwest Iowa
    Posts: 6167
    June 21, 2004 at 2:36 pm #309429

    I agree with James. Not sure if there’s a lot of crap floating in the water there or if your sensitivity is up too high. Brian, if you haven’t already, take a look at that Lowrance Sonar link above. Time on the water will be your best teacher with the x19.

    Brian Klawitter
    Keymaster
    Minnesota/Wisconsin Mississippi River
    Posts: 59992
    June 21, 2004 at 3:31 pm #309438

    Thanks guys. The demo doesn’t work on Mac’s and I can’t load it on my work computer (policy) if that’s what you were referring to Wade.

    That was a pile of sometype of structure. I went over it a couple times thinking there was “something” in there. The directions say “the brighter and wider the color the harder the object”. I guess I was surpised to see a fish (?) show up as yellow.

    I keep telling my wife…I have to go out and practice….

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