Look for the red line that doesn’t move. Drop your jig to the bottom and then slowly lift if so you can find this mark. If that red bottom mark is wide [like 1/4 inch], you have a fairly soft bottom. If it is quite thin, the bottom is pretty solid.
Great topic! In between bites, I’m often sitting there looking at the vexilar wondering the same thing……How on earth can I tell what’s down there (on the bottom) with what I’m seeing flash.
some of the responses make a bit of sense….but I’m going to check out Vex’s web site to find out more! 
Quote:
Small changes in the gain setting and other factors will change the penetration and the reading
Very good point..often overlooked. You have to keep your gain set the same going from hole to hole if you want to see a difference in bottom content.
Basically if you watch the leading edge of the bottom return and it is solid red and the red line is not very thick you have a hard bottom(less penetration). If the leading edge is large (penetrating deep) or starts out green then red, you may have a soft bottom. There are a ton of factors that go into this, that is the extremely abbreviated version.
Factors…..always something it seems. As Scott has suggested, holes and what is at the bottom of them are not created equal even when they are close together at times.
I saw an bloom of phytoplankton one time that made seeing the bottom tough to do even with the gain cranked.
I don’t care what kind of machine you use, the best way to discover it’s real potential is to quite hurrying the education. Having a camera is one way to help you see what is actually happening, but it will not answer all of the questions. Sometimes it is simply a matter of experiencing something different and paying attention to the results. Like anything, what you get out of your machine is directly proportional to how much attention you pay to what it tells you.
I always liked the thumping the depth bomb on the bottom trick! You can feel what the bottom is instantly.
The Vex site is up now
http://www.vexilar.com/pages/support/support_tips.html
try the Finding Fish Under the Ice article
The other ones and the videos under the “support” tab are very good too.
Ferny.
Ive been wondering how many guys would go for this and have thiers redone. You know how the decoys look with a semi real paintjob. What if you could send your decoy to a place where they put in glass eyes, a more detailed paintjob and maybe a deers tails to boot for around the $100 mark. Just curious how many guys would have thier decoys redone to make them look more lifelike and easier to fool a deer.
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