Lowrance hds settings

Looking for some help with the settings on my hds gen 2 units.
How do I maximize my fish spotting potential without picking up everything?

Right now I have it set to shallow water, low interference, medium surface clarity, auto sensitivity, 75 percent gray line.
Does this sound about right?

If the water is truly cluttered with debris or organisms, you’re going to struggle no matter what you do. I think I have mine set on shallow water mode but I’ve tried a few other presets and didn’t cause it to be significantly better or worse.

Maybe speed up the scroll speed a bit. That may put some distance between the specs on your screen.

Where is your surface clarity set? Mine is usually always set to low or higher, I think. That’ll remove the surface clutter which can go quite deep at times.

You always want to use the interference rejection and surface clarity as minimally as possible. Otherwise it’ll skew the actual sonar readings.

I have mine set to auto sensitivity, but then I keep hitting the – button to lower it a bit, but still in auto mode.
I usually turn surface clarity off unless I am fishing really shallow because I am not targeting anything in those depths anyway.
I think the biggest thing that helps distinguish size of return, fish vs bait, etc is which color palette you choose.
I use the one with red, yellow and oranges. I like how it displays bottom hardness changes, etc. Plus I find it easier to identify bottom hugging fish.
A good resource is Doc Sonar. There is a wealth of settings information on his site and if you follow on facebook, etc.
There is also a pinned post here that many have commented on with their preferences. Give it a look.

I’m not sure where your located but it’s always good to use a reference point to setup your gain and sensitivity. For example.if you go out on Mille Lacs and cruise the edges of the flats, you should certainly mark walleyes our there. Once you mark a few, You know exactly what fish look like and can adjust how you see fit. Larger fish like walleyes should sow up with a little bit of the strongest return in the center of the mark. The size of the mark doesn’t matter. It’s the intensity that matters. Then you know the size of the fish you’re looking at.

This doesn’t help your clutter issue but it’s helped me dial in my sensitivity.

Again, if your water is really that dirty, you should still be able to mark fish over the clutter. As long as you are reading bottom you are still getting a return.

I also agree with musky above. That site will have far better info than anyone here can give.