Lawrence HD8 Fishfinder Info Needed

Just started using my new HD8 and was wondering about the fish icons on the sounder. I was over several fish the other day and had fish of all sizes coming across the screen. My question is how do I know how big the fish really were. Were the smallest fish on the screen 1″ baby fish, or what. Any idea on what the icons represent?

Thanks

Mike

Let me start by saying if you are running the unit with the Fish Id on ( Symbols of fish )I’d turn that feature off. I’m told by many graph experts that that feature shoul never be used. A lot of things will come up as a fish symbol that is not a fish. The natural way a depth finder wants to display a fish is a arch – if the unit needs to take this data and change it to a picture of a fish it causes problems. As far as tellin what size the fish is I’m not sure if that is really possible. There are just to many variables that come into play. Usually a bigger arch is a bigger fish but what size the fish is is unknown. Just my .02 worth. Maybe others will have a better answer

Oh by the way – welcome to IDO – This is a great site with lots of great people. You will get a answer to almost any ? on here.

I’d turn off the fish icon too, also welcome
Stan

the thickness or height of the mark is the best indicator of the size of the fish not the length. if a large fish swims under the boat fast it will be a short mark but it will be thick. if a small fish swims under the boat slow it will be long and thin. if a large fish swims under the boat slow it will be a long thick mark. crappies will show up like a big blob on the screen. i would turn off the fish id. if you go to lowrance.com there is a lot of info for understanding how transducers work and what you will see on the screen. you will also find as you use your new unit that you can see a lot more than fish marks. you can read the type of bottom, thermocline, water temp, bug hatches etc. very useful for learning a lake.