Side Imaging Experts

I’ve had a Helix 7 G2 SI for two seasons now. On some lakes I get a nice crisp picture and on others I can’t make out rocks or trees or anything. I’ve read posts on here about making your scroll speed a couple numbers higher than your MPH and that has seemed to help a little but I still feel like it’s not dialed in. I typically try and change sensitivity on each lake I go on but it doesn’t seem to improve the picture. Wish you could get an HB tech to come out and get on the water with you and set it correctly. Any tips are appreciated.

On the Gen 2 units I always left my contrast at 14 and then adjusted the sensitivity according to bottom depth and hardness. It really doesn’t make any sense as to why some lakes you get great images and others you don’t. Especially if you’re comparing apples to apples. For instance, if i’m fishing the north end sand on lake mille lacs in 7-20 feet of water, my sensitivity will probably be at like 1 or 2. If I head to the mud my sensitivity will be at like 15.

mahtofire14 wrote:

On some lakes I get a nice crisp picture and on others I can’t make out rocks or trees or anything.

Are you sure that the rocks and trees are present? There really isn’t any magic formula. I rarely change my scroll speed off of 6. A Helix gen 2 mega will give you pretty good images with default settings right out of the box when scanning shallow water.

You can get a Humminbird rep to go out with you, I just looked for his card, have it around here somewhere, met him at a Hannays Marine event-they could probably get you his contact info, I have though about doing it myself. Think he charges like 150, for ‘however long it takes’ Good Luck

Or hire a guide to show you, I have been thinking about doing this as I have yet to understand how to get mine to work correctly I have a Lowrance HDS. Randy mentioned some guys have had him go out with him in there boat and get it set up. At least I thought he said he would do that. Maybe he could chime in. Or other guides, seems like there is a lot of good ones on here. If you decide to do this please share on your experience. Good luck.

Pat McSharry wrote:

Are you sure that the rocks and trees are present? There really isn’t any magic formula. I rarely change my scroll speed off of 6. A Helix gen 2 mega will give you pretty good images with default settings right out of the box when scanning shallow water.

Yep. I’ll go over a tree laying down in 3-4 feet of water and I can’t see it on the graph. I’ve wondered if SI has a hard time picking up shallow structure like that because it a shallower angle for the sonar return but I’m no expert. Same with other structure I know is there and can’t see. Just a little frustrating.

Also this is a Helix 7 G2 so it’s standard SI (although I do have a Hi Def ducer) it’s not MEGA.

Thanks for the replies.

This is for Pat McSharry. You should consider talking to Dean about the concept of putting together a talk on Locators, their functions, and how to use, adjust, and interpret the images on them, for their January open house. While they have had reps there giving small talk on their units, they mainly seem to be just promoting their units, and the new features. I, as well as others, I’m sure, would really be interested in the ins and outs of the capabilities of these new units, and how to interpret the images that we see.

Musky, I agree, I think their is a lot of interest out there.

some times if you shorten how far out you are scanning you’ll get a sharper image, I normally run my scans in the 50-60 ft range.

When I was learning how to interpret my SI I struggled until I learned to lower the range to 45-55ft. Fish and structures will be more clear and easier to read. As you become more familiar with what you’re seeing you can reach that range out farther.
My go to settings on an old ‘bird 1198 are, range 45-55ft, scroll speed 5-6.
As for contrast and sensitivity, I agree with Pat. I change those settings frequently depending on bottom type.

Tom boley YouTube has some very good info on this that has helped me use my helix 12 better.

Lots of good tips. Getting better with my side imaging was my main goal for the year. Have to get the boat wet first though

Thank’s Jensen, I’ll take a look at it. Still think this would be a great subject at the open house.

I had to force myself to go out without rods. Otherwise I would fiddle with it for 5 minutes and then want to fish. One trip out for an hour without rods taught me a lot

Don’t worryaboutit wrote:

I had to force myself to go out without rods. Otherwise I would fiddle with it for 5 minutes and then want to fish. One trip out for an hour without rods taught me a lot

I have this problem as well. Thanks for reminding me.

I keep my SI at 75 ft so maybe I will try to shorten it up more and see how that works. I have seen Toms videos and they do help but it’s one thing hearing or watching someone speak about it and then getting on the water with your own gear and getting it to look perfect like they always seem to have it.

X2 on the Tom Boley videos. Don’t stop there though, the amount of side imaging knowledge to be gained on YouTube is incredible.

To the OP, Have you tried leveling your transducer? I’m not sure if that would cause a bad image or not, from what I understand it makes a difference.

I’ve watched countless hours on YouTube while quarantined, and Tom boley by far has the best info and explanations of how all the settings are different and pros and cons of each

I asked a similar question on a thread last week. Pat and others chimed in with good suggestions. Playing with it this weekend I was able to get nice results. I was thinking it was a water murkiness issue. As they suggested, it’s more dependent on the bottom harness.

With 80′ width setting in 30′ of water I was able to get nice results.

Gravel and rocky bottoms were great. Still have more playing to do in the muddy areas, but it’s much better than before. The harder bottom was definitely crisp and clear. I still can’t see the fish waving at me, but I can identify the rocks that stole my jigs!

1.2Mhz frequency setting performance was best.
Played with sensitivity from 2-18. This has the most impact when transitioning bottom types!
Played with contrast, left it around 12 or so.
I also changed the sharpness to Med and liked those results.

When using Mega + 1.2 MZ for excellent images shorten the distance on your side imaging as it is not meant for long distance scanning. When looking for fish as that is what I do do not care about a pretty picture I will speed up my scroll speed this will elongate the fish returns making them easier to see. If I find fish drop a waypoint swing back around go to 1.2 and slow my scroll speed back to match the boat to get a better understanding of what is there and why.

Keep your eye out for one of these:

https://www.technologicalangler.com/humminbird-training-workshops

I attended one last year was worth every penny of $150.

Musky Ed wrote:

This is for Pat McSharry. You should consider talking to Dean about the concept of putting together a talk on Locators, their functions, and how to use, adjust, and interpret the images on them, for their January open house. While they have had reps there giving small talk on their units, they mainly seem to be just promoting their units, and the new features. I, as well as others, I’m sure, would really be interested in the ins and outs of the capabilities of these new units, and how to interpret the images that we see.

I could kick around doing something like that.

mahtofire14 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Pat McSharry wrote:</div>
Are you sure that the rocks and trees are present? There really isn’t any magic formula. I rarely change my scroll speed off of 6. A Helix gen 2 mega will give you pretty good images with default settings right out of the box when scanning shallow water.

Yep. I’ll go over a tree laying down in 3-4 feet of water and I can’t see it on the graph. I’ve wondered if SI has a hard time picking up shallow structure like that because it a shallower angle for the sonar return but I’m no expert. Same with other structure I know is there and can’t see. Just a little frustrating.

Also this is a Helix 7 G2 so it’s standard SI (although I do have a Hi Def ducer) it’s not MEGA.

Thanks for the replies.

Even without MEGA you should be able to see the bottom composition no problem. It just won’t be quite as detailed. Are you running 455khz? Side imaging will always struggle somewhat in depths shallower than 4′. If you’re spending a lot of time in that shallow of water than I would definitely shorten up your range quite a bit. If you’re running the range at 80′ in super shallow water I bet 1/3 of the outer edge is useless information anyways. (dark, blurry, unclear)

Everything else I have read on this thread is pretty spot on as well. I’m just adding to it.

Yep He puts out some good videos, great guy

Jensen wrote:

Tom boley YouTube has some very good info on this that has helped me use my helix 12 better.

The two primary lakes I concentrate on are less than 15 feet deep, and mostly under 9 feet. All soft bottom, and a mixture of weeds & wood in much of it. I am running a Mega Side Imaging Helix 7 with the SI range turned down to 50 feet – should I go less? What do you guys recommend for other settings in shallow water with soft bottom like that? Contrast, Sensitivity, SI Range, etc.
Also, what chart speed do you use when drift fishing? I set my chart speed to ultra, but usually can’t make out trees or branches unless my boat speed is over 2.0 mph. When I’m drift fishing, or trolling at 1.2 mph, I see very little detail with the side imaging. I can drift past a submerged tree with 2 or 3 largemouth near it in plain sight, but not see them on the screen.
There’s not much info on using electronics or fishing in general on lakes that are entirely under 15 FOW, so I’m having trouble finding a good starting point.

mojo wrote:

The two primary lakes I concentrate on are less than 15 feet deep, and mostly under 9 feet. All soft bottom, and a mixture of weeds & wood in much of it. I am running a Mega Side Imaging Helix 7 with the SI range turned down to 50 feet – should I go less? What do you guys recommend for other settings in shallow water with soft bottom like that? Contrast, Sensitivity, SI Range, etc.
Also, what chart speed do you use when drift fishing?

50′ is short enough. The beauty of fishing soft bottom is that the fish stick out like a sore thumb. Don’t get sucked in to cranking up the sensitivity to try and make the muck bottom look harder (brighter). Let the bottom look dark and then anything hard like trees, rocks, and fish will be nice and bright. Just put your contrast to 12-14 and your sensitivity between 1-5. Scroll speed at 6.

Think its hard to get a sharp image if you are drifting, think you need to be moving in line with your ducer.

While we are on the topic my left side is not reading only right and the both are selected any ideas?

Jensen wrote:

While we are on the topic my left side is not reading only right and the both are selected any ideas?

My buddy’s did this and his transducer was not mounted low enough and the signal out the left side of the ducer was being blocked by his motor. Could be a similar problem to yours.

Fish To Escape wrote:

Lots of good tips. Getting better with my side imaging was my main goal for the year. Have to get the boat wet first though

The lakes are going to be frozen in a couple months

Might want to step up your game lol

Jensen wrote:

While we are on the topic my left side is not reading only right and the both are selected any ideas?

Are you getting anything at all (surface clutter, etc)?

Or is it 100% dead pitch black?

B-man wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Fish To Escape wrote:</div>
Lots of good tips. Getting better with my side imaging was my main goal for the year. Have to get the boat wet first though

The lakes are going to be frozen in a couple months

Might want to step up your game lol

Couldn’t agree more. It is not for lack of want. Too many hours at work, too mentally exhausted when I get a down minute