[tempepops]

I want to improve my skills with my fish finder and maybe justify a new one. As it stands now I use my finder to check the depth I’m at and sometimes look for structure. I fish in 5 to 15 feet of water most of the time. On a 20 degree transducer this give you a 3.5 foot diameter circle at 10 feet depth and that’s right below your boat. I fish out to the side or if trolling, back some distance so I’m not even fishing that small spot. I would like to hear your perspectives and uses for your finders so I can better use mine.
Thanks

 

[Guest]

I used to use my finder for just bottom contours, then I got a x70a that a friend was getting rid of and WOW it makes a big difference. I use the x70 for dropshot mainly, jigs, wired worms and spooning. like you said it reads below the boat so it wont do much for flipping the banks.
how ever for cranks it works if you find some nice contour then back off and start throwing cranks.




Delw

 

[Spidey]

Depth finders

It all depends where you fish. The place I am fishing now, I am looking for fish holding off the break from 25-30 feet(Usually yellows) I will travel that edge until I locate fish right under my boat. I have a pinpoint and it has a small cone angle, I know they are right there. If the yellows are feeding, the bass are usually in the vicinity. I can tell by the images whether they are just sitting there or feeding. When feeding, I will get diagonal images. Starting low and moving up. That is a sure sign for me. I try to stay on top of them. My dash hummingjunk has a broader cone is good for a larger area. If we don't read fish on either screen, we move along that ledge until we locate them.

 

[d a]

Spidey? Are you running a special 8 degree transducer on your Pinpoint? And those diagonal lines from bottom to top could be bubbles rising to the surface and not active fish.

Tempepops, I use my finder
-to detect bottom structure like ledges and drop-offs,
-to find structure on structure like depressions on flats or rocks on a hump,
-to find cover on the bottom like bushes, trees, artificial habitat
-to locate pods of baitfish like shad and yellow bass
-to find fish on the bottom, off the bottom and suspended
-to determine the size of the fish
-to determine if the fish is active(moving) or inactive(stationary)
-to watch my bait while spooning or dropshotting
-to determine if the fish are interested in a specific lure or presentation while spooning. (I can see the fish come up to look at the bait if its interested. I can also see it turn away if its not.)
-to select a crankbait to troll because I know fish are suspended at 18 feet so a crank that runs at 15 feet is the one I want.

I've caught striped bass at Lake Pleasant because I saw large arcs at 22 feet and watched a KSW decend to that level on the graph. I stopped the lure at 22 feet and landed a 6lb striper. I've marked a bass lying directly on the bottom at Saguaro and spooned up a 7lb LM. I've caught bass that I marked swimming inside a school of shad. If I'm fishing deep I rarely fish an area that I don't mark some kind of activity so I use the graph on the console to cruise over the structure looking for fish, then I'll put down the TM and find them again on the front graph.

Other than the above, I hardly ever use the darn things. :lol:

 

[ned02]

I just use mine when I follow da around so when He points something out on the graph I can nod my head and pretend I know what he is talking about! :lol:

 

[Spidey]

da

I think it is an 8 degree cone. as for bubbles being the diagonal lines, not the case. Those are thin lines. On the fish, it's not really a line, it's a thick line Looks like this, going up around 2-4 feet. Be sure to go to bottom of this.

XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXXX
XXXXX
XXXX
XXX
XX

when not feeding they look like this.


XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

[Spidey]

That didn't turn our right. it didn't keep the spaces I entered. It's at an angle.

 

[tempepops]

Thanks everybody. I think I like Jacks method best.
DA, maybe I need to get that FishMark 320 after all. I don't see how I could tell if a fish is moving or turning away from my lure. On mine, once a fish shows on the screen it just scrolls to the left until it "falls" off the screen.
I'm going to take a few Mondays off next month so I can MMBC. If it slow one day maybe I can bribe you with jelly donuts to show me some of this.
Last time you ate one of my jelly donuts you caught a 7+lb lmb at the snags. That was funny. You set the hook and had no way to reel. But you managed.

 

[d a]

I got it Spidey, you're seeing the whole pod of yellows move up from the bottom.

Mike, for the longest time I was running a Lowrance X-75 on the front and an Eagle Ultra II on the console. Last winter I upgraded the front to a Lowrance LCX-16CI and moved the X-75 to the console. Then just last weekend I replaced the X-75 with the Eagle Fishmark 320 on the console. I think I'm set for a while. Anytime you have an extra jelly donut or three, hop aboard for a lesson. You might want to back seat for the whole day though I can go on, and on, and on about that stuff.

 

[Rippinlips]

Thanks for the picture, Dave! I wasn't confused before but I am now.

Denny, do you have your two graphs going to separate power sources? And can you run both graphs at the same time without interference?

 

[d a]

Jim, both units run off the starting battery. And I haven't checked for interference yet, only had the 320 out on Monday and I turn it off at the console when I move up front. I expect some though.

 

[bfishn]

Formulas to figure Sonar Coverage/Depth

F.Y.I.

Cone angle in Degrees

8 Deg. Cone Diameter = depth x .14 per ft. or 1.4 ft. diameter at 10 ft. depth.
2.1' @ 15', 2.8' @ 20', 4.2' @ 30', 5.5' @ 40', 7' @ 50', 14' @ 100'

20 Deg. Cone Diameter = depth x .353 per ft. or 3.5 ft. diameter at 10 ft. depth.
5.3' @ 15', 7.1' @ 20', 10.5' @ 30', 14' @ 40', 18' @ 50', 35' @ 100'

60 Deg. Cone Diameter = depth x 1.15 per ft. or 12 ft. diameter at 10' depth.
17' @ 15', 23' @ 20', 35' @ 30', 45' @ 40', 58' @ 50', 115' @ 100'

 

[Skunked]

Pops,
If you still have the same graph on that boat, is pretty much the same as the Fishmark 320. The Fishmark 320 has much more power and a better display resolution, but their features and operation are very similar. Check out the link to Eagle Electronics (Lawrence has a good write up too); they have some good info on using graphs and deciphering the displays on their site.

http://www.eaglegps.com/Support/Tutorials/Sonar/default.htm

If you're interested in adding a graph to the front deck, I'd seriously recommend a Fishmark 320 and leave the old one on the dash. ...the new one would match that nice new carpet :wink:

Also, I'd highly recommend a RAM mount. I have a Versa Mount on my front deck and it's ALWAYS coming lose. Lips (and I believe d a) have RAM mounts on their boats and they love them. ...well, they like them a lot.

Good luck and let us know what you decide on and how you like it!

 

[nightcrawler]

Being a newbie/rookie/blonde and finally getting some decent front seat time, I'm trying to learn reading our graph. We have a X65 which is soon to be replaced by the 320 and the x65 will be in the console (so us backseaters can still see what's going on). Right now I'm mainly using mine to scope out what the lake looks like as far as depths and changes in depths. Basically, just getting familiar with the lake. I thought I could tell what fish looked like on it and was nice to find out from Getthenet last night that I was indeed seeing some fish. I'll have to check out that little tutorial there Skunked. That and get Ken and DA to teach me some things too!