FISH FINDERS - How To Read Them
 

I upgraded my Outback with a Lowrance Elite-5 Chirp with downscan & chartplotting.

I've used it once for about 3 hours and I'm trying to figure out how to actually apply what I'm looking at to improve my fishing.

I've read the manual and I've looked for youtube tutorials about how to interpret what we see on the screen. It's all pretty vague to me. I've also searched for google images to look for interpretations of the data we are looking at. Hard information is sparse and scattered.

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1. What do you personally find to be the most useful practical reasons for having a fish finder?

2. What are the most important tools on your FF that you use most?

3. What are your favorite settings or adjustments as your starting point? There are many to choose from.


Please help push a noob over the hump with suggestions for making this thing useful in a practical way, more than it is a decoration or distraction.

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*For about 5 months I have been using sonar maps and route tracking with the Navionics Boating App on my iphone. I found that to be a good planning tool, and a good way to monitor and review my route data. It's good way to follow depth contours or look for depressions. It's good information for planning distance, time, speed, etc., for my fishing sessions. The free version is almost the same as the paid upgrade.

*I also enjoy the challenge of dead reckoning with traditional paper charts folded into a ziploc bag

OK,

I like watching the depth as I slow-troll around in my pre-planned fish zone.

I'm curious to know the changes in water temperature, but not sure that helps much, except to generally learn how the temperature varies in different parts of the bay.

I've been using a split screen between the traditional graphic sonar display and the one that's more photo-realistic. I try to extrapolate from the strengths of both.

It's easy to watch various kinds of structure pass under me with the photo-realistic display.

I met Johnny Ceviche one morning at La Jolla Shores and asked him if a fish finder is important.

He said "Is a flashlight useful when you are walking around in the dark?"

Then he shrugged his shoulders and said "on the other hand, people have been catching fish for thousands of years without them."

I love way points for rock fish.

With the sonar, I can see rock fish, bait, kelp, structure, and occasionally yellowtail.

Yellow marks are hard marks, more reddish marks are softer marks. Sand and rocks off the bottom are usually yellow as are fish due to bone structure. Red colored marks typically kelp. There are so many factors that make your sonar different from mine and the next. Many adjustments make it nearly impossible to look EXACTLY like someone elses screen. For the water type installation I always use freshwater. Reason being is that this setting scans the depths I normally fish. General use water which I believe is defaulted, are depths for boats going offshore. These units are not made for kayaks. They were made for boats and people started putting them on kayaks. For a starting point I would try freshwater setting with colorline and sensitivity around 70 and slowly go up on each until it is not completely filling your screen, but you are still seeing important things. Also turn surface clarity off and go up from there if you need to. The problem with turning that on high is that it kind of voids your sensitivity adjustment. Downscan never really helped me out too much, unless I was in a bay or harbor. 50khz frequency is normall what I use fishing the common yellowtail depths. Let me know if you have more questions and I will try my best. I have spent much time getting my sonar dialed in to my preference.

*noise rejection is the other one you want on either off or low

Do you prefer high chirp (more detail, more narrow scope) or medium chirp (less detail broader scope) as your default setting?

Yes, getting things "dialed in" is a good way to say it. There are probably many options that don't particularly apply to what we are doing.

I have the HDS 5. Never had any chrip. Had elite 5 hdi before that. But I guess your question is 50/83 or 200 khz. But I prefer the 50/83 depending on transducer, which would be narrower scope, more detail.

This short video is on the mild side, but it will add a couple of useful tips to our checklist of things to consider:

https://youtu.be/YgHE7iEo9UM

This is getting interesting, tell me more please.

Do fish with scales show up a different color than those without? If they ate another fish would you see two marks?

If you have a buddy with a decent FF he can read well, doesn't have to by identical to yours but it helps, paddle along with him and compare what you see on yours vs his. You can get interfearance between units if your too close some times. If he's confident on what he is seeing you can match his settings or see what your unit reports while he's telling you what is actually under you. Don't know how many do this but it can provide direct real time knowledge. Mike.

1. Catching my own bait and fishing for bottomfish. I normally fish along the kelp for bait which works well most of the time, but it's also nice to be able to move around looking for schools. Also helps to see the depth of them.

It's really important for when I fish the central coast for lings. I use the downscan imaging which gives a clearer picture of the bottom. The picture has some depth.

I normally leave it turned off when pulling a bait around for yellowtail on my kayak (to save battery for my bait tank) but always have it turned on when fishing off the boat. A lot of times you'll come over over a school without seeing the surface signs you're looking for.

2. Most important tools has to be the ability to see what's under you (obviously) and being able to have your coordinates.

And use the really focused cone when you're bottom fishing looking at structure and use the broader cone when you're looking for fish swimming.

Learn how to change your settings and what they do. They play with them. One at a time. Get over bait kelp or the one time a dog is good...see how the FF reacts. You gotta spend time messing with it. It helps find bait and depths perfectly. Fish takes a little more work. Bigger fish bladder bigger marks. More yellow.

someone always has to bash
 

you must be the expert.

Fishing for YT in the middle of el nino summer... I'd say fish finder is optional. Any noob can go out and flyline a greenback and catch multiple yt in a day.

Fishing for YT in the winter on deep rockpiles and bait clouds? Fishfinder is essential. Unless you want to blindly fish next to lobster pots all day, without a sonar you aren't even in the game.

#1 tip... use split-screen. Compare 50/83kHz vs 200kHz to confirm your marks. If something shows up on 200 and not on 83, its likely not a big fish.

Since you have the chirp, that feature is EXTREMELY nice when finding bait. It will allow you to distinguish bait fish from kelp much easier. I have the elite 7 chirp on my dads boat, works great. I am always adjusting the finder when fishing different depths, the deeper I get (~280-300) I will normally crank the sensitivity up to like 90-95%. This is just enough to where the screen is not cluttered with noise but i will be able to better distinguish marks on the bottom. When fishing shallower the same thing applies but your obviously going to decrease sensitivity so your screen isn't filled with noise. Next time i'm out metering i can take shots of what it should look like if you want.

I realize the fish themselves are probably not visible, but are there ways a FF can help us target large halibut?

What should we be looking for to find a halibut target zone?

Sand, not sure you would be able to see a fish that hugs the sand so much.

But sand areas adjacent to kelp is where I would take a look.