Fish Finder 101

[bigcrappiemax]

Yep. This is the first time I've ever had a fish finder. It ain't nothing special. I figured I'd start cheap, figure out how to operate it, and move up when I had more money to spend on one. Well, I've read my book. I've looked up answers on the internet, and I'm still needing one question answered. Here goes:

Is there anyway to tell whether the Fish ID are showing fish? I mean there are big ID's and there are small ID's. Sometimes there is only one ID and sometimes there are multiple ID's. Am I expecting too much from it? Should I just use the ID's as a guide rather than expecting fish to actually be down there? Or or or...is it a fairly accurate guide and I actually should pay attention to the ID's and fish accordingly?

I have only been using it for temp and depth lately, but now, the fish are going deeper. So I gotta figure out what to do with it.

AND, that turned out to be a whole lot more than just one question. I'm going to call it one series of questions.

[sac-a-lait]

turn the fish ID off so the computer inside isn't deciding for you what's fish and what isn't. Once you turn that off grey lines will appear when fish are below. You are looking for arching grey lines...Get your jigs in it and hold on.

[pstone]

When I first got my first FF, I left the ID on, because it deciding for me was better than me trying to figure out if it was a fish or something else. Max, as far as using the FF to target individual fish, I personally have never had any luck with it. When it helps me the most is if you see fish at a certain depth range(say you are consistantly seeing fish from 12-15 ft) I try to put my bait in that depth range, and hope the next one in that range is hungry!

Once you see what's going on, it is easier to target them with the fish ID turned off. You'll then be looking for arches instead of fish symbols.

What FF did you buy?

[JCnMS]

The quality of the arches also gives an idea on distance away from the center on your signal. A perfect arch usually indicates a fish almost directly under the direction of the transducer.

I have never had any luck targeting individual fish either.

[Jeepster04]

I am going to go with pstone on this one. I use the ff to find drop offs and to see what I am fishing that is causing the fish to be there. Once I catch a fish, mark it and go back over it to see if there was any cover or changes in depth there. I will use it to idle around looking for marked cover or to see if fish are holding in the spot. On my lowrance it has a fish reveal feature that has helped me eliminate trash from fish.

[Release to the Grease...]

BCM,

Check out this thread from the archives forum, it will tell you everything you want to know and then it will tell you some more, lol. Hope it helps.

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/archi...hangy-etc.html

[bigcrappiemax]

Thank you gentlemen. I'm reading a Jerry Blake how to!

[Wannabe...]

Turn that ID off. Right now, else I'm gonna come up there and beat you to death with your wife's jig pole.

And another thing, tell us what ya got, right now, else I'm gonna come up there and beat you to death with your wife's jig pole.

And another, another thing, tell us how it's rigged up - trolling motor or transom, else I'm gonna come up there and beat you to death with your wife's jig pole.

These are dangerous times BCM, dangerous.

Wannabe...

[DonDon]

It's the only pole thats been catching fish and we don't want to take a chance of breaking it. LOL

[Wannabe...]

Good point Don. LOL. May just bring my own brim pole.

Wannabe...