Thread: Getting The Most From Your Graph (Sonar, Sounder, Fishfinder Thangy, etc.)

Nice job Jerry! I am sure this will help lots of folks!

Thanks a heap Jerry, like others have previously said, I truly appreciate
what you have done. For me personally you have done two things. First, some of that technical jargon in the owners manual makes a little sense now, and secondly you have confirmed what I (and my wife) have been suspicious of for years.... I really don't know what the heck I'm doing out there! LOL

Jerry, I'm glad you were brave enought to write about this subject, not many
peolpe understand it at all, including me.
Now afew years ago my friend and myself did a so called test on my finder
and we were at the bank in three feet of water, holding my boat still and my
fish finder was scrolling fish and structure under the boat. I know there was no structure under the boat, I took a pole and went under the boat and found
nothing....... And I had the finder in the right mode.
And how do you set the scroll speed ?, why are the fish not swiming toward
the the boat from the front or back?, what about tree leafs floating in the water?
It made me think about when America landing on the moon and played golf,
mybe that was a hollywood set to look that way so Russian government would go broke trying to catch up in the space race, which they did...

Originally Posted by DRPEPPER

Just spending the weekend with those two has me ready to quit and live on the bank somewhere.

Hey Jerry / Darryl
I forgot to ask you this weekend; what are your thoughts of the fish feeling the ping. I have always been in the habit of turning my electronics off after I have found my spot. I don't know if that is possible with your hovering technique. Which, by the way, works my butt off in the wind.
Don

I believe it has little to no effect on the fish because of the frequency range the soundings are made. If it did I don't think we would ever catch any fish.

This thread is an excellent candidate for the Archives.

Originally Posted by spider rig man

Jerry, I'm glad you were brave enought to write about this subject, not many
peolpe understand it at all, including me.
Now afew years ago my friend and myself did a so called test on my finder
and we were at the bank in three feet of water, holding my boat still and my
fish finder was scrolling fish and structure under the boat. I know there was no structure under the boat, I took a pole and went under the boat and found
nothing....... And I had the finder in the right mode.
And how do you set the scroll speed ?, why are the fish not swiming toward
the the boat from the front or back?, what about tree leafs floating in the water?
It made me think about when America landing on the moon and played golf,
mybe that was a hollywood set to look that way so Russian government would go broke trying to catch up in the space race, which they did...

Graphs don't work very well in three feet of water. What you were probably seeing was surface clutter and/or electrical noise.

Not all graphs have an adjustable Scroll Speed and if they do it may be called something else. It's probably in an advanced menu and it simply changes how fast processed information is moved across and off your screen.

I'm not sure what you mean about the fish swimming towards the boat as there's no way to tell which direction a fish is swimming under the boat. All you can tell is whether or not they are in the view of the transducer.

Leaves, sticks, air bubbles and even microorganisms or anything else that a sound wave can bounce off of can show up on your graph.

Originally Posted by DRPEPPER

Just spending the weekend with those two has me ready to quit and live on the bank somewhere.

Hey Jerry / Darryl
I forgot to ask you this weekend; what are your thoughts of the fish feeling the ping. I have always been in the habit of turning my electronics off after I have found my spot. I don't know if that is possible with your hovering technique. Which, by the way, works my butt off in the wind.
Don

Hey Don:

I don't think the fish can sense the ping from a transducer and if they do they apparently don't associate it with danger. I leave both my graphs on while hovering right over a brushpile and continue using them to monitor what is going on under the boat.

Hovering in the wind can be work. First of all you need to have your boat set up properly so you're sitting comfortable facing towards the side of the boat you're fishing on and have the handle of a hand operated trolling motor within comfortable reach. Having a properly place foot switch that you can step on when needed to run the trolling motor also helps and having a heavy, low profile boat is a plus. Then it's just a matter of keeping the bow faced into the wind and using intermittent pulses from the trolling motor to keep you in position. If you do it every day you don't even think about it most of the time. You start anticipating what the wind is going to do when you feel it coming and take preemptive measures so you're not always trying to get back to the sweet spot. Now when it gets up into the 15 to 20-mph range it's time to find a protected area out of the wind.

Thanks Jerry. Great Post! I have a Matrix 87c and Humminbird 585c & I have learned 2 things. I am running my sensitivity way too high & my scroll speed way too fast. Gonna do a little tweeking when I get back to camp tomorrow! I really believe I can "clean up" my display after reading your post!

Thanks! :D

Can you explain the grayscale a little more and why would tthe screen speed ever be to fast?

Jerry Blake this thread may end up needing to have it's on forum with you as the moderator... :D