sonar question

[Crazyhorse420]

I've been fishing all my life but I've only become serious about it in the past year or so. I recently bought a fish finder and have found it to be a very usefull tool. However it also brings a little confusion.

My fish finder has a Fish I.D. feature that shows underwater targets in different sizes of fish symbols it also has FishTrack which displays target depth readings above fish symbols. I can turn both of these features off and the fish show up as arches.

Which mode is better?

I realize that sometimes the Fish I.D. will show that there is a fish present when the "arch" mode shows little or nothing.

Which mode do you all use and why?

[lee s.]

I seldom, if ever, use the fish symbols. It takes away ALL your interpretive possibilities.....other than "placement" of the "targets".
....lee s.

[crappieseeker]

I have heard that the fish symbols can really be any object that comes in the path of the sonar, most of the time not being fish. I have heard the arches are the best way to go. personal experience still leaves me clueless on mine. I have never had arches to show up on mine before. There have been several discussions on here about how crappie show up on here and about how the arch works. I heard long ago that crappie when stacked vertically would show up like a row of stacked bricks or wall. Some people say that this is possibly incorrect. I can only remember one time where I even saw the so called wall of bricks, and yes I did catch crappie pretty good and then the wall was gone. My question is if crappie are stacked vertically, and if there is several stacks together, wouldnt this show up as a clump or structure type feature. I drew a little picture to show what has showed up on my finder a couple times when I have caught crappie. This makes me think they were bunched up in a wad and would not show as an arch but yet a vertical clump. I didnt check afterward to see if the clump was gone, but i do know that there is no strucutre there. There is a quick rise and fall in the bottom contour and the depth does change on the finder but this clump doesnt really look like the bottom. I have a question about how do you know when crappie are holding on drop offs. Every time my depth finder senses a quick depth change, other than the one I mentioned above, my screen breaks and really doesnt show much until the screen settles again. Do all depth finders do this or what? Anyway here is a non artist presentation of what it looked like on my finder where I was catching the crappie.

[Barnacle Bill]

Keep in mind you have to be moving at least 3 MPH to see an arch. Slower will display a long line depending on how much slower. This was told to me by Lowrance.

[Sparkletail]

I use a Eagle Fishmark 320 under my trolling motor. I use the arch instead of the symbols. The symbols will show a limb as a fish I believe. I can interpret thew arch setting much better. The 320 also shows the depth in a bar on the right side so you can tell what is going on. GOOD FISHING YA'LL!!!

[Captgene]

You have to take time in your lake with your depth finder to find out what works best for you. The best time to watch the screen is when you are catching fish, and just remember the set up and view you see. Depth finders are a tool and like all tools , there is no substitute for experience.

My Site: http://mysite.verizon.net/captgene2/

[Darryl Morris]

I use the fish symbols when hovering over brushpiles, which means I'm barely moving at all. I turn this feature off to get arches when trolling. Seeing the arches is a plus, what I mostly look for are the clouds of shad.

[unknown 5]

Yes, I go more by the clouds of shad than anything else. If you see a cloud of shad, there are usually crappie nearby.

[DENNIS BOWERS]

I too look for balls of baitfish-i use symbols most of the time,as i fish structure.