Side imaging question

[DHJ]

I just got a Humminbird 998 with si and a navionics chip. I took it to a local lake here in KC just to make sure everything was working and then last week spent a day on Melvern to mark some brushpiles because I have a three day trip there in about a week. I haven't been on that lake much but spent a day there last year looking for brush with my regular sonar with limited success. I was excited to try out the Humminbird because I thought I could cover a much larger swath. I have to say that I didn't find anything on the si, only the di and sonar. I guess I was looking for somthing to really stand out and I just didn't see anything like that. Several times I saw something on si that I thought might be structure and then would try to locate it with my di but didn't have any success. I guess my question is, if I find something on si will it be obvious or not? What would be the best way of confirming that something I see on si is for real?

[CatFan]

It should look like a slightly fuzzy picture. Look at some of the images in this forum for examples.

[DHJ]

Thanks, CatFan. I have looked a bunch of them and am beginning to get feel for what to look for. I know now that I saw some brush and schools of fish and bait. I also read a post by rnvinc back on August 22 which said to mark a waypoint on something you see on si then troll to it and take a look. Another question I have is how far out do you normally have your si scan? I had mine set at 75 feet each side and was mainly looking in 15-25 feet of water.

[CatFan]

Width depends on water depth. If it blacks out way before the edges of the screen you are scanning too far. If I'm just looking around I run mine on auto. If I want to look at something more closely I tweak it to show it better.

Moving at a steady idle gives me the best images. I leveled my transducer so it is flat when the boat is going at a slow idle.

[rnvinc]

Brush definitely takes practice learning to identify it on SI..

If the brush happens to be contrasted against the dark water column, it's easier to see...

But when the brush is contrasted against the left or right bottom, it can be very difficult to see as the brush is just a slightly "lighter" shade of the chosen palette color...

It is easier to identify the shadows that brush creates as the shadows will be a darker color that contrasts well against the bottom color...

I'll get some screenshots worked up in Paint to help show how to identify brush shadows ...

Also, viewing recordings on Humviewer at home will give valuable practice in identifying structure as you will not be destracted by boat control or fishing tasks..

Rickie

[DHJ]

Thanks guys. I know I've got a long way to go to learn this thing but I can already see the possibilities. Any help is much appreciated.