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Thread: Depth and Fish Finder Help

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    Default Depth and Fish Finder Help


    I'd like to get input from you guys on how to effectively use my depth/fish finder. I've got in Eagle Fish Finder. It's not a high end model. It shows the depth of the water and then it shows some symbols that look like fish at the supposed depth they are. It can show some structure on the bottom but not real detailed. I've never really felt like I knew how to use it well. Any suggestions?
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    Default OK I bit

    Went to your site and clicked on the "crappie secret" or whatever -
    get real - I catch so many now that I sometimes let them get off on
    purpose instead of putting down my drink or cigarette to get the rod.
    I don't want to catch more, then I'd be morally torn over whether to
    release them or not, and I'd have to clean too many! Did I miss the
    punch line amid all that? My eyes got sort of fuzzy after I saw the
    price...
    Shoals Area Crappie Association

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    Mike:

    While I am not familar with your partcular depth finder I bet that when the fish symbols say the fish are at 7.5ft then they are 7.5ft away from the transducer. Unless you have an offset that corrects for the depth that the transducer is under the water's surface.


    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Sutton
    I'd like to get input from you guys on how to effectively use my depth/fish finder. I've got in Eagle Fish Finder. It's not a high end model. It shows the depth of the water and then it shows some symbols that look like fish at the supposed depth they are. It can show some structure on the bottom but not real detailed. I've never really felt like I knew how to use it well. Any suggestions?
    Regards,

    Moose1am

  4. #4
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    CrappiePappy is online now Super Moderator - 2013 Man Of The Year * Crappie.com Supporter
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    Exclamation Mike ....

    what the depth finder in your post is showing, is -

    It's in the "surface to 10ft" scanning range.
    The bottom is 7.5ft below the transducer.
    The bottom is flat and featureless (in the 2-3ft circle that the unit is seeing).
    The "fish" are between 3 & 5 feet deep.
    There are half a dozen "small", three "medium", and one "large" FISH within the cone's influence (of approx 1ft wide at that depth) at the time of the picture. (oh really )

    REALITY CHECK - unless you are moving ... chances are that the "fish" signals are not fish, since it would be hard to get that many fish within a one foot wide circle. Or unless the fish were moving, in a school, underneath the transducer.
    Anything that interrupts the signal (moss, trash, bubbles, small limbs) can be interpreted, by the unit, as a "fish". (that's one reason I prefer to call them "depth finders", rather than "fish finders") Or, they could actually BE fish. :D

    The unit is inexpensive and works well as a depth/structure finder for "basic" use. I've owned several in this catagory, including this one. I rarely use it (or any of them) to "find fish" ... I let my bait do that. I do use it to spot potential "cover", bottom depth changes, and to give me some idea of bottom composition. I also use it to keep my boat positioned in a certain depth of water, or over a certain piece of cover.
    One must remember - with a 20deg cone angle, single beam transducer ... you are generally seeing a "cone shaped" section of water, from 0in at the transducer to a circle on the bottom that's approx. 1/3 as wide as the depth of the water. The shallower the water, the smaller "cone" of water you're seeing. And, it should also be noted, that the "circle of influence" of the signal is greater/bigger as you get closer to the bottom.

    Read your manual, again(?), if you have one. If you don't (or want more info) - go to this site -
    http://www.lowrance.com/Tutorials/So...utorial_01.asp and read thru it. It's pretty basic stuff, but should help you understand how to get the most usable info from your unit ....... luck2ya ........cp

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    Talking I bit too

    Quote Originally Posted by J White
    Went to your site and clicked on the "crappie secret" or whatever -
    get real - I catch so many now that I sometimes let them get off on
    purpose instead of putting down my drink or cigarette to get the rod.
    I don't want to catch more, then I'd be morally torn over whether to
    release them or not, and I'd have to clean too many! Did I miss the
    punch line amid all that? My eyes got sort of fuzzy after I saw the
    price...
    If it sound's too good to be true..........especially at that price. Wonder what he was drinking and smoking?

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    Quote Originally Posted by J White
    Went to your site and clicked on the "crappie secret" or whatever -
    get real - I catch so many now that I sometimes let them get off on
    purpose instead of putting down my drink or cigarette to get the rod.
    I don't want to catch more, then I'd be morally torn over whether to
    release them or not, and I'd have to clean too many! Did I miss the
    punch line amid all that? My eyes got sort of fuzzy after I saw the
    price...
    What is sad about it all is there are people that will believe it. Its like all these things you can get to increase your gas mileage. I won't go into details but you know what I'm talking about. I figured it up one day and it occurred to me that if you got one of everything advertised to add on you engine or put in your tank, you would have to stop every 100 miles and take gas out of your tank. LOL And then there is my favorite. The one about someone inventing a carburator that will give you 100 MPG but the gas companies buy them out so it can't be marketed. Yeah, right! If that were true, I could sell so many, so fast, I could buy all the gas companies. Oh well, enough of my ranting.
    Fair Winds and Following Seas

    Bill H. PTC USN Ret
    Chesapeake, Va


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    Default the original ?

    Sorry I didn't address the original question, but looks like Moose and
    Crappiepappy have got it covered - too long a day and too much caffeine!
    IBNFSHN, I hear you on stopping to take gas out of the tank - kind of
    like all those performance add-ons that all add 20-30 horsepower by
    theirself - if you put all them on at once, you should be able to get
    pro-stock power out of a 4 banger, right? :D BTW, the gadjet in question
    must be a submersible light from what I can figure, probly a green 'un -
    what do ya'll think?
    Shoals Area Crappie Association

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    Exclamation Right you are JW ...

    the "Evening Secret" is nothing more than a submersible light. It's been around for a while ... I've even seen it mentioned on other sites (and the price was the negative point there, too). I do remember that the guy who invented it (?) - said it had "exotic gases" in it, and that's what made it so "special" (read that as "expensive"). (I think he referred to them as "rare earth gases") --- that being the case ........ take a look at this ad for a submersible light: http://www.acornnaturalists.com/stor...Product_ID=538 -- it also refers to "rare earth phosphors" (as well as some similar claims to fame of the Evening Secret).
    But, if you can't afford to shell out $180-$200 for a "green light" to attract micro-organisms, to attract baitfish, to attract predator fish .... then check out these : http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/te...requestid=4491

    Remember folks -- everything, these days, has to be "over-hyped" to capture the attention of the masses. Everything has to be "extreme" or "supersized" ... or it's just plain "normal". Those that have to be the "firstest with the newest" ... pay the "mostest" !! ........... cp

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    Default

    Mike, I too appologize for getting off subject, but it was in your blog (whatever those are). CP covered your question quite well. I've been using all different kinds of fish finders for years thinking I needed some of the features adverised. After playing with them for a while I always went back to the basics. Do yourself a favor and turn those fish symbols off. All they do is fustrate you because you see fish on them but no bites. Anything that will reflect the signal will show up as a fish. And there are a lot of things under water that will do this. Each time you go fishing adjust your sensitivity up until the screen starts to get cluttered, then back it off until its just is clear. This will enable you to see max detail of the bottom and thats what you want to be looking for - structure. Thermocline is another important thing to be aware of and with max sensitivity you can determine its depth. Do a search here on that. There has been some excellent articles written about thermoclines. I think it was Moose that goes into some detail and is worth reading. Have you ever been trolling along and all of a sudden you see a whole string of "fish" at exactly the same depth? That is probably your bait or a stick caught on the xducer.

    Anyway, the future for fishing electronics does look bright. Back during the Nam conflict the Navy (I say Navy because thats where I first saw it) came out with SLAR. Side Looking Airborne Radar. This stuff was fantastic as it could see thru clouds and the results were almost as good as regular aerial photography. There are underwater versions of this which is fantastic. You can not only tell there is something there, you can see what it is. I have no idea how big of a boat you would need to house it even if the public could buy it. All we got to do is wait for a fishing version and then take a gunny sack full of 1000 bills and buy us one. There has been a few recent articles written somewhere but there goes my memory again. One in particular, they found a truck under the water with a body in it. Hopefully someone can remember the name of this technology in case someone wants to read some more about it,
    Fair Winds and Following Seas

    Bill H. PTC USN Ret
    Chesapeake, Va


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    Default Humminbird

    Humminbird's top of the line has an option of side scan sonar that is
    supposed to give picture-like quality. Some of ya'll go buy one and
    tell me how good it works :D Think it is called a 987. Be great if it works,
    and keeps working. I don't mean to be negative, but have been a little
    suspect of hbird lately - saw a few really expensive combo sonar/gps
    units with electrical gremlins - this was before the Matrix series tho,
    maybe they are sorted out now.
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    Last edited by J White; 07-09-2005 at 08:43 AM.
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