Originally Posted by
livemusic
I have a new-to-me boat and it has Humminbird Helix 9 (stern mount, display at console) and Helix 7 (bow display, mounted on Minnkota Fortex troll motor). It would be fantastic if I could find fish so I wouldn't waste time on dead water. Can I? Do you?
I am not entirely sure what I am looking at. The previous owner is a serious bass fisherman and I would think he had these units tweaked pretty good, but again, he fishes for bass.
I have seen some side images on the Helix 9 that was clearly showing a brushpile; this was in 30 ft of water. I also was exploring and found what certainly looks to be bream beds; it was a large area almost 100 yds long and the beds were in 5 to 6 ft of water. Even if they are from years past, I assume that bream will come back to these beds. Another day, I think I saw a school of fish in that 30 ft of water, probably bream because it was downwind of an automatic feeder.
In my exploring I sometimes see an arc on the screen and it looks like the image I have seen where sonar experts are saying that is a fish. Do you guys find these arcs indicating crappie? How did you get your sonar tweaked so it shows fish well? Do you find fish first and then cast for them?
I have watched a few videos on sonar; I am not totally green.
My Helix 7 on the bow, the connection gizmos, there are 3 plastic connectors that are inserted into the base of the unit and two of these keep popping out... aggravating... anyone have a tip on how to make these stay? This boat is only 1.5 yrs old.
Sometimes, the Helix 9 also goes off or goes squirrelly when the big motor cranks. In fact, both of these units... sometimes I have difficulty in getting them to act right; I keep cycling through screen views to get it to even display properly; it's like it's stuck and won't 'move.' For the amount of money these things cost, this is a bummer!
TIA for any insight!