An observation

I have made and put out 4 crappie hurdles the past couple weeks. One was a cat litter bucket with concrete and set up like a stake bed with 8 foot and 6 foot stakes. The other 3 were weighted brush piles so big each that I had a hard time getting one at the time to ride on a 20 foot center console. I placed a float on them to hold them as upright as possible. I have a Helix 10 gen2 mega image and in an average 20 foot depth range can barely see these things. I thought they would stick out like a sore thumb on my Helix. I'm just hoping that they are big enough for a crappie. I think I might cut some wind blown trees off the shoreline and drag some huge limbs out and sink them. I can see other people's Christmas trees and barely see my own brush.

What were they made out of /

Stake bed bucket was several 1"x2"x8 foot strips. Everything else is oak branches that were very thick and standing about 7 feet tall.

Yeah don’t know. I had a helix 7 and was worse unit I’ve ever owned. My elite 7 would show my piles/stake beds like no other and the helix 7 wouldn’t no matter what I did. Now I know the helix 7 is nothing like the megas but just saying I had similar situation with my 7. I tweaked that thing for 2 years like no other and across multiple lakes. Eventually replaced with a hook2 7 and a happy camper. One day when I get bigger boat I’ll get bigger graphs.

One stake bucket isn't going to show as much on any unit from my experience and be fairly hard to sit on. With bucket style stakebeds 3-5 at a minimum and 10-15 to make a really good sized spot. Hard to say on brush but same thing kind of, it takes more than you would think to make a size that you can drive over and easily see. Now that said, over time they tend to show better as they get more crud on them. Can't help with the Mega, everyone seems to like the imaging but haven't run one. All my experience is with older Hbird, Lowrance, and Garmin.

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I use my helix 9 mega in my guiding business, and if its adjusted right, there is none better. Dont over shoot the SI. , and dont depend on looking for fish w SI, its great for structure .you see structure off 50ft to the side, then switch to DI and go back over it.took mine out 20 times playing w the settings till i got it right and understood what i was looking at. Lakemaster charts are great also. Good luck.

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Originally Posted by Alabama boy

I use my helix 9 mega in my guiding business, and if its adjusted right, there is none better. Dont over shoot the SI. , and dont depend on looking for fish w SI, its great for structure .you see structure off 50ft to the side, then switch to DI and go back over it.took mine out 20 times playing w the settings till i got it right and understood what i was looking at. Lakemaster charts are great also. Good luck.

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Right. I took mine out 20-30 times playing w settings. SI is best finding structure, not fish. DI has to b set perfectly to see em, 2d sonar also. 50 ft is about max in 15-20' of water. Trimming outboard up a little helps it see to opposite side from where transducer is mounted on transom

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generally the fish they attract stick out like mouse turds in a bowl full of sugar regardless of how cunningly crafted and 'stealthy' it is... green cedar branches and/ or hard wood branches with some denser twigs folage are productive as cover for minnows ect. fruit limb trees particularly mulberry is very productive and relatively long lasting in most waters.