Thread: Side Scan Sonar Help

Looks like you did, and you certainly found some good sized schools of Shad (if those are not massive schools of "fish"). Determining the species can be a bit tricky, though.

I'm wondering, though, why you chose b/w (inverse greyscale) for your image color palette ?? White specks (fish/shad) over a white bottom contour are going to be hard to see (if not impossible to see) under certain conditions. Most seem to prefer the brown tones.

I'm running a Lowrance DI ... and after checking out several of its color palettes, settled on the blue gradient. It just seemed easier on the eyes, while still giving a good image.

... cp

Originally Posted by CrappiePappy

Looks like you did, and you certainly found some good sized schools of Shad (if those are not massive schools of "fish"). Determining the species can be a bit tricky, though.

I'm wondering, though, why you chose b/w (inverse greyscale) for your image color palette ?? White specks (fish/shad) over a white bottom contour are going to be hard to see (if not impossible to see) under certain conditions. Most seem to prefer the brown tones.

I'm running a Lowrance DI ... and after checking out several of its color palettes, settled on the blue gradient. It just seemed easier on the eyes, while still giving a good image.

... cp

Thanks for your observations! I'm still playing around with the color palettes, but that makes since now that fish show up white and also the bottom. Will change to the brown and try it out. Another question I have, why is there a bunch of noise (cloudy areas) in some images and not in others? Is that bait fish? Prop wash? Thanks again for the help. I've been reading a bunch on this forum and appreciate any advice!

That cloudy area to the right of the center line is prop wash. If you notice in the frames with small amount speed is zero. The second frame down shows clearly that you shifted into gear for a short time and then back to neutral.
I also run a Lowrance unit and use the blue palette most of the time.

Watch as many You Tube videos as you can on setting up your Humminbird for the best view.
You can get a MUCH clearer picture than that I hope. Do you have the HD transducer?

Originally Posted by kickingback

Watch as many You Tube videos as you can on setting up your Humminbird for the best view.
You can get a MUCH clearer picture than that I hope. Do you have the HD transducer?

Here is transducer info: XHS 9 HDSI 180 T

I've seen a few videos and your right, I need to get it dialed in. I'm a young grasshoppa so bare with me on the dumb questions!!! lol.

I like the Inverse ... Especially on sunny days ...

I also use 800kHz ... a lot...

Because unless I'm in new water looking for new structure, I'm more interested in what's closer to the boat than what's out to the edges of the screen ...

Use the SI Sensitivity to darker the bottom some so the fish echoes will contrast against the bottom better ...



Rickie

Originally Posted by rnvinc

I like the Inverse ... Especially on sunny days ...

I also use 800kHz ... a lot...

Because unless I'm in new water looking for new structure, I'm more interested in what's closer to the boat than what's out to the edges of the screen ...

Use the SI Sensitivity to darker the bottom some so the fish echoes will contrast against the bottom better ...



Rickie

+1. Inverse is awesome. What better to see something but using black and white. Nothing has more contrast. The problem with his images is not he color pallet but his sensitivity and contrast settings. Keep one thing in mind when setting side scan and down. Keep the screen as dark as possible. Fish will jump out better, structure will as well. A good way to test this is to activate the curser on a interesting side scan you are making. While the curser is active the screen with stop and allow you to drastically change settings of sensitivity and contrast. I find myself adjusting contrast all the time. Durmatic changes will make fish jump out at you. The programming is designed to adjust hard returns faster than soft ones. So the background ( bottom) will darken much faster than the fish will.

Good on you Marine181!! I just watched the videos and read the forums and dialed mine in to meet my needs where I am fishing at. I change the settings sometimes depending on the light or time of day. It does help to know the settings and make changes on the fly as you are boating around.
Let us know how your images turn out! Good luck!