How to read a fishfinder?

[32eml24]

I personally had an awful fall fishing season.  I have read a lot of articles that say things like "I don't make a cast until I find the bait on my screen."  I'm hesitant to ask this, but how do you actually read a fishfinder, aside from temp./depth/bottom contours?  I have always used it to find a dropoff, then just fished it.  Never to decide if there were actually fish there or not.  To ask more specific questions:
1. What does a school of baitfish look like on the screen?
2. What settings do you adjust to use your electronics as effectively as possible in each different situation?
3. How do you identify a hard-bottom area offshore in contrast to a softer bottom?
4. Maybe this is stupid, but why does the screen keep moving when I'm sitting still?!
5. And last but not least, what is a good setup for an affordable fishfinder and a mounting kit for my bow mount trolling motor?  I only have one near my dash and I would like one to watch while I'm fishing.
I understand if this is part of what separates the good fisherman from the weekend angler and nobody wants to explain, but I feel like it is something that has not been thoroughly discussed and shedding some light on this topic could help us all catch some more fish! 
Ethan

[Frank-o]

Great question. Unfortunately, i don't think anyone could fully answer all your Q's here in this forum in such a way as you would understand them and be able to put them to use properly. So here's what i'm going to suggest (which is what i did) - Go join a bass club.
3 years ago I didn't have a boat. I didn't understand sonar or fishfinders. I didn't know squat. But i loved to fish. So I joined a club & fished with alot of different guys who loved to teach, explain things, answer questions (even the dumb ones), and most of all, brag about themselves. But, hey, when you get pretty good, you can brag to the new guy asking you for pointers in your boat with your new electronics someday.
I didn't know squat back then, but now i own my own Stratos 285 Pro XL with a Lowrance HDS-5 that i have a pretty good understanding of and i still don't know much more than squat. But it's like i just learned to read - (understanding my GPS) now i can go read anything i want and learn all there is to know, i just have to crack those books (time on the water).
So, here's my advice to you:
*Join a local bass club, maybe even one where all the tourneys are team events.
*Let the guys know you are new and joined to learn and have alot of questions. The natural-born teachers in the club will step up and offer help (90% of ther time).
*Ride with as many different guys as you can to learn something new everytime you go out.
*Buy a good GPS/fishfinder and read that manual, it can teach you how to adjust settings. Experience will teach you what settings to adjust.
That's about all i got for now....good luck

Frank-O

[McCarter]

there are lots of youtube videos on sonar set up.  i have learned a lot by watching those.  also, buddy up with people who are good with tuning the units up.  there are a handful of guys ( im sure there are more ) who are really good at on this website.  SethV and BryanP come to mind.

McCarter himself

[SethV]

Ethan,

Long question - even longer answer!  Check out the link below - some great pics and tips on setting up sonar.

You don't have to have a high $$ unit to get huge benifit out of your electronics.  From about June on, I totally rely on my electronics for fishing offshore structure.  Many of the articles that you read about "find the bait in the fall" are written about man-made resivoirs with huge shad populations.  Not as much of that in Michigan - but the principles still apply.

My comments will be mostly about LSC and Erie, since that is where I spend most of my "local" time.  Once the fish are done spawing, they make the migration deep.  Usually about the 3rd week of June.

Let me describe exactly how a typical prefish day goes - and then tx day.  2 different approaches, with sonar being key for both.

Prefish day - I pick an area that I want to explore - a large general area.  I first drive on pad over the area while looking at 2D sonar and GPS maps.  I am looking for dramatic hardness changes or depth changes.  If I find something interesting, I spin around and drop off pad.  I make a pass at 8 mph with side scan (HB 998 SI) and get an idea of what kind of structure, how much and where it is located.  I am also looking for bait or large groups of fish - although depending on range it can be hard to see individual fish.  Once I see something 'fishable', I mark it on the GPS and spin around to check it out.  If it looked really good, I shut the big motor down and get on the t/m.  All of my sonar units (4 of them) are linked, so I go right to the waypoint that I marked.

I always run my sonar in "manual mode" - never "auto".  I crank up the sensitivity, turn on switchfire, set the depth range manually and get to work!  I move with my TM on about "70" looking for fish or bait.  This typicall offshore time of year, the smallies are near the bottom.  It is hard to tell the difference between smallies and drum, but you can do it with practice.  They just look different.  Once you see one, drop on his head.  Slack line.  Count to 5 once it hits the bottom and set the hook.  You won't see your bait or see the fish anymore since you were moving fast with the tm.  At "70" I am moving about 1.5 mph.  I like to catch a few in an area to get a feel for the size. 

Once I catch one, I slow way down, circle around and look to see how many more are there.  I also mark the exact spot that I got bit and I mark each and every one over 3 lbs.  You only need to catch a couple of them in practice, then you can drive around and mark them or shake them off if you are not sure.

Repeat this over and over and you will find a bunch of spots.  A good spot to me has at least 5 good fish in the general area. 

Tx Day - I roll up to the exact spot.  No SI now, just get right on them.  Best case, they have not moved.  The sweet spot is often small, the guy in the back only 20' away may have a tough time. 

During the 4th BFL tx this year, I found them stacked up in 2 TINY spots.  Sweet spot on a spot.  Other boats were nearby, but not on the sweet stuff.  I caught 40-50 fish over 3bs during the tx day, one of the boats 50 yards away never had a bite.  It got to the point that when I would get lined up and see them down there, I would say something like "there we go" and my co would pick up the net even before I dropped down on them.  It was that automatic.

Many times, I don't even cast until I see one on the screen.  I am moving slow so I can see the fish and the bait at the same time.  Drop on them, let them eat it and repeat.


Some of your questions:
1.  A school of bait looks like a cloud suspended in the water.  If you see this cloud, what you really want to see is the cloud all "strung out and messed up" with a few big arches below it for good measure.  If it is a nice tight round ball, there probably are no big gamefish nearby bothering them.

2.  You really need to play with the settings on the water.  Each situation is different and there is not one good setting for every situation.

3.  Color of the reflection on the bottom.  I don't know what sonar unit you have.  Find a known sandy area, a known rocky area and a known mud area and compare.

4.  Think of sonar like a flashlight that is constantly turning off and on.  Each time it turns on you "see" something.  That flash is what shows up on the right side of the screen.  With each flash the screen moves left and new information is shown.  The flashes have nothing to do with how fast the boat is moving. 

5.  You really, really need 2 units.  Both with GPS, linked together.  You need the GPS puck on the bow, thats where you need the highest accuracy.  I want accuracy of a couple feet, if I mount it on the back of the boat I can be 42 feet off if I approach from a different direction on another day.  I have 2 Lowrance and 2 HB's on my boat.  If you are looking for reccomendations, I would go with 2 networked 998 HB's.  If that is too much coin, you can drop down in screen size - but it gets harder to see detail and look at GPS at the same time.

Hope this helps.  Like McCarter said, get out on the water with guys that know how to use sonar.  I am often looking for prefish partners - many times I post here looking for a rider and it is often hard to find people that want a free fishing trip mid week.

Do a name search for ltbama , he posts some great pics:
http://www.wmi.org/boards/electronics/index.html   

The BBC electronics board is great, install tips and screen shots:
http://www.bbcboards.net/zeroforum?id=279


Seth

[Mike S.]

That was a good post.  I am in the same boat.  Don't know anything about reading the screens.  But, I just put a Humminbird 1197c on my boat tonight, so I'm going to learn quick.

[thedude]

the best time to learn how to read a graph is coming up in about 6-8 weeks.

get a portable 12v battery, wire whatever graph you have up and hook the transducer onto a piece of conduit. then go ice fishing. go with someone who has a vexilar or something - find a hole with fish in it and start playing. Most any unit these days - you will be able to tune it to see even the smallest ice jig in 40+ fow.

you'll learn the difference between suspending baitfish, pan fish, predator fish etc. the most general advice i can give is to set ping speed up to the max and turn off any sort of fish ID. Play with the sensitivity until you are seeing what you expect (in this case your bait moving up and down in the water).

if you can tune and read a graph well enough see a 3" perch come off the bottom to eat a spike on a teardrop - you'll have no trouble getting it dialed in for bass or other game fish.

[McCarter]

Hope this helps.  Like McCarter said, get out on the water with guys that know how to use sonar.  I am often looking for prefish partners - many times I post here looking for a rider and it is often hard to find people that want a free fishing trip mid week.

I always want to go, but im either working or parenting.  hoping to get out with you next spring maybe.  i really need to learn more about this sonar tuning.  and i figure you owe me since i came over and took that battery off your hands

McCarter himself

[t-bone]

I couldn't agree more - Ice fishing taught me the value of a sonar. You really appreciate it on the ice and you can't believe how many fish come up to your bait and then turn away.

I rode with Seth on a pre-fish for a TX on Erie and saw his technique in action. He does exactly what he outlined below and was very effective. At one point I told him he was on a pattern... a waypoint pattern and to put more on his screen!

the best time to learn how to read a graph is coming up in about 6-8 weeks.

get a portable 12v battery, wire whatever graph you have up and hook the transducer onto a piece of conduit. then go ice fishing. go with someone who has a vexilar or something - find a hole with fish in it and start playing. Most any unit these days - you will be able to tune it to see even the smallest ice jig in 40+ fow.

you'll learn the difference between suspending baitfish, pan fish, predator fish etc. the most general advice i can give is to set ping speed up to the max and turn off any sort of fish ID. Play with the sensitivity until you are seeing what you expect (in this case your bait moving up and down in the water).

if you can tune and read a graph well enough see a 3" perch come off the bottom to eat a spike on a teardrop - you'll have no trouble getting it dialed in for bass or other game fish.

[32eml24]

WOW... I don't know what to say but thank you seems like a good place to start!  I am looking so forward to using my unit ice fishing, and linking up 2 units over the winter.  This could be a game changer... you guys rock!!!

[peters_skeeter]

check out www.kicknbass.net
this is Randy Kuhens website. He is a guide that I had the privilege of fishing with on Kentucky Lake in October. Every week he posts a fishing report for KL and at the end of the report he shows pictures of his sonar and explains what is being shown. This has helped me a lot! I hope it helps you.

[FishermanJohn]

Thanks for all the info that's been posted.  I highly recommend the BBC electronics board.  I've only had my fishfinder for one season and I have learned a ton (and still have a ton to learn) already.  There's no substitute for time on the water messing with the settings on a lake you know well.

I found some of the videos here helpful:  http://www.youtube.com/user/imonbass