Sounder Reading

[skippa]

Grumpy,

Here's some pics of mine in action a while back off PL ....

[skippa]

another in the Whitties ....

[iank]

skippa, Hope you dropped a plastic/jig or bait down to them.
Cheers Ian

[skippa]

Yeah Ian,

from memory the whitties one was along North Molle, pulled a lot of heads up from there and finally a coupla noahs .... all good fun tho.


Cheers,
Tony

[-Sharp]

Go my boring Lowrance b/w sounder.!

[Volcano]

This is awesome stuff.
I am a very new member to both this site and to reading sounders.
I've got a humminbird NS25 B/W sounder..

Although I haven't seen anything even close to the schools you guys have shown in some of your pics, I've noticed my sounder comes up with little pictures of fish as opposed to the "arches" and so forth shown on here. Very keen to see what a nice big school looks like.

Awesome resource. One of the best threads I've seen on these fishing boards.

[Reefmaster]

I noticed in some previous post some have mentioned using the "zoom" feature. By using the "zoom" feature you actaully compress the picture which will give an exaggerated picture that makes the bottom and fish look alot higher and also not as wide as what's really down there. The best way to look at bottom is to choose the "range" you wish to veiw the bottom in. For e.g i use a "range" of 20 mtrs when in water over 30mtrs so basicly i only want to see the bottom/reef in a 20 mtr range. Now all you have to do is adjust the "shift" feature up or down to bring that 20 mtr "range" which will have your picture of the bottom/reef into view.

Most sounders these days have a range and shift feature although some didn't come with the shift feature,

You can make your range to what ever you wish and just move it up or down accordingly to your depth.


As in this pic you can see on the right hand side the range is 20 mtrs and if the bottom drops away i just lower the picture with shift button to keep the picture of the bottom in the centre of the screen.

The left hand side is the bottom discrimination mode which seperates the bottom from any growth or fish to let you know whats what. The bottom always stays on that 0- mark and anything above that isn't bottom although at times when fish are really really thick it will show as bottom.


Regards Greg

[Owen]

Took this pic at Awoonga dam the other day.
If you want to read some info on what I was seeing that would take you possibly years to learn on your own, have a read of Johnny M's comments here

http://www.ausfish.com.au/cgi-ausfis...num=1134467079

cheers
Owen

[Mad_fisherman]

This thread has taught me so much about my own sounder cheers for all the info

much appreciated

MAD!

[paulp]

Anybody can tell me if the Lowrance x107c has bottom lock.
and is it a good feature

[Angla]

I'm useless when it comes to the sounder

Any advice on what this is would be appreciated

I think I was off Coolum at the time with maybe a school of bait fish under

Angla

[Smelly]

Paulp - Did you find out about bootom lock on the x107c?

[Smelly]

I noticed in some previous post some have mentioned using the "zoom" feature. By using the "zoom" feature you actaully compress the picture which will give an exaggerated picture that makes the bottom and fish look alot higher and also not as wide as what's really down there. The best way to look at bottom is to choose the "range" you wish to veiw the bottom in. For e.g i use a "range" of 20 mtrs when in water over 30mtrs so basicly i only want to see the bottom/reef in a 20 mtr range. Now all you have to do is adjust the "shift" feature up or down to bring that 20 mtr "range" which will have your picture of the bottom/reef into view.

Most sounders these days have a range and shift feature although some didn't come with the shift feature,

You can make your range to what ever you wish and just move it up or down accordingly to your depth.


As in this pic you can see on the right hand side the range is 20 mtrs and if the bottom drops away i just lower the picture with shift button to keep the picture of the bottom in the centre of the screen.

The left hand side is the bottom discrimination mode which seperates the bottom from any growth or fish to let you know whats what. The bottom always stays on that 0- mark and anything above that isn't bottom although at times when fish are really really thick it will show as bottom.


Regards Greg

Reef Master -

Regarding this zoom - does the X107 Lowrance have real Bottom Lock?

i.e. Adjusting your sounder screen to show for example only the ocean bottom to 6m and locate a 2m rise whilst driving around in 60m of water. If bottom lock is on (say - set for 6m above the bottom) - the top of your screen now shows 6m above the ocean bottom and the bottom of the screen still showing the ocean bottom. That 2m rise will now come up a third of your screen. Bottom lock can refer to auto depth (ie: bottom 6m of water column) which the Lowrance will do, but does it lock bottom in heavy swell? - I do not think so...Please advise..

The way I see Lowarance 'Zoom' function is pretty much the same thing except unable to modify the depth range you want to monitor. So this may show the bottom to 6m above - for example where as other sounder brands (such as Furuno) allow bottom lock to adjust the scale to what you want.

Please advise..

Smelly

[snakecatcher]

what a great post - I had seen some of the things shown here before and wrote them off as weed etc. Definitely gonna spend more time playing around with the manual features of my lowrance x135.

[A_DIFF_PERSPECTIVE]

This is a copy of how I replied to a post in the freshwater section which was accompanied by a photo, posted by Owen. This may be useful to many to read. I will add further pointers after the below post!

I Love AusFish.com.au

Posts: 365
Gender:
Re: What's in Awoonga?
« Reply #11 on: 14.12.05 at 06:37:13 » Barra are the biggest, and the apex predator in the Awoonga system. Barra tend to move as singular fish, not necessarily following in tight bunches or tight schools, although it can happen at times! Singular, well spaced fish are very distinct on a sounder's display in open water, or they can be cluttered and a bit indistinct in amongst cover such as horizontal timber, or concealed within weeds. The second largest fish species (on average weight) in the system, is actually mullet, but their habits very rarely see them venture into any situation where upon they can be viewed on a sounder's display screen. Mullet are usually visually identified with the naked eye on or near the surface in shallow water, in depths where sounders become useless fish finding tools.
Catfish (1 to 3 kg) school in varying sizes from a handful to house sized schools. They are a much smaller fish than that of the common 10-20 kg barra that inhabit Awoonga. Displayed images vary from one sounder to the next because of variations in vertical and horizontal pixel count, depth ranges used, gain settings ,transducer type etc etc etc. Everything is relative at some point as displayed images are shown as representatives to the size of sounded objects. I have noticed that catfish tend to have a short, sharp arch, whilst barra have a much longer, and obviously proportional longer arch length to catfish.
Bony bream schools are common in sizes similar to that of the average car, although bony bream and other wandering type baitfish species can be quite sparse and more loosely packed at times; hence the reason for cloud like formations on your display screen.
Increasing water temps through summer sees the whole lake system warm to temperatures that at times can feel uncomfortable to fish. Awoonga is situated at the southern end of the 'Tropical' region of Queensland, yet it still experiences, (like now,38 d/c, 14/dec/2005), very hot days which reflect strongly and highly influence water temperatures and therefore barra behaviour, (as well as other species)! The deep waters of the lake warm to certain depths which is regulated by the severity of the summer weather.
All animals have 'comfort levels', and barra have a certain 'water temperature zone' in which they feel most comfortable! Barra are not actively on the search for food 24hrs a day, so at times they enjoy a relax in favourable, comforting, soothing water which in this case is deeper/cooler water. Tolerable water on the other hand, is any water that can be located in Awoonga. Barra can tolerate high temps, but just like most animals, will search for cooler areas to rest in when required.(like people and air cons).
Thermoclines lay at varying levels in the depths of Awoonga, and the 30 feet mark you mention sees the convergence of the thermocline in many places in the lake at present time. Below the thermocline is much cooler water, and above it is warmer water layers of varying stages and the temp increases steadily towards the surface. Eg, surface temp 30 d/c, 15 feet down, 27 d/c, 30 feet down 25 d/c, and at 33feet, (3 more feet down, below the t/cline) it quite often drops about 4 or 5 d/c. This is why many barra continually show at the same depths, and also why many other forms of life hold at the same depth.(its a comfortable depth, and temperature). Every animal has a different tolerance, and therfore they all find their happy medium somewhere in the water column.
But in saying all that, comfortable temps and tolerable temps are 2 totally different situations. Many barra are trolled from the depths on 30 ft lures, as well as 10 foot lures in the same locations. Whilst this is happening, 33d/c water temp in shallow water sees wild fishing sessions on hungry and pumped up barra. Big barra trolled in 30 ft mid lake whilst also captured casting to the shoreline at the same time, same day.

Most weed is either attached to the bottom in 5 m or less and thriving, attached and dying, or dead and floating. Mid water weed is not what you are sounding!!
Fine tuning of your sounder is required for max results. Understand what lives in your area,,,,as your post asked????,,,, and your well on your way to interperating what is being displayed.
Common lifeforms and objects which become common images on your sounder are things such as:
barra, catfish, bony bream, planktonic blooms at times, (usually mid water) longtom, banded grunters, gar fish, turtles, diving birds,
trees, weedbanks, logs, rocks, thermoclines, etc etc.
*zoom features help in identifying objects.
*vary gain settings for varying depths for max definition
*target level helps you place emphasis on different levels of target density. ,,,if you are searching for less dense items, and closely looking for any changes in density, lower your target level, and vice versa for harder objects. run it on normal for everyday use, but be careful to change it back when you are finished otherwise future confusion can be had.
I'll stop ravin' on now.
Johnny M
Lake Awoonga Barra Fishing Charters
I hope this is of some help .


What I would like to add to this that may or may not have been touched upon in the most imformative topic i have read to date on sounders. It was hard to read every point made by members, but I think a few did get left out that i feel are very important. Apologies if i re-touch on anything.
Firstly,
pixel count- which is the number of 'dots' which make up the display screen. A high resolution sounder will have a high pixel count and is therefore capable of producing a highly defined image quality that will make many viewers go "Wow"! A low resolution, low pixel count will nearly always have a sounder interperator going,,,"hmmmm,,well i wonder what that is?" 240vertical by 240 horizontal pixel count is an average unit. 360 by 360 is a pretty defined sounder, but 480 by 480 is readily available nowadays and therefore will give you great definition of sounded images.
A colour sounder with 240 by 240 for eg, is nowhere near as good as a 480 by 480 black and white unit. A colour 480 by 480, such as lowrance is exceptional for definition and for helping us read into what lays beneath. The varying colour shades(colour bar selection) represented are used to show different density objects. eg..red is mostly used to represent solid and hard return echoes/objects, whilst orange, green, blue, yellow, white etc is used to show less dense objects. The grey line feature on black and white units works the same , although it uses shades of 'grey' to differentiate between different densities. Colour is far more easier on the eye to help distinguish density variations.

Depth ranges need to always stay close to water depths as described in another post. If it is 25 m deep, no point running the unit on a 60 metre range window. bring range and depth as close together as possible for best definition. zoom features help us interperate sounded objects easier especially in instances when fish lay close to the bottom or in extreme deep water when life stays low in the water cloumn. it is really like a magnifying glass that helps us 'see'!

If you are running 'fish symbols', you are really wasting your time! Use your sounder manually for best results. most sounders work best if adjusted by the operator and not just from auto modes! Some sounders may run fine in auto, but most need operator assistance to best 'tune' them in for best results.

Much more to say on this topic, but i feel a few extra points needed to be aired.
Sorry for the length and possible spelling and grammar errors at this time of night.
Johnny M