Sounder Reading

[corby12]

great thread i know it has explained a few things for me. A question for anyone.
When im fishing on the dam i get a lot of horizontle lines, which i think is a school of fish but i also get angled lines at times as well. some one was telling me the angled line are non active fish and the horizontle lines are active fish. ? Also i have never seen an arch on my sounder, Could i have a problem with it ? its a humminbird matrix 17

[John Martin]

Found this image on a website and thought it a good comparison to compare daylight viewability, screen size, bracket mount etc alongside eachother.

[insideout]

gday all , i was snapper fishing out on the ardi (hervey bay ) the night before the new moon and on some of the soundings i could see snapper swimming through the bait , but were not biting. here is a photo of the bait school at night . Photo taken from a furuno 600 series.

[Chris Ryan]

I notice that most of you are Hummingbird/Lowarance/Furano users. I have only seen one post from a Navman user. Are they better than the Navman brand? If so, why?

I have an old Navman unit and am wondering if it is better to get another one or move brands.

Thanks
Chris

[Wahoo]

I notice that most of you are Hummingbird/Lowarance/Furano users. I have only seen one post from a Navman user. Are they better than the Navman brand? If so, why?

I have an old Navman unit and am wondering if it is better to get another one or move brands.

Thanks
Chris

Chris
Navman is a good brand and if your happy with that brand, i really dont see any reason why you should change, unless you want to update it, a lot of PPL stick to what they are used to as they no how it all works


Daz

[tunaticer]

G'day fellas,

I have been trying to get prawns to show on my sounder as guys are using thier sounders to pick up prawns in the pine river.

I guess they are using whiteline as well as bottom lock and probably 4x or 8x and setting the gain as far as possible to get a show from prawns.

Anyone else out there got shows from schools of prawns on ur sounders?

What settings do you use for them and do you go for 2x 4x or 8x mag on the bottom lock?

Jack.

[Charlie]

great thread i know it has explained a few things for me. A question for anyone.
When im fishing on the dam i get a lot of horizontle lines, which i think is a school of fish but i also get angled lines at times as well. some one was telling me the angled line are non active fish and the horizontle lines are active fish. ? Also i have never seen an arch on my sounder, Could i have a problem with it ? its a humminbird matrix 17

I really know what you mean the only arches I’ve really seem seen are in the manual.
Angled lines are on the edge of the beam or if you’re getting wedges and they all point left or right your transducer isn’t horizontal. Very long angled lines of uniform thickness can be air bubbles coming up from the bottom.

[2rods]

I notice that most of you are Hummingbird/Lowarance/Furano users. I have only seen one post from a Navman user. Are they better than the Navman brand? If so, why?

I have an old Navman unit and am wondering if it is better to get another one or move brands.

Thanks
Chris

Now that I have owned a Navman and a Lowrance sounder and now a Furuno FVC600L I must say that the Furuno is a much better unit.

If you are after just a good unit lowrance is ok but not as good as they should be for the $$ IMHO.

Here is a picture of the Furuno in action in shallow water just out from Darwin

[Manjilad]

HOW MUCH OCEAN FLOOR CAN MY SOUNDER SEE?
This Info courtesy of AIRMAR is of great value .... http://airmar.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/a...i=&p_topview=1

Cheers

How much underwater area can be seen by an echosounder? Question How much underwater area can be seen by an echosounder?
Answer Engineers determine how wide an area will be seen on the water’s bottom by knowing the depth of the water and the transducer’s cone angle. If you have a mathematical calculator or trigonometry tables, you can calculate beamwidth using the following formula:
(2 x depth) x (tangent of 1/2 cone angle) = diameter of the beam (beamwidth)
There are several ways to specify beamwidth. The commercial fishing and naval industry frequently provide beamwidth information by measuring the sound beam at –3 dB. The marine recreation industry, however, provides beamwidth information measured at –6 dB, giving the impression that their transducers have a wider beam field.

[sjp2]

iam just a bit curious,why is 200htz used in the above 2 pictures at depths of 6 mts and 14 mts i just thought 50htz widebeam would be better(which iam having probs with at the moment,with gaps in the display)

[2rods]

iam just a bit curious,why is 200htz used in the above 2 pictures at depths of 6 mts and 14 mts i just thought 50htz widebeam would be better(which iam having probs with at the moment,with gaps in the display)

200khz for shallow water...say under 100mtrs

50khz for deep water

That is what I was told and it has always worked well for me..... if you are loosing bottom (gaps?) look at your transducer location... I loose bottom in rough seas as the transducer comes out of the water..... (The joy of a long boat)

[poundalead]

Hey Insideout I fished the Arty. on Saturday with similar showings on my Lowrance sounder. (Didn't get pics.) Dropped the bait jigs down and pulled Herring, Pike and Snotty Trevs. We used these livies amongst the schools of bait and didn't raise a scale either, the place was dead. Even the placcy boys were having a hard time. Good pics. though mate keep them coming. Cheers Benny

[Fitzy]

HOW MUCH OCEAN FLOOR CAN MY SOUNDER SEE?
This Info courtesy of AIRMAR is of great value .... http://airmar.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/a...i=&p_topview=1

The commercial fishing and naval industry frequently provide beamwidth information by measuring the sound beam at –3 dB. The marine recreation industry, however, provides beamwidth information measured at –6 dB, giving the impression that their transducers have a wider beam field.

I think theres one brand of rec industry sonar that measure theirs at -10dB.


fitz..

[mooman]

This is awsome information. I am yet to see pics like that on my sounder . I am now hopeful. Would it be fair to say that you wouldn't bother fishing a spot unless you see detail on your sounder, or do you fish anyway hoping for the best?

Unfortunately I ten do go to a spot that may have produced previously and hope for the best. I still don't have the confidence in my ability to read my sounder and as a result I don't want to just drive around all day and not wet a line because I don't know what I am looking at .

Cheers

Greg

[Timfishin4fun]

Great work guys pics and explanations are tops!