Sounder Reading

[Sean]

Great topic this one, I'm intereted in replies to mooman's question as I'm a bit the same.

[BigE]

hummingbird shots

[soggy1]

Hello to one and all, firstly as a new member to this site i would like to thank everyone who has posted there thoughts on this topic . However during the week i was talking to a gent about my new raymarine A65 in relation to the colour sounder and trying to understand what it is telling me about the bottom wether it is hard ,mud ,sand or shoal as ive never used a colour sounder before and never realy paid much att to my dads old black & white i'm asking alot of questions now the one thing that contradicted everything ive learnt so far,is his understanding of this is that the harder the bottom the thiner the red line and the softer the bottom thicker the red line as the sound is absorb futher in softer ground thus the thicher red base ,now this come from the guy who sold me the unit so i asume he knows a bit about them any thoughts on this would be great .

[FNQCairns]

Hello to one and all, firstly as a new member to this site i would like to thank everyone who has posted there thoughts on this topic . However during the week i was talking to a gent about my new raymarine A65 in relation to the colour sounder and trying to understand what it is telling me about the bottom wether it is hard ,mud ,sand or shoal as ive never used a colour sounder before and never realy paid much att to my dads old black & white i'm asking alot of questions now the one thing that contradicted everything ive learnt so far,is his understanding of this is that the harder the bottom the thiner the red line and the softer the bottom thicker the red line as the sound is absorb futher in softer ground thus the thicher red base ,now this come from the guy who sold me the unit so i asume he knows a bit about them any thoughts on this would be great .

Hard to get your head around I know and I cannot read your question again or I will end up confused myself, it's not about hard or soft it's about refection and absorption, a surface capable of scattering or absorbing the signal will return a weak response back to the transducer, this weak signal is displayed as a thinner line or area and/or less 'intense' on the false colour display your sounder is set up with.

So less 'show' = weak return signal=scattered/absorbed=soft or diffuse structure/surface.

Here is a thought, if a soft bottom like mud was displayed as the more intense/thicker areas on the screen imagine what your display would look like when displaying the water it was shooting through

Best I can do, hope someone can give you more.

Cheers fnq

[quigley595]

Hello to one and all, firstly as a new member to this site i would like to thank everyone who has posted there thoughts on this topic . However during the week i was talking to a gent about my new raymarine A65 in relation to the colour sounder and trying to understand what it is telling me about the bottom wether it is hard ,mud ,sand or shoal as ive never used a colour sounder before and never realy paid much att to my dads old black & white i'm asking alot of questions now the one thing that contradicted everything ive learnt so far,is his understanding of this is that the harder the bottom the thiner the red line and the softer the bottom thicker the red line as the sound is absorb futher in softer ground thus the thicher red base ,now this come from the guy who sold me the unit so i asume he knows a bit about them any thoughts on this would be great .

soggy,
Not that I'm an expert, but my simple rule is Red = Soft, Yellow = Hard. Full stop!!!

So, if you see a yellow bottom, then that is hard... sand, rock etc. The harder the bottom, the thicker the colour line will be.

You will sometimes see a yellow bottom (hard) with a long red strip (soft) just above it, that you know cannot be fish. In this case, it is probably kelp or seagrass or something like that.

Anything red/blue in the middle of the water column is worth checking out.
If you see a ball of red/blue, then that is clearly a baitball.
If you see a red/blue arch, that is probably a big fish...

and so on..... If anyone disagrees with this... please let me know, since I am learning as well!!!!!

BTW, I use a Lowrance, but I guess the colours will be the same for all units??

cheers
Mike

[Willow1]

Mike I use a Navman and out on the shoals My bottom colours differ a bit . Comming up to the shoal the bottom is barren (sand) which displays as red/orange colour. As soon as I hit the shoals the change is very distinct. Bottom is different shades of blue with Orange/red below that. The fern and grasses tend to show up as green to blue. Shoal is coral and broken shell through mud. When I was learning to use the sounder I bought one of the under water cameras with the 5 inch screens to confirm / verefy what I was seeing on the sounder. Proved invaluable. Regards Shane

[crowser]

hey, just wondering how u determine the secies of the fish?

cheers

[Simmo2]

hey, just wondering how u determine the secies of the fish?

cheers

Catch one?!

[tae4551]

a 60ft high bait school

[Local_Guy]

wow. what an amazing thread.

tomorrow i am purchasing my first boat and i will be purchasing a Lowrance 522 sounder/gps unit.

it appears though that as long as you have a decent quality sounder, weather that be colour or B&W they all basically show the same features.

[Chris Ryan]

Just bought a few days ago a Garmin FF400C from Mr Boats through ebay. Been anxiously looking at the post box waiting for it. Once I get it installed and learn to use the thing I'll see if I can get some pics posted on what I see.

Anyone had experience with these units and can post some into pics at what I can be expecting to look at?

Thanks
Chris

[bluefin59]

Here is a piccy from out at brennan shoals...matt

[Local_Guy]

ended up purchasing a Humminbird 727 and the gps receiver with the unit for chartplotting and basic hot spot marks. should be a great unit.

[snelly1971]

Furuno 585 Pics

Cheers Mick

[reel scream]

Nice shots mick. I take it thats your drop line headed to the bottom in pics 3 and 4. Nice accurate shooting. What were the fish mate?

Cheers Scott.