Newbie can’t read his new fish finder

[BigMinnow]

I just bought my first fish finder a couple weeks ago. It’s the Deeper Chirp. It does pretty much everything I needed a beginner fish finder to do but I need help discerning between what are fish and what aren’t. To preface, these pictures are on the lowest beam angle, so they’re the most  precise recordings. As for the color palate, orange is hard bottom, brown is soft bottom, green is supposedly vegetation, and their website says yellow arches are fish. 

 

So my general questions are, if the yellow arches are fish, how do I tell how deep they actually are? And how do I discern species (if I can.)? Lastly, there’s a toggleable fish icon setting. They suggest using it for begginers and turning it off once you become comfortable with the units when it’s on, the unit seems to place the icons way above the arches. Is that the right location for them?? Or would the fish actually be sitting deeper?

 

Now, as for specific scans, do these scans look like bait?? I read somewhere that bait is supposed to show up like clouds.

 

and without the fish icons, would these arches be fish? My guess is sitting right around 5-5.5 ft deep? 

 

and lastly, if the yellow is fish, what does it mean to have a red mark (high density) return in a fish ark?? Is that indicative of a huge fish?? 

 

I know, a lot of questions and I should probably watch a YouTube video on how to read a 2D fish finder. I just wanted to ask these forums because you guys are usually super helpful.

 

Thanks in advance for all all your input guys.

[redmexican5081]

To start off, are the images from a stationary Deeper or are you moving it across the water? I ask because stationary images and moving images can look the same but show very different things. My interpretations will assume you are moving it across the water.  Also, with the small beam angle and only 8' of water you are looking down in cone that ends up the size of a dinner plate.

 

As to your specific questions and my interpretations of you images

Fish depth is at the peak of the arch.  Species identification is best done with knowledge of the water body and its inhabitants and making an educated guess, or by hook and observe.  The fish images displayed would be at the top of the arches if they were turned off.  A word of caution with the fish images, most units display fish images much more frequently than actual fish being there. If you understand arches, leave the symbols off.

 

In the top image, the yellow scatter is more likely junk in the water, be it weeds or just floating debris. I wouldn't trust the fish symbols to actual fish in this picture.

The middle image, again I would say weeds or debris, leaning more towards weeds due to them going all the way to the bottom and getting a green return at the base.

The bottom image I would say the same but there might be something where the red is.  It is a stronger return than whats around it.  The color in itself does not indicate a huge fish just a stronger return.

 

Youtube will be helpful but it cannot replace time spent on the water.  Find an area where you can see or know whats in the water and use your Deeper there.  Try it over sand, rock, mud, weeds, wood, etc.  The time you spend learning how your unit shows different things is way more valuable to you than the time spend watching someone else show you whats on their screen.

[txchaser]

A few thoughts that may be helpful:

1) so far when I see red in the water column it is most likely wood

2) wide cone first, you are probably getting a lot of half-returns where you are getting part of the fish. In 8 FOW use narrow to check out something specific or map an edge, but mostly run wide or medium until you see something interesting. 

3) as far as I can tell the fish icons are fantasies

4) the lakebook site is pretty good, and I notice things on there that for some reason I didn't see on the phone. Definitely worth reviewing your logs on the site when you get home. 

5) You didn't ask, but thickness of the arch will tell you size of the fish.

[BigMinnow]

Thanks for the help guys. Really.

 

@redmexican5081 would bait balls still show up on wide or medium beam angle? I’m trying to find bait but I don’t know what I’m looking for or how to discern it from debris in the water

 

[redmexican5081]

16 hours ago, BigMinnow said:

Thanks for the help guys. Really.

 

@redmexican5081 would bait balls still show up on wide or medium beam angle? I’m trying to find bait but I don’t know what I’m looking for or how to discern it from debris in the water

 

You will see bait on all scans, wide, medium, and narrow, but the area covered is beam width and depth dependent.  The wide beam will show you more of a coverage area on the screen.  A ball or cloud of bait is described that way because that is what it looks like on the screen.  The light yellow in your pictures  is what it would look like but usually they will be more concentrated and do not go to the bottom and get the stronger return at the base