Teach me how to use my Fish Finder please

[airborne_angler]

I have a CUDA 168 Fish Finder on my Jon Boat and cant seem to find it useful for anything except telling me water temps.

I troll at the slowest setting I can and watch for any deviation in the bottom. Humps,ledges ect. Im prepared to drop my anchor immediately when I see something. I get anchored solidly and watch mt graph and the only thing I see is the flat bottom. I try to go reverse of the way i just came to try and find the spot again and cant find it.

Can anyone help me to learn how to read this thing. I spent close to $100 on this unit and to me right now,its useless and im pretty dissapointed.

[cart7t]

what did you think that graph was going to show you?  

 

 

[CFFF 1.5]

Any possibility you have the unit on preview mode for when they are modeling in the store.

[airborne_angler]

I know I dont have the graph on preview mode,the depth reading is accurate(when im in skinny water,it shows up properly)but I cant seem to understand why I cant park my boat on underwater structure that shows up on the graph. Id like to be able to mark it with a buoy,and then back off and fish that spot. But when i get stopped on top of what I see on the graph,its not registering when I get anchored . I can see the line coming off my anchor in the graph. I know im just not doing something right and I would like to learn how to figger it out.

[Team9nine]

Best way to learn is to hook up with someone who already knows to show you on the water. Can take a lot of trial and error otherwise.

If you go back over something you marked and it's no longer there, it was probably fish that have moved off. Structure stays put. After a while you'll get a better feel for the difference in readings. try and go over know stuff, even shallow enough that you can visually see in the water and see how it marks. Drop a lot of buoys and throw lures on what you marked to "feel" what is down there. You'll eventually learn the difference between brush, stumps, rocks, etc. pretty well.

Also learn to use grayline. It can be your best friend

-T9

[acar555]

The sonar needs movement to show changes in the bottom.  While sitting still it just redraws the same information over and over, thus showing the flat bottom.  This should help you understand how they work a little better.

http://www.lowrance.com/en/Support/Tips-and-Tutorials/Sonar-Tutorial/

[SnowBass23]

Airborne,

I have had the exact same problem as you, so you are certainly not alone.  I am working to get better at reading my ff.  

[airborne_angler]

That Lowrance tutorial relly helped me!! I sorta see what I am doing wrong.

By the time I see a hump or something on my graph and its in the middle of my screen,I have already gone past it. I need to mark it just as it starts showing up on the right of my screen,or make a mental not that by the time I see the hump fully on the center of my screen that that hump is actually behind me.

[SkeeterZX225]

You're starting to figure it out, but remember this. If you drive over the hump, point, etc and say it goes from 20ft. to 15ft. on the graph with a nice 90 degree drop. When you drop anchor over that drop your fish finder is still not going to show the exact picture of the drop that you seen in the first place. All it will show is the actual depth your setting over and because your anchored it will not change so the bottom on your fishfinder will be a flat line.

Hope you can understand that. I'm not the greatest at explaining somethings online that are very easy to explain in person

[airborne_angler]

So about this sharp angle you speak of,let me get this straight. If I park(anchor) my boat "on" a slope,I could actually be on the slope,but the fish finder will show the slope as a flat bottom on the screen and not a slope,that I might actually be sitting on??

Well that takes frustration out of it even more,If thats what im actually understanding.

[acar555]

The tranducer send out a cone shaped signal that "reads" the bottom and anything in between.  It is like a flashlight beam.  It will only detect what is shining on.  So if your boat isn't moving it will stay shining on the same exact spot, giving the same reading over and over.  The screen shows the most current information on the right side of the screen and as it moves to the left it is older information.  I think you are starting to get it.  It just takes time on the water to get it down pat.

[SkeeterZX225]

So about this sharp angle you speak of,let me get this straight. If I park(anchor) my boat "on" a slope,I could actually be on the slope,but the fish finder will show the slope as a flat bottom on the screen and not a slope,that I might actually be sitting on??

Well that takes frustration out of it even more,If thats what im actually understanding.

Exactly. Like everyone is saying it just takes time to figure it out. My units still  have alot of features I don't fully understand but by being able to understand the basics it puts you that much further ahead in the game of fishing  

[reo]

The tranducer send out a cone shaped signal that "reads" the bottom and anything in between. It is like a flashlight beam. It will only detect what is shining on. So if your boat isn't moving it will stay shining on the same exact spot, giving the same reading over and over. The screen shows the most current information on the right side of the screen and as it moves to the left it is older information. I think you are starting to get it. It just takes time on the water to get it down pat.

Excellent explanation!!

[NBR]

What acar555 said and regardless of how slow you are going what you see on your sounder is 5 or more feet behind the boat. If your sounder has a tutorial you can look at it off the water. The west coast guy who is a finesse guru wrote a book and has a video on depth sounders. His first name is Don but I can't recall his last name. Maybe someone else can post it.

Having said all of that TOTW (time on the water) is what counts.

[CWB]

Toss out a marker when you pass over something interesting. Then anchor off it and cast all around it. Not the best idea to plop in an anchor right where you want to fish anyway.

[fishfordollars]

Try this: www.hightechfishing.com

Actually I don't think you are ready for this site. You may have nightmares, but it is loaded with advanced information.

One thing to remember is that the information you are seeing  you have just passed over. Is it possible you are a little farther from the mark than you realize. Someone else recommended that you go with someone that is comfortable with a unit and let them help you out. I totally agree.

Good luck.

[Matt Fly]

This is how I learned to decipher what was under the boat when I got my first graph many moons ago.

I went to areas I knew exactly what was on the bottom for sure.

Go to a swim beach area for medium hard bottom.    

Not familar with a Cuda, but first off, check where the intensity is set while in manual mode, ping speed and such.     play with them while you are in one spot.    Look how thick the black line is on bottom

Find area with known soft mudd.   notice how the bottom is portrayed, thick or thin?    Keep playing with Auto and Manual modes to see the difference.

     Also, while trolling, I get next to or under the bridge while paralleling them.      Note the speed of the boat as you pass a bridge piling,  how many feet have you passed before it shows up on the graph.   You can adjust the speed of the graph as well.

   This will teach you how far an object is from the boat you just saw on the graph.    ie..... you passed a brush pile that appeared to have fish on it and you want to check it out.    You'll know exactly where to cast behind the boat.   Lots of people with transducer on transon assume what they saw is right there, when it really depends on chart speed and boat speed.    It could 5 ft or 10ft behind the boat.

I went to known rock piles, like the dam or rip rap from bridges, found known types of vegitation.   By learning how they are displayed on your graph, you be reading bottom real soon.    

     By learning bottom hardness, which is displayed by thickness on most graphs, you be able to see changes in bottom composition and such.

    The only time I have seen bass like muddy bottoms is in the winter, they seek shallow muddy bottoms sometimes cause it asorbs heat better than anything else in the winter as they like hard bottoms for spawning and such.        

Graph anything you know for sure.     Learn what they look like and you'll have it down in no time.      

    Nothing wrong with using Auto for awhile.