sonar settings

[mustfish]

Just wondering if most people change the settings on their fish finders or go with factory settings.

Sensitivity=

Grayline=

surface clarity=

ASP=

 

I am novice when it comes to fish finders. I have a lowrance LMS-160 map. I did a search on this board but didn't come up with much. Probablly did not word the search correctly.

 

Thank you in advance!

Mustfish

[Stoty]

From what I have read/been told the only thing you really need to change in order to make a big difference is turn the FISH ID setting OFF.

 

I am not sure about changing the other settings.

I have a Lowrance 522 iGPS unit, and I have only turned off the FISH ID feature. Everything else is factory.

[muskymike]

Read the manual. Once you have everything changed its amazing how much more accurate the higher end units are. its like night and day. if you want it just for depth then you are fine but if you want to maximize your purchase read the manual and see all of the settings you can toggle. Do some research on the net for best setups and you will see. A lot of guys on here should be able to help you out. "Electrical Noise" is a huge issue and makes so much of a difference....so many features, use them all. Dont stick with factory settings.

[mustfish]

From what I have read/been told the only thing you really need to change in order to make a big difference is turn the FISH ID setting OFF.

 

I am not sure about changing the other settings.

I have a Lowrance 522 iGPS unit, and I have only turned off the FISH ID feature. Everything else is factory.

Yea, I did do that. MMMMMMMMMM boomerangs(arcs) getting excited just thinking about em

[Stoty]

Some great points there Mike.

In that case, if anyone has the same unit as myself (Lowrance 522 iGPS), please feel free to let me know which settings you have changed.

[Billy Bob]

Some great points there Mike.

In that case, if anyone has the same unit as myself (Lowrance 522 iGPS), please feel free to let me know which settings you have changed.

 

The more important manual setting would be increasing sensitivity, ping speed and chart speed. The automatic settings are really handcuffing you from getting the best out of your unit.

[BillM]

I leave my fish ID on... It will tell me on which frequency the fish was picked up on (200khz, 83khz) Basically this boils down to the fish being right underneath the boat, or off to the sides..

 

We have a Humminbird 747c.

[Stoty]

I will definitely take a look at those settings this weekend, when I am at the cottage.

Thanks for the heads up on this, I just assumed since the unit was expensive, it would already be optimized.

[Sinker]

I set everything manually, depending on the water I'm fishing. Don't forget about your zoom too......I only use it in deep water though.

 

I down the sensitivity until there is no clutter on the screen, turn up the chart speed, and set the depth range manually once I'm on a spot where I know how deep it will get.....I hate it when the screen is flipping from one depth range to another in the middle of a nice drop. If I'm cruising around, I crank the ping speed, so I can mark bottom at WOT. I have never used the fish ID or fish depth feature.

 

Generally, in the kawartha's for example, I set the depth range to 20ft, sensitivity is around 80%.....or bring it down until its not picking up every little insect in the water, and turn the chart speed to around 75%.

 

There are lots of other things to play with, but they apply to different situations.

 

Sinker

[mustfish]

Sinker,

I am going on a fly in north of Kenora, lake has depths up to 130 feet of water what kind of settings would you use on a lake like this. We will be on the lake May 24 so I am guessing most everything will be fairly shallow with the water being cold but you never know.

Thank you

mustfish

Edited May 13, 2008 by mustfish

[Guest skeeter99]

turn fish id off

 

adjust sensitivity all the time for better markings also helps to see thermclines

 

adjust ping speed

 

adjust chart speed

 

adjust zoom

 

if you leave it in factory settings the unit picks up alot of garbage, weeds/ algae blooms etc look like fish on the unit when they are not at all

Edited May 13, 2008 by skeeter99

[bpsbassman]

In that case, if anyone has the same unit as myself (Lowrance 522 iGPS), please feel free to let me know which settings you have changed.

I've got the same unit Stoty (and I love it), but haven't played with it much other than NO FISH ID and increasing ping speed.

 

Let me know what you come up with.

 

Good thread MustFish

Thanks.

Edited May 13, 2008 by BPSBASSMAN

[RangerGuy]

Great Topic!

 

I get the nice arches one my x102c. Here's a question I always here the pros say they are picking up fish at speeds like 20-25 mph. So they scan a point or hump at those speeds to eliminate water before actually fishing.

 

I can never get anything but bottom readings from my unit at those speeds.

 

Does anybody mark fish at 20mph + ?

[doubleheader]

Ranger guy. 25 may be possible on the top of line units, I have the LMS300 series graphs; I don't think I could pick fish up at that speed, maybe 20. You won't see an arch more like a red line or dot. Then slow down to get a better look. Probably need color and at min a 486 v pix graph. Set chart speed to max. Make sure transducer alignment is as good a possible.

[mustfish]

Do you use thru hull or transom mount transducers? That might make a difference on how fast you can go and still get a good reading. Seems the thru hull wouldn't pick up as much turbulence.

[cthewrld]

Just to be clear ..... on the Lowrance 522 the chart speed default is set to maximum. I find that it works quite well at that setting. The sensitivity and ping speed should be manually adjusted depending on the fishing conditions.

[Roy]

Download the emulator for you particular model Lowrance HERE!

That way you can practice with it without having to be out in the boat.

[Dondorfish]

Download the emulator for you particular model Lowrance HERE!

That way you can practice with it without having to be out in the boat.

 

 

That's pretty cool there Roy - got one of those links for Eagle Fishfinders?

 

Don

 

[Roy]

Sure Don. HERE!

you go. Knock yourself out.

[Dondorfish]

Thanks Roy - but it dosen't have my unit on there - but the rest are fun to play with.

 

 

Don

 

[mustfish]

Thank you to everybody for the great responses!

 

mustfish

[RangerGuy]

Yeh i have it transom mounted and the x102c is colour unit... It could be my hull as well since it's an 89 it might make more turbulance in the water than the new boats

[Billy Bob]

Great Topic!

Does anybody mark fish at 20mph + ?

 

You will NOT mark fish at higher speeds. The slower speeds are going to mark just about anything below you if you have sensitivity, ping and charts setting correct for the conditions.

 

I had a hard time trying to convince a fishing buddy of this. We were cruising Lake Erie for walleye a couple of years ago in his boat at speeds between 15 - 20 mph and were not charting anything below us. I kept saying slow down to trolling speed and let have a look. NO, he was convince his $2100.00 new Lowrance LMS 19C unit could do it. We cruised for almost 2 hours until I said again, slow the boat down to 5 mph and lets have a look. When he finally did this the screen lit up with large hooks, we set out lines and started to catch our limit.

 

BTW, a through hull installed transducer loses a lot of sensitivity. A transom mount transducer is the best if properly installed.

 

Bob

[aplumma]

Read this link it will give you an idea on what your depth finder is trying to tell you. The factory settings are a generic broad application setting that does all thing OK but none of the well.

 

depthfinder 101

 

Art

[Musky or Specks]

For open water Im basically using it as a depth finder unless Im trolling in which case Im using it to look for bait. But on the ice I carefully adjust the settings until I can pick up my lure/bait and no clutter. Then fishing becomes a video game. I can generally watch the fish approach my bait pixel by pixel. This really keeps your attentioned focused and is quite rewarding. Ive watched trout come in on the graph that basicall thickene the bottom by one pixel and called the hit, suspended crappie where you have to distinct lines across the graph with the bottom one blipping up to merge with the top one. But I'll never forget being on lake temagami watching my buddies little cleo jig up and down,the entire screen goes black WHAM 20 lb laker.