Fishing Victoria Forum

Hi All,
Anyone got any good tips for understanding your sounder? (I've got a basic Garmin echoMAP CHIRP 75SV Combo)
I've got the basics down:

• Arches/Boomerangs mean fish.
  'Yellow' images are less solid than the 'Red' ones.
  The more kHz you select to beam down, the narrower the search cone, but the image will be clearer.

*4liters mentioned: "Pick a glassed out day when you can see the bottom and compare what you see on the sounder with what you can see on the sea floor" on an earlier thread which is good as I'm struggling to identify structure (particularly the difference between sand and rock)

I was struggling to understand my sounder when I first got it around WPB (not the best place to learn with how bad water clarity can be there)

Then went to Eden, which was crystal clear and it was very easy to adjust it to distinguish what was fish and what was nothing. Especially when the sounder lit up with huge schools of slimies and scads.

I still dont get the 'arches' or boomerangs when fish appear, its moreso a horizontal line, but that works for me. I think that's primarily because of my transducer rather than the sounder itself and my settings

Mattblack wrote:Hi All,
Anyone got any good tips for understanding your sounder? (I've got a basic Garmin echoMAP CHIRP 75SV Combo)
I've got the basics down:

• Arches/Boomerangs mean fish.
  'Yellow' images are more solid than the 'Red' ones.
  The more kHz you select to beam down, the narrower the search cone, but the image will be clearer.

*4liters mentioned: "Pick a glassed out day when you can see the bottom and compare what you see on the sounder with what you can see on the sea floor" on an earlier thread which is good as I'm struggling to identify structure (particularly the difference between sand and rock)

Usually red is more solid. The darker the color the harder the ground. Turn up your gain until you start to see clutter. This will give you the most power and better definition of objects in the water and bottom structure. Not too much gain or you will fill the screen with crap. Have a play and you will find the right amount. Usually best to set the depth to auto.
Have fun. :a_goodjob:

Fish showing up as blobs/arches depends on the transducer.

Wider angles produce more of an arch where as narrower angles produce more of a blob.

50 deg arch 25 deg half way in between 12 deg blob.

Pelagics often show up as a line but this is due to the depth and scale on the screen.

Red is normally stronger echo but your sounder might be different.

Sounder? I thought everyone still used a rope with knots every metre? And take a mark from You Yangs and Kardinia Park? :rofl:

Thanks guys...I just edited my post with the correct info. So would rocks be a dark red and sand lighter red/yellow....and weed even lighter again?

For the bottom the thickness of the line is more important than colour. Thicker line stronger echo more likely to be rocks.

frozenpod wrote:For the bottom the thickness of the line is more important than colour. Thicker line stronger echo more likely to be rocks.

Sand also gives a red bottom, it's not as thick as more solid tocks/reef

Get a copy of this dvd he also does a book its very informative its based around lowrance but you will get the idea. Rick Huckstepp he is in south Australia

The first question I would have is what transducer is your sounder running at what output's?
Understanding the cone angle at the depths your fishing will help then it's about tuning it in to suit where you are what you are doing.
Sensitivity and clutter are a couple of things that may need adjusting especially in a place like western port.