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Old 07-15-09, 11:35 PM   #1
fishin' fool
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Default Fine tuning your sonar.

Hello all, I haven't been on the forum for a while now, just working and fishing. Caught my summers biggest about 3 weeks ago, a 4.5 pounder on a deep diving crank.
Have a couple of questions about sonars

I don't like to run my sonars on auto, I just don't think they perform the best. I like to fine tune my sensitivity to meet the situation I'm fishing. But two different magazine articles dealing with sonars, the editors suggested running sonars in the automatic setting. There theory was that the newer sonars are much better in the auto setting compared to their older models. I was wondering what if you guys run your sonars in auto or manual mode? IF you run it in manual, about what is your average sensitivity setting. I know model and fishing conditions will change it. Mine is usually in the area between 55 and 75%.

Second, since I run it in the manual mode and fish i.d. off, sometimes I don't see any fish arches. I may know or catch fish off of an area, but never read any arches on my screen. Sometimes I do get partial arches, but that is a fish not fully in the cone. I'ver never seen a ture fish arch. Any fine tuning tips to help me out? Thanks and good fishin'!
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Old 07-16-09, 02:02 AM   #2
carolina-rig-01
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i have spent the last 3 years studying really hard on reading graphs, and i am getting fairly good at telling what i am seeing on my screen. i run my graphs in auto almost all the time. the only time i will run it in manual mode is when i am spooning or dropshotting vertically in deep water. if i am fishing vertical in deep water and i know that the fish are schooling say 30-35 feet deep i will set my graph on manual mode to show 50 feet deep. this helps get a better view of your bait and the fish because your screen won't be bouncing around at different depths. other than that just run it in auto, you will be a lot better off.

as for the fish arches. i bet your problem is with your trasducer not being exactly horizontal. when your trolling motor is down and you are fishing your transducer needs to be exactly horizontal in order to get fish arches. i bet if you tinker with this a bit it will help you a lot.

i run my sensitivity as high as i can get away with. i turn it up to the point where i start to get some clutter on the screen (surface clutter will probably show up first). i want just a little clutter but not so much that it makes the screen look like a mess. also if you get in shallow water and the graph has trouble with picking up the depth then turning down the sensitivity will probably fix this problem.

hope this helps
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