Sounder Troubles

[Luringbream]

Hey all, i've been experiencing some sounder troubles since i purchased the unit and i havent really payed much attention to it until now. My Furuno 4100 doesnt show fish as arches but rather a bunch of lines and dots. I find it really hard to distinguish whether i have a fish or a bait school beneath my boat due to this. Also a few weeks ago i landed an 80cm kingie and not once did the fish appear on the sounder during the fight??

I have my sounder set to auto(fishing) and i have fiddled a few times on the manual setting but it still hasnt made a difference. I spoke to a Furuno sales rep and they didnt really show much intersest or offer much help.

The sounder is great at showing bottom detail, which was the primary reason why i purchased it but it really sucks on picking up fish.

Any suggestions guys?

Anyone have one and experience anything similar?

DAN

[slothe]

you may be getting electrical interference,make sure your transducer cable is kept as far away from any

other electrical items/cables as possible,could make a difference

[fishingrod]

I think seeing a fish arch is a bit of an "ideal"

Ill get nice clear horizontal shaped looking fish regularly, and small blobs too + large bait balls.

I very rarely see arches and ive got a Raymarine colour DS600x which is meant to be a good sounder (came with my boat when i bought it 2nd hand)

I cant comment on your unit, i've never used a 4100 myself, except pressed buttons in demo mode in the shop.

cheers

Rod

[PPSGT]

Hi Dan,

Have a read through this : http://www.lowrance.com/Support/Tips_Tutor...tutorial_01.asp

It gives a really good run down on how sounders work.

Arches dont appear for a lot of reasons. At anchor or trolling very slow you wont always get

arches and some fish's swim bladders & stomaches dont form arches on the screen.

And it also changes if they have a full stomach or an empty one.

Here is a (rather bad) picture of kings on the sounder at clifton gardens while at anchor.

You can clearly see them at 10-15 feet - they were eating the burley and at the bottom

around 25 feet. 1 minute prior to this the sounder didnt have a dot between the surface clutter and the

bottom, some burley was thrown in and they've swum under the boat

As you can see they are almost straight dark lines, not arches.

With fish ID on kings show up as little balls of fish symbols on my sounder

The resolution is 480 pixel highs compared to 240 on the furuno which does make a big

difference to what you see , but kings will still clearly show up.

Namesay posted some really good picture so kings on his sounder a while back

have a look through his post and will give you a good idea of what you looking for.

Usually a big blob with little blobs behind or below it is a good sign

Check that you transducer is close to parallel to the bottom when the boat is stationary or going

slow and its not in a stream of air bubbles coming from under the hull.

Noise filters can help with static, turn the motor off if the fish or clutter disappeaers its

engine noise - try re-routing the cables first or buy a heavy duty car audio power noise suppressor/filter

Jason

Edited March 19, 2007 by PPSGT