Lowrance Mark 5x DSI

[SargeRX8]

Hey all,

Ive got this fish finder and after reading the manual and looking at what ever I could online, I still don't know wtf I'm doing when actually trying to use it. It doesn't seem to show any fish or there aren't any fish to see. When we used it last we burlied hard and saw about 200 yellowtail under the boat, When looking at the fish finder, it doesn't look like the bait balls I'd expect to see but more like squiggles and little dots and random crap. From what I have read, it is good enough to troll at slow speed and you should see some blips when you pass over things. I see nothing, no matter where I go. I tried looking for videos of demonstrations on the internet but everything I have found is not in English. Sometimes when were just sitting in one spot the bottom changes from a smooth flat line to a sound wave looking thing with ups and downs even though the boat was not moving. Would this be because of the choppy water raising and dipping the boat? Ive read that big fish and small fish on these DSI range units always look like tiny dots rather than arches. If you're anchored up in one spot and you see something pass, does that necessarily mean a fish or some other object just passed under the boat?

Does anyone have a similar fish finder and able to shed some light on what I should see and how I can use it to benefit me? At the moment the only thing it seems to be good for is checking depth.

It came with the boat so I'm not fussed about it but if I could make use of it, it would save me from looking for a new one to buy.

Cheers.

[port hacking addiction]

Hey mate iv got 1 the dsi model its a real good sounder once u get use to it yellowtail will come up as little dots, kingies come up in big dots if ur anchored they will be lines,use what colour suits u to look at structure but when ur sounding out for fish,change the colour to white back ground its the best 1 to see fish,u just have to get use to it too know what fish is what

[Scratchie]

I was looking at buying that same finder, however it was explained to me that the DSI technology is not really good when you are at anchor. The lines up and down are the waves bouncing of its own sonar. To improve this you need a structure scan unit which cost about $900+.

Because the technology is relatively new, I think the improvements are a little while away!

Cheers scratchie!!!

[SargeRX8]

Cheers for the current inputs. From what I have read they do work alright but it really comes down to how you interpret the image. Scratchie check out the humminbird units. Im considering the 798 it does down image and side image all in one unit. Ill give this one another couple tries and ill probably pick up an el cheapo off ebay which uses lower frequencies and see how they work together and use that to aid in reading the images. Cheers guys.