How to read a fish finder??

Thanks Tom, I'll let you know after I get back from vacation.
Rodney

Tom, I tried to do as you said, & I think it will work. I was having a hard time with the wind but a couple of times I was able to watch my bait going down. I was only in about 15ft of water, but when I did see the bait it was clear.
Thanks, I'm going to do some experimenting & will let you know how it goes.
Rodney

Don't get discouraged, boat control takes lots of practice to keep on top of targets without visual aids nearby to glance at. I have been doing this for a very long time and it becomes second nature after awhile. The cone diameter is very small and easy to be blown around and loose sight of your lure, just focus on the structure, fish and depth, the bass will let you know if the lure is in there face.
Tom

I'm not discouraged, I think this is the fun part of fishing, learning some thing new.
I have an 86 Tracker PRO16, not a heavy boat at all, the wind moves it easylly. I also have an underpowered trolling motor, hope to rememdy that for next year.
This weekend I fished a tournament, it was dink city, so I moved into deeper water, about 25-30ft, I set the unit to the 30ft depth range & put my sensitivey at about 95%, in split screen I was able to track the fish pretty well. I still had a problem with seeing the bait in the gusty wind but I was tracking fish. While I didn't catch any fish I did learn a bit more about doing this & my confidence is starting to grow. It is good to be able to tell the depth of fish to an inch or 2 and to start seeing seperation, things I only read about. I have some time before my next tournament so I'll be at it a lot. My next goal is to become better able to read the marks & what they are saying. This winter I want to purchase Iovino's book.
Rodney

One thing to try and keep in perspective is bass fishing is supposed to fun. The tools we used are there to help, not hinder your days enjoyment. There are usually a lot of clues to go along with trying to determine if the marks or arc's are bass of someother type of fish.
1. Birds that are diving in the area where you metered marks indicate that baitfish are in the area, so meter where the birds are to determine the depth of the baitfish. If you see marks in open water suspended at the depth of the bait fish, the marks could be any predator fish. If the marks are within a few feet of structure at the depth you metered the bait fish, those are more than likely active bass.
2. Deep water bass that you meter will react to a structure spoon faster than any other type of lure and so will other types of predator fish. So give a 1/4 to 1/2 oz Kastmaster or similar spoon a try. This helps me to solve what the marks are quickly.
Tom

Thanks Tom, more good advice as usual. I do find learning to use the tools to be fun, some times it can be frustrating to not understand somthing, but in the long run, when you do start to understand it is rewarding. It is the learning & being able to learn that keeps me coming back. I see now that I'm going to have to buy some spoons & learn to use them. At 62 years of age it helps keep me young.
Rodney

Rodney, This is off subject; Google MegaBait Spoons, color #18 black/silver (holographic shad) in 3/4 oz is a very good structure spoon. I add Iovino's #2 white chicken feather Owner treble hook.
Tom
Hmmmm, wonder if this thread qualifies for a contest tip? It's better than "remember when putting on shoes that toes go in first".

I,ve brought this thread back, there is a lot of info on. I had asked for help with my sonar for dropshotting, I really wasn't getting a good picture. After posting Tom replyed that my unit would work 7 gave me some ideas to try, here goes. I have an Eagle 480 on my bow, when in deeper water, over 15 feet, I now set the ping to max, the chart speed to max, & the sensitivity around 90%. I'm now able to watch my bait in 30 plus foot of water which helps. What do the rest of you do?
Rodney

Rodney, you can reduce the ping rate to 75, then it will work for nearly everything and still see the lure fall.
Tom

Now for the bad news, my unit died, I finnally get to being able to use for more advanced stuff & it croaks. I now have my Eagle 240 hooked up, after getting used to my 480 it seems useless, I cant see a jig & pig moving under it much less a dropshot. Oh well, I aint gonna replace it until I can afford an LMS 522 for the bow, if I do anything it will be upgrade. I have a tournament this weekend I've been looking forward to so hopefully this work out.
Oldfart

If you don't need the GPS in the front try the X510C, that is what I use up front and it's a great unit. I use GPS on the my (LMS-19C) consul to get where I'm going and the 510 to fish the area. Jim has 2 of the same units and that is a good idea if one stops working, you have a spare.
Tom

It doesn't stop there. I have two LMS 332Cs, the older version of what you have. On the bow unit I keep a blank memory card in the card slot. I "Log Sonar" on the card. That's a running record of everything your sonar displayed even when you were not looking. I can then read that data into the free downloadable Lowrance Sonar Viewer http://www.lowrance.com/Downloads/SLV/sonar_viewer.asp

I know this is an old post and I am new to this forum so not sure what is what, but I truly enjoy reading the information posted on how to use sonar and GPS. What a wealth of information. In the above information the link is incorrect, is there something I am doing wrong? If it is incorrect, can someone fix it? Thanks Dan

Try http://www.lowrance.com/en/Downloads/Sonar-Log-Viewer-SLV/ The downloads are at the bottom of the page, with or without sample files.

Jim