[2005tritontr186]

i know alot of you guys run good or decent electronics that tournament fish. i dont use to having good electonics and i will be upgrading in the next couple of days but want some of your view points before i make a decision. i enjoy fishing tournaments but i not that good at all and alot of my fishing buddies have told me its all about electronics and finding the structure.(i only fish the banks) any help will be great!

 

[Oldfart9999]

I own Lowrance and am a bit partial to them, I have Structure Scan and really like it. That being said, in truth Hummingbird is a good product line and it becomes a matter of choice. One of the reasons I like Lowrance is having Doc Samson aka Doctor Sonar, the Lowrance guru on board, to me that is a big help, add to that Todd Driscoll, Lowrance rep here to answer questions and those are, in my mind, good reasons for my choice.
Rodney

 

[Jig Man]

I own Lowrance and am a bit partial to them, I have Structure Scan and really like it. That being said, in truth Hummingbird is a good product line and it becomes a matter of choice. One of the reasons I like Lowrance is having Doc Samson aka Doctor Sonar, the Lowrance guru on board, to me that is a big help, add to that Todd Driscoll, Lowrance rep here to answer questions and those are, in my mind, good reasons for my choice.
Rodney

x2

 

[mlsims]

I also own Lowrance, two HDS 7's and im running structure scan. Im probably going to try and upgrade to the HDS 10 genII and the new structure scan next season. You really cant go wrong with either brand.

 

[2005tritontr186]

thanks for all info i'm ordered a hds10 structure scan lss-2.

 

[Jig Man]

I don't think you'll regret that decision.

 

[2005tritontr186]

i have never had technology like this. what are some tips o do first time out using this unit

 

[todd driscoll]

General 2D sonar and LSS settings to get you started:

2D sonar - First, make sure you have the current software (1.1.39.44). Check your version at Menu, Menu, System, About. Recent updates have focused on enhancing sonar returns. Sonar Auto mode works very well. Keep the unit in 200 kHz. Under sonar settings, select Shallow Water (for our purposes this is water < 60 feet deep) and set scroll speed to normal. Also, under Installation select your appropriate transducer. Under Sonar Menu, I run Ping Speed at Max. Colorline I like at 85. For shallow water, especially around vegetation, I prefer color palette 1. For deep water or with lakes void of vegetation, I like palette 13. This was called bottom color tracking in the older units, helps separate fish from the bottom/cover, and also shows hard bottoms/shell beds better.

StructureScan - In typical freshwater depths (15-30 feet), your sidescan range will work best set at 2-3X the depth. 60-80 feet is where mine is most of the time. Range can be operated in either Auto or Manual – I prefer Manual. Of course, as you move deeper than 30 feet, increase your side scan range accordingly. With the LSS2, I always run mine in 455 kHz. I prefer contrast between 65-80, with less contrast in shallow water and greater contrast in deep water. I also like color palette 9 (blue).

 

[2005tritontr186]

Todd thanks and that very helpfull and i will use those setting i guess another question is on a lake like lake seminole do i just ride around looking for structure or how do you go about finding structure

 

[Jig Man]

The first 5 days that I had hds I just idled around different banks looking at the side scan trying to locate stuff. Some of it I marked and some I didn't. After I got used to it I started recording being sure to record all channels. The recordings can be viewed on the unit itself and on your puter by downloading sonar viewer free from Lowrance.

What I like to do is record a bank that isn't over 1/2 mile long and mark wpts as I go. Then I pull out into the middle of the lake and play the recording on the unit using a 4 screen setup (map, 2d, down, side). As it plays I can get a look at it without having to run the boat. By having the map as one of the screens when I see some good stuff I can see if it is already marked. If it isn't then I drop a wpt right there.

I have so many wpts marked that I keep each in a seperate file for the lakes that I fish.