Sonar units--what do you use?

[WALLEYE MIKE]

What kind of sonar do you use and do you trust what you see with it in the ID mode. I have a Hummingbird 300tx on the bow with a 90 degree transduser. Main sonar is a Garmin 240. The Garmin has a lot of nice features but can't seem to interput the raw data. I never see an arch. With it on ID mode, lots of fish. Don't really trust ID mode in either unit. Like to hear your opinions.

[SPORTSMAN]

I use the eagle ultra-classic. The ID mode is bunk. When it is on you can't tell an air bubble or any other floating object from a fish. When the ID is off you do'nt always see an arch. not unless the fish is dirrectly under the cone and is not moving. I went to a seminar that Mark Martin had put on, and I learned alot of new things about graphs. He was saying any line on your gragh that are not vertical is a fish. I've also read this in his book he published. Make sure you crank up the senseitivity.

[Mr. Twister]

I have two sonar units, one is a Humminbird 128 Wide Portable used mainly on my annual fly-in to Ontario and the one on my boat is am Impulse 2800 Plus, and no, I don't trust the fish ID mode on either unit. When I do get a thrill out of seeing a fish symbol on a sonar unit, it makes me realize that fishing has been REALLY slow!;)

[Northstar]

I also use the eagle-ultra classic and have to agree that the fish id mode is bunk. I like to use mine in manual mode and i also turn the senseitivity up.I like to run mine about 66%. You don't always see the hooks unless the fish are directly under the boat.

[Hook N. Sinker]

I thought the idea was to be able to see the bottom and the structure. Seeing the fish is not so useful because one can't tell if they are active fish or inactive fish from sonar.

[Fisher B]

I use a Pinpoint 7520 and a Global Map 2000. I think Fish ID is useless tool. It says a weed or air bubbles are fish. You just need to use your manual mode all the time and you will eventually determine what are fish. My Pinpoint is hard to read because it picks up every little thing so there is a lot of crap on the screen.

[Spanky]

I use a lowrance X-85 and love it. Its is used for the winter river fishing and the spring summer lk. Mich and Erie fishing. Marks fish well, I don't use the auto mode or the I D mode. Turn up the sens. and max the chart speed. Grayline feature is great help for walleye fishing. Like mark Martin says" You gotta have those 3000 watts peak to see fish while cruising at 30-40 mph" I can mark the bottom in 200 ft while cruising at 35 mph. Good unit thru the cold or heat. Recommend it highly.

[jimbos43]

I also have a x-85, I agree with Spanky, great unit, would buy another in a minute.

[WALLEYE MIKE]

I have tried using more sens. and less sens. All I can see is more or less "crap". My garmin picks up the bottom great but have yet to identify a fish with it. Once while trolling at Stoney creek my hummingbird on ID mode picked up a fish at 19ft. A few seconds latter BAM!!
I hooked a channel cat on a crawler harness. For the other two hours it picked up nothing except flat bottom.

Will continue to work with it and see what happens.

[WALLEYE MIKE]

Tried using sonar units on raw data and still can't an arc to show. Tried more gain , less gain, still no arc. What else is there to do?

[ESOX]

I use a Humminbird Wide Paramount 3D on the console and a Bottom Line Tournament 4300 on the trolling motor. The Humminbird 3D uses a six beam transducer, and covers a wide swath of water. You can split the view to give a normal 2D view and a 3D wire frame representation of the bottom. Fish ID is fairly accurate, but I prefer the hooks in 2D. The Bottom Line has sidefinding transducers in addition to the down looking transducer. it's a really nice unit.

[FischInMich]

For now I have a piece of crap Humminbird LCR300......old and obsolete. Don't trust it a bit, only use it for depth right now.

Looking at some, and that Garmin Fishfinder 160 Blue looks like a pretty nice unit, and reasonably priced at around $200 bucks. Probably what I will go with.

[Worm Dunker]

I use a Lowrance X85 and a Lowrance 350A that has G.P.S. The 350A also has dual transducer and can run split screen whats nice use wide cone to find fish and narrow cone to tell if over them. You get what you pay for. The new Lowrance X-16 and X-15 are even better than older models.

[WALLEYE MIKE]

Fischman, I have a Garmin 240 that I am trying to get the arc to show up. Like the unit but can't get an arc.

[jimbos43]

Walleye Mike, What does the fish show up as? How deep are you talking when yu say you can't get the arches. I know when i'm shallow up to 20 ft my graph doesn't really arch. Also if i'm getting half arches like say the shape of a banana held vertical then the transducer has to be adjusted one way or the other.

[WALLEYE MIKE]

Jimbos43, I may get a vertical line at times. or a bunch of single blips. I tried sunday at stoney creek 15 to 23 ft.
I have also tried in the noth channel up to 60 ft. Will be out in the north channel tomorrow (plans fell thru for Detroit river) will play with the gain again. If I use the zoom fuction will that help? Was in Oscoda last fall for salmon, i know they were there but did not show an arch then either (20ft. deep). Thanks for helping.

[jimbos43]

On mine say i'm marking lakers sitting near the bottom in 70 feet of water in regular screen. They show up as arches and look like their foot off of bottom. Then using the zoom, the arches get thicker and darker and you see that their really 3-5 feet off of the bottom. Turning up the gain will cause you to mark more crap in my opinion, but I see your thinking. My graph the x-85 has got to be 6-7 years old now, I bet they make some great improved products with tons of better features now. I hope you get it figured out.

Oh yeah Mike, when I was on the St. Clair river last week, they were really working over the 20-25 foot level right in front of the state park. You know were that little boat launch is at the south end of the state park? Guys were out in waders, casting jig heads, and boats were drifting through the area. Also seen a guy jig up a couple of eyes futher downriver off of Algonac, you know, just up river from the Algonac boat launch. Trolled the North Channel down to Ted's, and I swear, did not mark one fish, zigged zagged all over near the Harsen's ferry. Some idiot local with a house on the river, had a planer board 100 feet off shore with lines clipped to it, almost cut that board off,never seen it.

[WALLEYE MIKE]

Jimbos43, wished I had gone back online last night to get your report on Algonac. Went to the north channel this morning. Got SQWAT. Unless you count a 1lb. and a 2.75lb smallmouth. Was chugging. While in 60 ft. of water, I could pick up my chugging sinker on the sonar, but no fish. Maybe none was there, don't know.

I did see a half an arch(well defined) once on the bottom in 55ft. Got to find some fish so I can indentify them on this sonar.

[trapper jim]

I use the garmin 160 and I like it alot. It has alot of options but, isn't hard to figure out. Also the cost wasn't to bad. Bought it at wal-mart for $199. I had the hummingbird 100 it was junk. I wouldn't go with that one again. Good fishing.