Too much clutter on Lowrance Elite-4 HDI

I admit I'm still getting used to my Elite-4 HDI sonar settings, but I can't seen to dial out this clutter. There is probably some thin mossy kind of stuff but not a lot. And even if it is, who needs their screen cluttered up with it? I have turned the settings to High for both Surface Clarity and Noise Reduction. I tried turning off Auto Sensitivity and cranking it down to like 60% but still got the clutter. What else can I do? This much clutter can obscure actual fish.

http://i794.photobucket.com/albums/y...psy6ow8iac.jpg

http://i794.photobucket.com/albums/y...pskaesh1py.jpg

http://i794.photobucket.com/albums/y...pszdapcwqk.jpg

Change your view to green gradient trust me

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Originally Posted by mrgreenheads

Change your view to green gradient trust me

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That will significantly reduce the clutter?

Most name brand sonars have a lot of clutter in shallow water. It takes a college degree to learn how to use them effectively and get out of them all that is possible.

The secret for yours is to turn off the fish ID. Never use it. And manually adjust the sensitivity depending on water depth you may be wishing to see. Generally in crappie or fish depth manually setting the sensitivity to less than 50 percent clears up the clutter. You want to adjust the sensitivity as you watch the screen, run it up until you see the surface clutter start, then back it down just a bit until the screen clears. The clutter is the echo bouncing off the bottom of the boat and bouncing back off the bottom. Auto sensitivity and fish I.D. are gadgets used to sell and market things to the public, we are all lazy......lol! But when it comes to actually using one in a functional manner, you have to manually set the sensitivity or the thing is useless. That auto sensitivity programmed into the units is a catch all setting for shallow to deep, and generally works fine in deep water, but most of fresh water fishing takes place in under 25 feet of water. That particular unit once you get it set will remember the settings and you do not have to do it each time. Cheers......Kit

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Originally Posted by wasabi

That will significantly reduce the clutter?

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If it don't, try the blue gradient :biggrin

Actually, I'd try all the palette choices (while on the water) to see which ones are better defined or less cluttered ... then, if they're all relatively the same, you will have eliminated one function that isn't clearing up your problem. That is, IF there's a "problem" with the unit. It may just be the fault of the water clarity/contents of the lake you're fishing :dono

It may just be that the unit is so sensitive, that it's picking up the return signal & echo signals from the algae or waterborne particles in the lake water.

I still think you are missing out by not using the DI alone, but that's just me. :biggrin


... cp :kewl

try 83, not 200

Thats plenty deep enough water to use your 2d. Maybe change to a less frequency to 83. I use humminbird so terminologies are going to be different but on my unit I could go to whats called clear mode and then turn the sensitivity up, or max mode and turn the sensitivity down to 3-6. Looks like yours is working correctly overall, just need to adjust sensitivities and/or frequencies. Good luck.

Will that "Range" setting allow you to not show the upper 5' ...??

That's just surface clutter anyway ...

And turn off the "Noise Rejection" unless it's absolutely necessary ... It's a filter ... And filters don't know the difference in filtering out noise and filtering out weak good echoes ...

Rickie

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Originally Posted by rnvinc

Will that "Range" setting allow you to not show the upper 5' ...??

That's just surface clutter anyway ...

And turn off the "Noise Rejection" unless it's absolutely necessary ... It's a filter ... And filters don't know the difference in filtering out noise and filtering out weak good echoes ...

Rickie

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I would add turn off the surface clutter also. The most noise rejection I would use is LOW