Structure Scan Settings and Fine Tuning

So its been about 8 months since I was able to use any of my fishing electronics last due to always being gone. Now that I am back home, I am needing some assistance on getting the settings set correctly and fine tuning the images. I wish I had some still images but I have absolutely nothing to put up at the moment to get some feedback.

I am currently running the HDS7 touch Gen 2 with the Structure Scan. I have the HDS 5 up front as well. One of the issues I have noticed is I can never really get good returns in shallower water. For example, when I am running in shallow water and using side scan, I am only able to see about 25 foot out either way...nothing to special. I know its going to be really hard to determine what exactly is going on without images, I will take some the next time I am out which will probably be Saturday morning and post them after I get back. I guess if I could get like a baseline of settings to start with and then just some pointers on what to adjust and fine tune while on the water, then that will point me in the right direction! I appreciate all the help in advanced!!

Nothing you can do in settings to change your range much. That's mostly a function of transducer construction. You can turn off auto range and set it to longer ranges, but it will still go black when the beam has all hit the bottom.

My SS settings are almost the way it came out of the box. Little adjustment needed in most cases.

You can cheat the LSS xducer range restriction (with a caveat) ...

Set the SI to 1 side only and rotate the xducer up on that side about 10° ...

Not convenient ... But it can be done ...

Rickie

I fish for Stripers, crappie and occasionally white perch. At times shallow in 5-10 FOW. I use an HDS 9. I'm no expert yet, but here is what works well for me on the Structure Scan (SS) settings. 1). Use the full screen width. I set my panels such that the SS is all the way across the bottom. (See pic below of large school of crappie). You need to utilize the full pixel count to see the most detail with SS. I'm willing to sacrifice how long the info stays on the screen. Can always roll it back up if see something interesting. 2) Set your SS width at 3 to 4 times the depth. If in 20 FOW, I'm scanning 80 ft each side. If in 5 FOW, I'm scanning 20 ft to each side. Adjust scan width as depth changes. 3). Use 455 kHz when searching (most of the time). Use 800 kHz when you have found something and want a closer, more detailed look. On my unit, the 455kHz gives me brighter and farther coverage, in general. 4) Other than the scan width and frequency, run the other settings pretty much in Auto (contrast, etc). 5). Look for FISH (bright white images, schools, "submarines", etc). Look for SHADOWS, they indicate suspended fish. Fish where the fish are, not just where the bait and cover are. 6). If running more than 10 mph, I just use 2D sonar to give me a good bottom indication. SS works best at less than about 7 mph for me, 4 to 5 mph is ideal.

Hope this helps you some.

Tight Lines!

http://i1359.photobucket.com/albums/...psc4b5xx78.jpg

Thanks, Fisholishous. Good info. I'd crap if I'd see that school of crappie pop up on mine.