Eagle Fishmark 480 help

I just upgraded from the strata 128 to the 480. Would any of you 480 users mind sharing what settings you use as far as sensitivity and grayscale? I'm having trouble getting the unit set up like I think it should be. Right out of the box on auto, it seems that it shows any little bit of brush as a huge pile but I know it's not because I've fished it before. You can drop a hook down there and drag all around and never hang up. Maybe just feel it bump something every now and then. Then, when I go fish a brush pile that I built with 4 or 5 large trees in it, it looks the same as the small place? I've varied the sensitivity up and down without much luck. The other concern is chart speed. With the old Strata, it would show brush 20' to 30' away from the center of a big pile, like I think it should, while with the 480 it seems you have to get much closer, like 10' to 15' to start showing up. I have the chart speed increased to 100% and the hyper scroll at 100% also. As you get close to the brush, the hyperscroll seems to help but I still think the old unit showed you the edge of the brush better. One other thing...All the adjustments I made to the sensitivity issue were with the unit in auto, which is the only way I ever ran the Strata. The manual says changing the sensitivity while in auto will only bias the unit toward that setting while it will still make adjustments to keep a solid bottom lock. Any sugestions on what settings to use or any other help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Mark

Hi All
I'm heading back to the lake this week to try to figure the ole eagle 480 out. Just wanted to bump this back up and ask again...what settings (mainly sensitivity) do you 320 or 480 users use or do you just keep the defaults and in auto? It's kinda funny but it almost seems like this unit has to much power...at least compared to what I was used to. You'd think more power is better but it's like you can't go 10' without seeing some kind of structure that wasn't there with the old sonar. If I have to turn the sensitivity way down to only show meaningful structure maybe all that extra power is not really helpful and is infact distracting?

I have the Eagle 480. Normally I run the sensitivity down around 65-75%, depending on water clarity (dingy to somewhat clear). This past week I fished a lake with extreme clarity and I ran the sensitivity all the way up to 92% to see the detail of the trees under water and still not getting too much clutter on the screen. I like keeping the sensitivity down trying to eliminate the clutter and picking up only the fish I have going under the boat, still allowing to see the brush/structure on the bottom. My best recommendation for you is to get off the auto settings and forget 'em and play around with your unit to build confidence in what you are seeing. Definitely turn off the fish ID symbols too.;)

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Originally Posted by gabowman

My best recommendation for you is to get off the auto settings and forget 'em and play around with your unit to build confidence in what you are seeing. Definitely turn off the fish ID symbols too.;)

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I totally agree with these two sentences. If you spend some time playing with the settings when you're on fish, and preferably on some type of structure, you'll get to know your finder pretty good. Read the manual, and you will determine what is important to you, and what's not. And again, get them fish symbols off of there, and get them arches on. They're more apt to be real fish.

What they said.....I fish a lake that is always a little stained, and found that I have to set the sensitivity on my 480 down around 70%. The advice luvjign gives is awesome. Especially if you have brushpiles that you fish a lot and know pretty well. Get on those piles and fish the way you usually have success doing. Once you find 'em, then start playing with the settings till the unit shows what you already know is happening. Then when you get to a new spot, you'll be able to believe what you see. I use mine more for finding cover and structure than actual fish finding. I never use the fish ID. I will use it to find baitfish schools though. Also, make sure you have your depth offset set up right. Especially if you have the transducer on the trolling motor.

Thanks everybody
I made it to the lake Thursday and finally got it set up to my liking. You guys are right with your advice and here's what I did after thinking about it for about a month. I went to the bank and got a tree that represented the smallest amount of brush that I wanted to show up, dropped a bouy and sank the tree. Then I put it on manual and started turning the sensitivity down until the tree just barely showed up. For me that number was 50%. Also, another big help to me was the surface clarity setting. The default is off but you can change it to low, medium or high. Somehow this reduces the power near the surface but increases power nearer the bottom. Setting this to medium really cleared the water column up where I had vertical lines and other junk cluttering the screen. And, as SpeckWick says, setting the keel offset for transducer on trolling motor is a big help in reading the height of brush as well as the depth of fish. No more having to add 18" or 2' or whatever to what the graph is telling you. Just read it direct! Hope this helps the next person in setting up their Eagle. One other thing though. I am not yet able to see the advantage of arches over fish ID. I switched back and forth several times and I have to admit...I kinda like the fish symbols. But...95% of my fishing is done on brush or other structure that I have put in the lake myself and I am going to fish these spots because I've caught fish there before, whether I see fish on the fishfinder or not. I gained alot of confidence in what the fishfinder is showing me as far as brush this week but I am not confident enough to really trust that if there are no arches then there are no fish! Thanks.
Mark

Mark D85-I have a 320. Had it for about 3 years.This is what i do! Go to at least 10 ft. of water. Put ff on manual , set depth on scale where it shows the bottom at the bottom of screen . Turn off fish Id. Now I`m ready to tune-in my fish finder. Get you a weight around 1 ounce will do .Tied the weight on a string or on fishing pole. Drop weight down and move it into the cone of the transducer.If you have the weight in the cone it will show up on the screen if you got the senstivity adjusted correctly.This is how I adjust the senstivity.
Sometimes its hard to get the weight inthe cone if the boat is moving. To tell if you are picking up the weight move weight up &down.You can see it move on the screen. Some times I use a 1/16 oz jig to tune -in .Found out to findweight in deep water you have to increase senstivity.
Hope this help.

Mark, not all fish will show up as arches. You'll get arches if the boat is moving over them at around 3mph. Otherwise they show up as a straight line on your finder. Look for lines above your brushpiles. And you're right about not seeing fish but knowing they're there. I fish that way quite often and do very well.
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