798 Hbird diving me nuts

OK so I read about the problems with the GPS and thought it would be worth the trouble for the great SI. I bought the 798 and so far all it has done is frustrate me. I have adjusted the SI distance down to 50 ft. Tried different sensitivity, chart speed and I don't know what else to do. I ease by brush piles I have put in recently and I dont see them. They are six feet tall and about six feet diameter. Do I not know what I'm looking at or what ? I also have the fish symbols turned on downward sonar and haven't had the first one show up. Thanks for any help. I'm about to throw this thing in the lake!!!!!!!

Man, hard to say without being there. My old 797 doesen't really show
brush all that well. You've got to come by it not too close, not to far away,
and really be looking. Brush shows just fuzzy, ghostly images on mine,
hard for me to tell from baitfish. Big trees now, stick out like sore thumb.

On the downward, only ideas I'd have is check the fish id sensitivity setting,
and play with the front/back angle of the transducer.

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Originally Posted by hardhead

OK so I read about the problems with the GPS and thought it would be worth the trouble for the great SI. I bought the 798 and so far all it has done is frustrate me. I have adjusted the SI distance down to 50 ft. Tried different sensitivity, chart speed and I don't know what else to do. I ease by brush piles I have put in recently and I dont see them. They are six feet tall and about six feet diameter. Do I not know what I'm looking at or what ? I also have the fish symbols turned on downward sonar and haven't had the first one show up. Thanks for any help. I'm about to throw this thing in the lake!!!!!!!

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How deep is your water? How close are you coming to your brush? If you too close, the brush will be in the water column. Try gray scale if you are in bright daylight. Try the sensitivity as Jeff stated.

Just some SWAGS for ya.

Also. Mark a brush pile (or better yet a bridge pylon or some fixed structure you know about) with gps/sonar. Then try some passes at different settings on the SI and different distances from the marker. Be sure to look up occasionally.

All good ideas, maybe instead of brush piles U should look at piers, metal posts, bridge or concrete or rock something hard that shows up good , to eliminate the water column Cane Poles mentions- stay 2x your water depth from your subject, or 11/2 if over 20 feet deep. Only go about 2 to 4mph & have screen scroll setting same as your speed re: 2 to 4. Go to this site
sideimaging : UnOfficial Humminbird Side Imaging Group look at their picts and helpful hints. Can U take picts with your unit? If so take some & send them to site c/o hummingbird Greg (Greg Walters) he can usually tell from picts the problem, seems like decent helpful guy.
Generally speaking most objects will look just like U took a black& white pict of that item before it was put in water. Some folks have trouble seeing PVC til it grows moss but my 997 sees it.

Hey Hardhead. Give this unit a little time to grow on you. I compare reading the side imaging units to reading Xrays you kind of have to develop and eye for it. It would be really helpful if you could get a couple screen captures for us to look at. Check out this site to see some real images and videos that will help you.

Side Imaging Academy | www.***************

As for the bottom view and the Fish ID. In my opinion Humminbird has the most conservative algorithm for Fish ID. You can turn up the sensitivity and turn on the dual beam when looking for fish and more will show up.

Also I actually think the added new setting for the Humminbird side imaging makes the learning curve longer for a new user. People tend to get their setting way out of wack and then have a hard time. The factory setting and a distance of 50 feet is a great way to learn to read.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. The water I'm scanning is usually 20 to 30 feet deep. I have tried close and further away and can't tell any differance. It works great on hard surfaces such as logs, stumps, bridge pilings, just disapointed in how the brush shows up. I just got a SD card and will try to get some video. What program should I use to download to my computer. I'm computer ignorant ?

Just take some snapshots.

The snapshots will be stored on the sd card in a folder called snapshot.

The snapshots are png extensions and can be viewed in any picture viewer.

Take you SI sd card and plug it in the computer card reader. Double click on the card drive, then double click on the snapshot folder. Next double click on the snapshot. This should open the snapshot png in the windows picture viewer.

What your OS?

Thanks Canepole, Ihope to get some snapshpts this weekend and I'll try to put them on here. What are you talking about my OS ?

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Originally Posted by hardhead

Thanks Canepole, Ihope to get some snapshpts this weekend and I'll try to put them on here. What are you talking about my OS ?

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Windows or Mac and what version?

Windows Vista

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Originally Posted by hardhead

Windows Vista

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Ok. You got photobucket account? Or some other internet account for storing photos?

If not, create yourself a photobucket account. Helps a lot with posting pictures on c dot com.

Crappiepappy will help you with the photobucket setup (if needed). I volunteered him.:) He won't mind.

Thanks for all the help. I really do appreciate it. Hopefully I can get out this weekend, but I'm also having problems with my motor that I'm trying to get worked out.

You have a relatively small screen. set the unit left or right side and it will double the size of your image. The brush is not going to look 6 ft tall. #2 It might not be there. I looked for some for 6 mo. B4 i gave up. It washed away.

I've dropped a marker on a brushpile and fished it, got ready to leave, set SI to left 50' and idled all around it and couldn't see a thing.

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Originally Posted by hardhead

I've dropped a marker on a brushpile and fished it, got ready to leave, set SI to left 50' and idled all around it and couldn't see a thing.

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Sounds like done all you can do. Call HB. If you were close by, we could stick the unit on my boat and take a look.

Still working out prob's with the boat motor. Didn't get to the lake where I do my crappie fishing. Report back ASAP.

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07-09-2009, 10:55 AM
hardhead

I've dropped a marker on a brushpile and fished it, got ready to leave, set SI to left 50' and idled all around it and couldn't see a thing.

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Hmn, not saying u are but don't circle around object make at least 2 passes at right angles so u get at least 2 sides of object, & post the picts plse we all would like a peek!

So great info. Just a reminder, you need to be travelling in a straight line when side imaging and keep your speed to around 3-4mph. I recommend a chart speed of around 5, although you will hear other opinions.

Like was mentioned, the brush will look fuzzy like a school of fish. Post some snapshots here so we cn take a look at what you are seeing.

Good Luck,

Robert

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