Using sonar to find fish

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05-12-2021, 07:54 AM
livemusic

Using sonar to find fish

I have a new-to-me boat and it has Humminbird Helix 9 (stern mount, display at console) and Helix 7 (bow display, mounted on Minnkota Fortex troll motor). It would be fantastic if I could find fish so I wouldn't waste time on dead water. Can I? Do you?

I am not entirely sure what I am looking at. The previous owner is a serious bass fisherman and I would think he had these units tweaked pretty good, but again, he fishes for bass.

I have seen some side images on the Helix 9 that was clearly showing a brushpile; this was in 30 ft of water. I also was exploring and found what certainly looks to be bream beds; it was a large area almost 100 yds long and the beds were in 5 to 6 ft of water. Even if they are from years past, I assume that bream will come back to these beds. Another day, I think I saw a school of fish in that 30 ft of water, probably bream because it was downwind of an automatic feeder.

In my exploring I sometimes see an arc on the screen and it looks like the image I have seen where sonar experts are saying that is a fish. Do you guys find these arcs indicating crappie? How did you get your sonar tweaked so it shows fish well? Do you find fish first and then cast for them?

I have watched a few videos on sonar; I am not totally green.

My Helix 7 on the bow, the connection gizmos, there are 3 plastic connectors that are inserted into the base of the unit and two of these keep popping out... aggravating... anyone have a tip on how to make these stay? This boat is only 1.5 yrs old.

Sometimes, the Helix 9 also goes off or goes squirrelly when the big motor cranks. In fact, both of these units... sometimes I have difficulty in getting them to act right; I keep cycling through screen views to get it to even display properly; it's like it's stuck and won't 'move.' For the amount of money these things cost, this is a bummer!

TIA for any insight!
05-12-2021, 10:33 AM
SKs Crappie Catching Adventures

Learning to use your graphs is very important to finding crappie..... Not sure if you've watched any of my vids yet but here's a playlist where I breakdown a brand new to me lake and bust a limit of thick back Slab Crappie on the 1st trip.....
I've heard it's helped from some folks.....
Using your maps is a big part of it....

New Lake Crappie Fishing | Crappie Limit On 1st Trip Challenge | How To Find And Catch Crappie | Crappie Catching Challenges - YouTube
05-12-2021, 11:54 AM
John Doe

Quote:

Originally Posted by SKs Crappie Catching Adventures

Learning to use your graphs is very important to finding crappie..... Not sure if you've watched any of my vids yet but here's a playlist where I breakdown a brand new to me lake and bust a limit of thick back Slab Crappie on the 1st trip.....
I've heard it's helped from some folks.....
Using your maps is a big part of it....

New Lake Crappie Fishing | Crappie Limit On 1st Trip Challenge | How To Find And Catch Crappie | Crappie Catching Challenges - YouTube

Watched a couple of your videos - very well done. They will prove helpful to those not knowing how to fully utilize their new side scan equipment.

When I installed my helix units, I asked a friend in the club I was in to take me out on my boat and show me! That trip was well worth my time.

Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com
05-12-2021, 02:17 PM
SKs Crappie Catching Adventures

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Doe

Watched a couple of your videos - very well done. They will prove helpful to those not knowing how to fully utilize their new side scan equipment.

When I installed my helix units, I asked a friend in the club I was in to take me out on my boat and show me! That trip was well worth my time.

Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

On the water experience is no doubt the best.....Thanks
05-12-2021, 02:17 PM
SKs Crappie Catching Adventures

Quote:

Originally Posted by John Doe

Watched a couple of your videos - very well done. They will prove helpful to those not knowing how to fully utilize their new side scan equipment.

When I installed my helix units, I asked a friend in the club I was in to take me out on my boat and show me! That trip was well worth my time.

Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

On the water experience is no doubt the best.....Thanks
05-12-2021, 06:34 PM
6poundtest

Acting strange when you crank the motor seems to indicate poor power to the unit, better check the wiring, particularly the voltage. You don't specify what units you have, whether they are DI or SI units or networked together or all those type details. I think you might consider leaving the poles at home and spending the day tinkering with your units to learn them better.

The others are correct when they say time on the water is the best teacher there is.
05-12-2021, 08:50 PM
rnvinc

The connectors on the HELIX 7 are a pain sometimes because it’s just a friction fit in the sockets ...

You might pull the connectors out of the head unit and put a thin layer of super glue all the way around the outside of the connector where it touches the head unit cable socket rubber edge. This should make the connector a little larger to make the friction fit in the head unit cable sockets a tad tighter ...

Rickie
05-12-2021, 10:08 PM
livemusic

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6poundtest

Acting strange when you crank the motor seems to indicate poor power to the unit, better check the wiring, particularly the voltage. You don't specify what units you have, whether they are DI or SI units or networked together or all those type details. I think you might consider leaving the poles at home and spending the day tinkering with your units to learn them better.

The others are correct when they say time on the water is the best teacher there is.

The former owner said the mechanic said... voltage spike from the motor starting up? I think that is what he said. Does that make sense, and, if so, what can be done about it?

Units are...
Helix 9 CHIRP MEGA SI+ GPS G3N
Helix 7 CHIRP MEGA Si GPS G3N

I don't know if they are networked, probably are. The former owner is a pretty serious fisherman. Bass tourneys and such.
05-13-2021, 05:35 AM
Central Minn

Look at Tom Boley videos on YouTube he does a lot of Walleye fishing and some crappie with Bird depth finders. The guy knows his Birds very well and shows lots of screen shots of fish on Si/Di/and 2d.
05-13-2021, 05:37 AM
icehouse

I'm no expert here, but I put my Garmin ( bow mounted ) on a separate power source. I had read several people having issues with interference on their units, not necessarily Garmin, but many others. I actually did the Dewalt 20v battery install. I actually had it on the lake yesterday for about 5 hours and had ZERO issues with any loss of voltage.
05-13-2021, 06:20 AM
Ketchn

Quote:

Originally Posted by livemusic

I have a new-to-me boat and it has Humminbird Helix 9 (stern mount, display at console) and Helix 7 (bow display, mounted on Minnkota Fortex troll motor). It would be fantastic if I could find fish so I wouldn't waste time on dead water. Can I? Do you?

I am not entirely sure what I am looking at. The previous owner is a serious bass fisherman and I would think he had these units tweaked pretty good, but again, he fishes for bass.

I have seen some side images on the Helix 9 that was clearly showing a brushpile; this was in 30 ft of water. I also was exploring and found what certainly looks to be bream beds; it was a large area almost 100 yds long and the beds were in 5 to 6 ft of water. Even if they are from years past, I assume that bream will come back to these beds. Another day, I think I saw a school of fish in that 30 ft of water, probably bream because it was downwind of an automatic feeder.

In my exploring I sometimes see an arc on the screen and it looks like the image I have seen where sonar experts are saying that is a fish. Do you guys find these arcs indicating crappie? How did you get your sonar tweaked so it shows fish well? Do you find fish first and then cast for them?

I have watched a few videos on sonar; I am not totally green.

My Helix 7 on the bow, the connection gizmos, there are 3 plastic connectors that are inserted into the base of the unit and two of these keep popping out... aggravating... anyone have a tip on how to make these stay? This boat is only 1.5 yrs old.

Sometimes, the Helix 9 also goes off or goes squirrelly when the big motor cranks. In fact, both of these units... sometimes I have difficulty in getting them to act right; I keep cycling through screen views to get it to even display properly; it's like it's stuck and won't 'move.' For the amount of money these things cost, this is a bummer!

TIA for any insight!

battery issues i bet ,most of the newer graphs hate voltage drops , and last time i saw that it signaled a battery on the way out .
my hummer did the same thing and i swore it was just a bad unit until i figured it out .
it was not a voltage spike issue for me for sure , dont think a spike will cause it ,but to be sure a drop will ,,,,,you described what happened to my unit exactly ....