Fine Tune My Lowrance Sonar

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rangerdog

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Isle of Palms, SC/Fairfax, VA
I have a Gray Scale Lowrance GPS/FF that I only use for map/GPS and a Lowrance FF. It works really great but I have never gotten full fish arches like as shown on the display.

What I do get, like behind a big bait ball, are half arches like a back-slash mark. Anyone have any tutalage they can pass on?

Lowrance-elite-5X.jpg
 
seems to me like you would need to turn the power and gain way up when over something that you are marking.
 
I dont have this unit but the manual is located at
http://www.lowrance.com/Products/Marine ... Downloads/

From the Lowrance support page
Why Fish Arch
The reason fish show as an arch is because of the relationship between the fish and the cone angle of the transducer as the boat passes over the fish. As the leading edge of the cone strikes the fish, a display pixel is turned on. As the boat passes over the fish, the distance to the fish decreases. This turns each pixel on at a shallower depth on the display. When the center of the cone is directly over the fish, the first half of the arch is formed. This is also the shortest distance to the fish. Since the fish is closer to the boat, the signal is stronger and the arch is thicker. As the boat moves away from the fish, the distance increases and the pixels appear at progressively deeper depths until the cone passes the fish.

If the fish doesn't pass directly through the center of the cone, the arch won't be as well defined. Since the fish isn't in the cone very long, there aren't as many echoes to display, and the ones that do show are weaker. This is one of the reasons it's difficult to show fish arches in shallow water. The cone angle is too narrow for the signal to arch.

Remember, there must be movement between the boat and the fish to develop an arch. Usually, this means trolling at a slow speed with the main engine. If you are anchored or stopped, fish signals won't arch. Instead, they'll show as horizontal lines as they swim in and out of the cone
 
Check and make sure your transducer is parallel with the bottom of your boat. If it is tilted up or down you could get a partial arch.
 
In the Chesapeake most of the fishing is in the 25 to 35 foot range

I guess if I ever come up there to fish, I could leave my electric Diawa Bull 1000 at home. Ha!
 
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