Post By: Kev-o Posted: 1/22/2023 5:15:43 PMPoints: 78183
I’m having some issues being able to interpret the information on my sonar. Last week while fishing I was unable to see the last 7’ of the bottom. It was filled with a solid line from the bottom up to 7’. Bought a new one because I figured that it was broken. This weekend I had the same issue with the new one as well as the old one only this time it wouldn’t read the last 4’ of the bottom. Turned the gain up and down adjusted the bottom lock played with this setting and that setting and nothing changed. I do understand that the the sonar cone will stop if you are on a slope and you won’t be able to see the “bottom” and your jigs and the fish past the “zero” line will be hidden as well. Is this sediment settling on the bottom? Does this explain why I could see further down this week as opposed to last week? Has anyone else run into this issue and knows what is happening and how to fix it? I would appreciate any help on an explanation or how to resolve this. When fishing for lakers that mostly hang out on the bottom this problem was not very beneficial to my cause. Thanks in advance.
I’ve encountered the same phenomena at mountain reservoirs. What I’ve found is that there was a nearby boulder obstructing the cone. I know this because my jig from time to time would “swim” atop the feature and not fall all the way down. Try your sonar somewhere you are certain it’s a featureless flat and decide if you are still encountering the same issue. I’ve also had weak bottom feedback because the coax cable had been slightly severed because I allowed a fish to wrap around the transducer. Best to ALWAYS remove your transfer when you’re certain the fish is cleanly hooked.
The connections are brand new and worked the same on both units. Did not have a problem at bodecker a couple of weeks ago on the flat bottom. Just found it very odd when moving around at Granby that the same results occurred in several different areas. I have never had this problem in the same area I’ve been fishing for multiple years. Thought it might be the transducer but it is new as well.
My question is what frequency does that finder run? It’s possible you’re running a wide cone in the deep water picking up abstraction from a larger areas.
Could be the ducer is bad out the box. Try another lake with 20 to 30 fow and see if it does the same. If so contract the maker or try to exchange the ducer or graph if it’s new enough.
If you are fishing on a slope, the sonar's cone hits the bottom at various depths, say 25-32' deep, because you are on a slope.
If the sonar sees the bottom at the "upper" edge of the cone, (25') there is no way it can also see the bottom on the lower edge of the slope (32'). There isn't any way to change this, unless you can change the frequency to a narrower sonar beam.
Reply by: Kev-o Posted: Jan. 23, 8:05:38 AM Points: 78183
Tried 77kh and 200hk both read the same even on duel beam with both frequencies on the split screen. The “chirp” looks even weirder. Will have to try a flatter lake and see if it reads different. Have a garmin unit. Both are garmin.
Reply by: not too old to fish Posted: Jan. 23, 10:44:19 AM Points: 7808
If the signal you are receiving is the same for both units the odds of anything being wrong with both units is very unlikely. As was previously said, the bottom may be slanted and giving you mixed signals, so try moving the transducer at an angle and observe what happens to your signal. If the amplitude or signal height increases at an angle you have the answer. One other thing to consider is multiple rocks of different sizes laying on the bottom. This can give you mixed signals that can mask the true bottom of the lake and sends multiple signals that are hard to interpret. Weed beds can do the same thing but usually weed beds are not in that depth of water.
Reply by: Mark Posted: Jan. 23, 12:27:06 PM Points: 113
I had a similar problem this year. Turns out I had changed the range setting without knowing it by pressing that +/- bar inadvertently on a very cold morning when I was in a hurry. I had taken range out of auto. When I reset to factory settings out of frustration the problem went away. I know most people here have way more sonar experience than me but I hope this helps you.
Getting a lot of great responses here! I’m pretty sure I fiddled with that +- button as well. Might try to reset the factory settings as well. Appreciate all the help. 🎣
Reply by: GingerLife Posted: Feb. 1, 11:55:09 AM Points: 489
Kev-o, Both my buddy and I had a garmin iceducer go bad this year after two years of use. We bought them around the same time too. It made us angry, but replacing our ducers fixed everything,
Have you tried to compare with other sonar in the same hole? I switch to a Marcum from a Lowrance and it took me a while to understand what I was seeing in the Marcum. Patience will get you there.
(apologies in advance, had 10 minutes before the next meeting to update the figure.)
Hi Kev-o. Like everyone else my first thought is the slope cone effect. Sounds like you were already aware of that and it sounds like you did not think that was the issue. Did the +/- setting suggestion fix the issue?
Clever and informative illustrations guys lol! I took last weekend off of ice fishing since I was gone all weekend two weeks in a row. Headed to a Loveland area lake that I KNOW has a flat bottom to try and get a baseline. Pretty sure that you guys are correct. Did I try another sonar unit in the same hole as the other? Yes. Did I get the same results that day? Yes. One with an open water transducer and one with a new ice transducer. Will definitely let you guys know what I learned about it Saturday night. Once again I appreciate all the responses and look forward to sharing more info with all of you. 🎣👍
With my Helix 5 this week, I was able to fine tune the sonar to vaguely read the dead zone (below 25' in the illustration). The Dead Zone was yellowed out, but my 5" jig would show as a faint red line when I dropped below 25'.
On the small screen, it was difficult to pay attention to it, but it was possible. Biggest change was to switch to a 15 degree beam instead of the 15-21 CHIRP.
This is one reason I really favor sonar over flashers, the ability to fine tune the frequency to meet my needs!
What I learned today is exactly what I thought and has been explained very well from the responses. Definitely on a slope. Bottom today was very flat. Could see all the way to the bottom without any disruption. Would be nice to see more structure at the bottom of the lake but I don’t think that it is possible. Appreciate all of your information as well as input and feedback once again. Thank you all very much!🎣
Reply by: not too old to fish Posted: Feb. 4, 9:19:12 PM Points: 7808
There is no left or right for signals on the screen, you should be able to see the reflection from anything in the sound cone at the appropriate depth. Brush, rocks, sticks, weeds and logs will all show up on screen at the appropriate depth but you can't tell how far apart the objects actually are from each other.
