Welcome to fishwrecked Paul, just out of interest, what sounder do you have and is it colour?

Cheers,
Adam

Hi Adam
My sounder is a Lowrance X85 mono sounder in a 6.5mtr boat. My fishing buddy has same size boat and we alternate who's boat we take out each monday. He has a colour sounder and we have the same problem understanding his.
Thanks
Paul

Get yourself a copy of Rick Huckstepp's book or dvd "Understanding your depth sounder" Very informative. I learnt a few tips off it.

There is also a dvd called "Reading your lowarnce depth sounder" from memory but i havent seen that one yet.

Hey shizz Ive been trying to find the Rick Huckstepps book for ages and no ones got it. Any Ideas. the other book you mentioned I saw yesterday at BCF Cannington and it is about 10 years old so I wasnt sure if its up to date with the tecnology and the way the sounders work these days.

Have you looked on the Lawrance web site .

There aren't any fish out there anyway .

big & small kill'em all.

try campbells, pretty sure they got it instore ;) not on their website tho.

We have got a really good lowrance dvd that we play in our shop, thats pretty good at explaining how to read your sounder. Ill get the name of it and let yous know.

I went out yesterday and picked up Understanding your depth sounder on DVD. It was very informative but only goes for 30 mins. The sounder hes demoing with is a Lowrance the same as mine so I learnt a bit that way.

I have found diving has helped me learn my sounder better. I switched to a colour sounder a few years back. I look at some ground and then dive on it and it helped ne understand whats down there.

As for the NEW Depth Sounder/Rick Huckstep, I've been stocking it for a while now and if ya got a Lowrance this will help but not good for understanding other sounders ie Furuno/JRC etc etc

Paul,

Your sounder is the most important tool for fishing, I do very well every fishing trip and my Furuno account's for that. A colour sounder is firstly the only way to go and Furuno is the best and they've just taken out 10 out of 12 International Best Sounder in the World category's....say's something eh ;)

The Furuno colour start from approx $1265 plus a transducer which is cheap. There are other models and we show ppl how to read a sounder properly and Furuno have a "true bottom lock" which enable you to see fish with swell or boat moving issue's......something many colour sounders dont have....do heaps of homework before buying...trust me it will make all the difference.

I've got alot more info on Sounders, pro's & con's, what models/brands are good and not so good etc

Call me Paul on 9337 5682, I'm full bottle on this and happy to help!

I went out a couple of days ago(near direction bank)and found a new nice coral patch on the way to a spot, very small patch which many sounders would of missed, got a nice 15kg dhufish plus more fish :)

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I believe a new lowrance instructional dvd is on the market. Presented by Steve Starling and Co. Might be of some benefit to you.

Paul N - I've been using an X85 for nine years and believe me its a very good, middle of the range bit of kit, but its not the full monty Furuno no way.
With mine I can see everything from 3inch baitfish, small squid, pot ropes, longlines and nets, on up.
First make sure you have the thing installed properly and are getting zero feed-back from all your other equipment.
Forget the auto mode and set it on the bottom 10 metres, I think they call it bottom expansion in Lowrance speak, then use it often and concentrate on what you are looking at!
I know it sounds daft but lots of guys think that using these things came with mothers milk! It didn't and only regular use will improve your identfication (of what your looking at) skills.
As a tip - rig up a spark plug, a length of re-bar or something else you don't mind loosing and drop it down on a PE line with a weak nylon end link. Stop your boat and 'tap' the bottom with this rig and soon you will discover whats underneath you, no problems. The clonk you get from rock is completly different from the gentle grind of coral or the brushing feeling from grass, and if it snags up just break it off and repeat as before.

You have all given me something to work on. Your comments have been great.
I will get a copy of the dvd and try to sweet talk the wife into getting me a colour sounder for Xmas.
Thanks
Paul

Tapout and I found out how important sensitivity is the other day. Out in 100m with sensitivity just over 60% we couldn't pick up anything on the bottom, cranked it up to about 90% and we found the containers, where the fish were and where other spots were that we didnt have on the gps. We thought the sounder was buggered until Tapout changed the sensitivity and it made the world of difference.