You need John Adams book Russ.

https://howtouseafishfinder.com

 yeah thinking about something like that but that means reading while out on the water instead of fishing lol.

cheers for the name tho as i couldnt think of it

 Russ I have a copy you can borrow, I'll give it to Deb & Nic they can bring it down, if you like?

 I took my book to work and read it on the plane going back and forward, don’t really need to be in front of the sounder.

 My comments may not be of help as I am a furuno guy ( which your unit doesn’t look like ) but I’ll give you my interpretation. The first pic I wouldn’t drop on looks like a double image not sure what’s going on there, no marks and no bottom lock to distinguish. The second pic is more promising with maybe some interest on the right side of the screen , also looks like quite a big depth change too but with no bottom look hard to confirm . Hope this helps . 

 Just hold the power button down, or in your case, slide it across, and it gives you the option to take a screenshot. Save it to your card slot. Looks like dense aggregation of small fish on the RHS of the bottom shot, and the marks above the bottom on the top shot are just small stuff of some kind, although i have seen scalies show up like that, proved by catching them. Are you Auto-ranging, looks like it from the sudden vertial line on the bottom shot. Just a tip-using zoom will rob you of the ability, usually, of telling what kind of bottom you are on, by removing the tails, unless of course, it is obviously big flare shot through with colours, indicating very rugged bottom with lots of shelter.

 If you are using Zoom , you must be on Auto range, as the Axiom doesn't have it on manual range. Most modern stuff runs Auto as default, but it can be a PITA.  If it loses bottom when, say, moving fast on a rough day, it might start Auto ranging trying to find the bottom, get out to some ridiculous range, then have trouble finding the correct range when you slow down and the picture clears. I tend to run manual range for that reason, as I need to re-run the transducer cable to get rid of bad electrical interference  due to it running with all the other stuff. 

I'm disappointed with the LH3 version of bottom lock--I expect bottom lock to be a flat picture, straight line bottom, as it used to be, so I can see the growth above it more clearly. Not so interested in fish readings on bottom lock, just the life attached, which has a big bearing on what it likely to be in the area. You'll see actual bottom type better if you get off bottom lock and don't zoom. Some examples below. You can't really tell what the bottom is, unless it is very rugged, unless you can see the tails.

The above shot is mostly rugged bottom, shot through with crevices and ledges.

The shot above shows you coming across largely flat, sandy or slightly rubbly bottom, then hitting a patch of better bottom with fish above it, then the rise of the reef edge with all the crevices and ledges showing up in the long flare and colours shot through. A sharp rise which is just hard bottom won't show that range of colours or length of flare.

 cheers for that. will try next time without the bottom lock on and see how it goes. 

 Great info.