Quinte Fishing

Hey guys, I just installed my Humminbird 565 off of the bow of my boat, but it's acting up. It worked fine last year when in it's portable setup, so I am assuming I am using the wrong settings. Here is the issue, in deep water all is fine, but in shallow water 5 feet and less the depth seems to bounce all over the place.

I am just hoping for some info on the settings you have your units set to for optimal results. Thanks.

Dan.

try reduceing the sensitivy in shallow water

that would be my guess as well......... sensitivity is to high expessally if the bottom is hard if you wernt getting a good reading in 12 fow id say scrub the bottom of the transducer with a scrubby pad but thats just not the case if it only happens in shallow water

Thanks. What about surface clutter? Do you guys have it blocked out, or do you allow it to show up on your screens? Also do you use the fish id feature or not? Thanks.

I never use the fish Id on any of my fish finders..it will show lots of differnt things as fish symbols.Use it to find structure,drop offs and keep you in the "zone" the fish are in.I believe an actual arch over a fish symbol any day.

I have to agree with mike... the arch is the way to go........I guess im just old school when it comes to alot of things and i find a fishfinder can be a frustreating thing for sure lol Like mike i like it to know where bottom is, to find humps and climbs and yes if yer marking fish in a depth its natural to get your bait in that depth......... funny I have two old finders on the boat and I love to watch them both and can compair one to the other often they will both read the same so im thinking both cant be lyin to me but if i set one to arch and the other to fish ID they very alot as to what is marked as a fish set them both on arch and they seem to be alot more consistant some of the new finders out there sure are pretty with all the bells and whistles, and pretty colors but man when the fish just arnt biting a 800 dollar unit is no different than a 150 dollar unit *lol

Thanks guys, took your advice and turned the sensitivity way down and the problem was solved. reads great in shallow water that has a soft bottom and ok in hard bottom areas. in those areas the screen is full of feed back though.

agreed

_________________
TheReelDeal is the real deal.. Buoy..

It is hard to say without sitting in front of your unit, but I think you may be getting some interference as well. Do you have another sonar on the boat? If you are running two transducers on the same frequency you can get interference. Try turning off or pulling fuses on different electronics, like your am/fm radio, or your vhf, etc. You may find one of those will clear up the screen.

If you turn your sensitivity way down so your screen is clear you will miss fish too. Some of the clutter you are getting will algae, temperature gradients, currents etc. Can't always tell what it is, but there is something there that it is reading. Even in a screen that is almost solid with clutter you should still be able to pick up fish fairly easily. Especially with a colour screen. They will typically be a yellow or Red colour with the black arc.

Hope that helps a bit. Electronics can be frustrating when they don't co-operate but stick with it. If you get a chance to get on a boat with a guy who has good electronics and understands them do it. You can learn so much in an hour or so out with someone who really knows there stuff.

Scott

_________________
West Lake Willows Resort, Picton Harbour Inn, and Bay of Quinte Charters
Bay of Quinte Charters offers a 26' Charter Boat operating out of Picton Harbour with a fully enclosed cabin.
Picton Harbour Inn offers 31 rooms, docking, and a restaurant on the sheltered waters of Picton Harbour.
West Lake Willows offers 8 cottages and camping at the doorstep of the famous Sandbanks on West Lake.

www.bayofquintecharters.com, www.pictonharbourinn.com, www.westlakewillows.com