Need Fish Finder reading pointers

[doggmann]

I have a hook4 combo unit and really need some help on reading/understanding what I'm looking at on the screen.

How can I tell if the bottom is sandy/soft?

Any pointing in the right direction would be appreciated.

I know this seems like a newb question but I really want learn to make the most of a tool in the toolbox.

Thanks

[Sheephead]

Originally Posted by doggmann

I have a hook4 combo unit and really need some help on reading/understanding what I'm looking at on the screen.

How can I tell if the bottom is sandy/soft?

Any pointing in the right direction would be appreciated.

I know this seems like a newb question but I really want learn to make the most of a tool in the toolbox.

Thanks

Don't spend my time looking at the bottom only so no great tips for you but generally, when I rarely look at the bottom, i set my depth setting to 40-60' deeper. Ex: im in 50' so i'll set my depth to 90 or 105ish. If its a rock bottom you won't pick up another layer below what your transducer is reading as the bottom or if you do it will be radically deeper. If your above a sandy bottom then your transducer will mark 1-3 additional layers 10-40' below what it's currently reading as the bottom.

In addition, sometimes the bottom is shown as a thinner/ thicker layer. i can only assume thinner means super hard bottom and thicker most likely means coarse sand. I'd imagine if the sand was fine it would be a thinner line due to being able to pack together better and marking 1-3 layers beneath the bottom would be mud. Could be wrong on this though.

[FullFlavorPike]

there are some recent threads that deal with this in a good way...if you are smart with the search function you will find some gold

[doggmann]

Thanks for the responses. Like everything else it will be a bit of homework then spend time on the water working it out.

Thank you!!!

[FullFlavorPike]

Here is an older shot of a nice sandy bottom (really constant gradient) with some YT cruising through about to crush my three-way setup and "ruin" a day of halibut fishing

The hard/soft return appearance is going to be dictated a lot by how you set the sensitivity and colorline on your personal sonar. Once you get used to reading your sonar and get it dialed in to where you can see clear marks in the column without a lot of interference, start bumping the bottom with a 10-12 ounce dropper loop. You'll be able to tell if it's hard or soft, especially in shallower water, and then you can start correlating in your head with what's marking on the sonar.

[Denis_Ruso]

Look up some posts by @chris138. He's a guru with these things and posted a really great explanation somewhere on here a while back.

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...ad.php?t=30462

Unfortunately, the screenshots are gone.

[goldenglory18]

Originally Posted by doggmann

How can I tell if the bottom is sandy/soft?

It's all depending on your settings, but for all intents and purpose, the density of the earth is represented by the color gradient. The slower the color turns from light to dark, the softer (less dense) the bottom. The quicker the color turns light to dark, the harder (more dense) the bottom.