How to Use Lowrance Fish Finder
A Lowrance fish finder is the same as other best fish finders currently available in the market. Learning how to use lowrance fish finder is necessary to work properly with it. It is important to read through the instructions manual to get the clear idea about what goes where. This becomes even more important if this is your first time using a fish finder.
Once you know you have it installed properly, (You may be interested to read How to Install Your Fish Finder: The Simple Guideline) the next step is to take it for a test drive. Spend at least five minutes in the water to see how the default settings work and how you want to change them. This will be helpful in learning how to use lowrance sonar. While in the water, the simulator mode will automatically load. Once it does, you will be able to see the default menu. From that menu, you can slowly start to learn what each individual symbol and value mean.
Once you are in the water, you will notice that the display screen shows a standard numerical value and metric value in the upper left corner of the fish finder. This means that the depth of the water is directly underneath your boat. If you want best results to learn how to use lowrance fish finder, make sure that the automatic mode is on. The display screen might show the boat speed and water temperature, based on the particular model of your unit. Some advanced levels of fish finders go even into more detail to show factors such as bottom structure, clutter, fish sizes etc.
You may also be interested to read some of our other articles, regarding
How to Use Lowrance Fish Finder
Now you should learn to know what exactly all those horizontal and vertical lines represent and depict their actual values to catch fishes and find the hidden objects, without losing your boat in the process.
- At the bottom of the screen you will see a horizontal line that extends to the entire width of the display. This line is the representation of the bottom of the river or lake you are fishing at. There can be rocks and other hard materials or mud and sand and based on those factors, the line might become thick and dark or light and thin. If the bottom is soft, then a lighter and thinner colored horizontal line will be shown. A flat line means a flat bottom which inclines and declines based on the variations of the surface of the bottom. You will observe that the depth reading on the screen will change compared to the readings of the surface of the bottom.
- When you move along the shore in your boat, you can see there are objects above the line on your display screen. These will give you a general idea on what type of fish and objects are lying underneath your boat and under water. For example, trees will show vertical lines whereas vegetation will be shown with thicker and more obvious indications with irregularly shaped lines or symbols. As you move along, you will learn to read these symbols and eventually everything will become natural and easy for you.
- Now the most important thing for you and the very reason you bought the lowrance fish finder for, is the fish and seeing those fishes in the display screen. You can see the locations of the fishes in between the bottom and the top of the display screen. Objects which are shaped like arches are fish and the sizes of those arches directly correlate with the sizes of those fishes. The location of those fishes is important for you, as you are going to go in that exact location to fish in. The symbols will tell you whether the fish is sitting at the bottom or just above the trees.
- Once you have identified the location of those fishes, you need to move along very slowly to let the lowrance fish finder perform at its best without interrupting the location on the display screen. If you don’t move along and just float above the surface and become stationary, the objects will appear as thin lines, defeating the whole purpose of getting a fish finder.
- Know that small fishes will usually not appear as arches. Schools of fishes generally appear as dot. If you see a number of dots being clustered in the display screen of your lowrance fish finder, you know where to go.
- You should try to adjust the lowrance fish finder’s sensitivity level to as high as possible without creating too much noise on the display screen of your fish finder as that may show up as clutter and make the process far more confusing for you.
- You should learn to study the shapes of the objects those show up in your display screen. Based on that particular unit, a school of fish might show up as a stack of blocks on your fish finder’s display screen.
- In the top right corner of your split screen there might be surface clutter, extending till many feet below the surface area. This might indicate bait fish, air bubbles, waves or planktons and something else. Be wary while reading those symbols off of your fish finder and you should be good.
Final Words
The best way to learn how to use lowrance fish finder is to take it out in the water and find out by yourself. It is important that you read through the provided manuals thoroughly to know exactly what the individual symbols look like and what exactly they each represent. Once you take it to a test drive, you will see that the default mode is already on and it is showing you different values for different factors. Since as you go you will learn what you are looking for, you will be able to customize it according to your choice. The fish finders available in the market are different in some factors; some being more advanced than others but the general idea is still the same. I hope this article will come in handy.