How to Read a Fish Finder: An Ultimate guide

Fish finders are great for several things, one of them being helping you spot fish and how they respond to baits. They also help you see how fish congregates. Most of them use sonar technology that helps you see underneath the boat and water so that messages relayed on your phone are reasonable. It doesn’t take too long to learn how to use this technology, and in this article, we look at the basics that you should concern you as a beginner.

Identifying Fish

Some fish-finders identify any moving object as fish, which is quite misleading. With Fish-ID technology I your gadget, you are able to really tell the fish from plants since the little icons show them as such. The only downside is when you see an icon showing a school of fish only for them to turn out to be weeds under the water. It takes a bit of time and practice to note the true identity of fish when they are displayed, bit even more when they are in a large group. The advice is to always take your time before casting your net.

Fish Arches

The transducer will send you arches and lines when you have an arch fish finder. These lines and arches take a little time to understand. Big arches signify big fish and the opposite for small arches. At first, it will be a task telling rocks and plants from true fish, but with a little patience and time you will learn the difference.

Telling the Fish Size

We already mentioned the arches tell you the size of the fish, but there is more to size than just length. Arches will be of varying fullness, thickness, and length depending on the catch underneath. By looking at the arch’s width, you can tell the size of the fish. If the fish finder returns a full arc, then it is very likely to be a thick fish. If a fish only swims through one small part of the sonar, the image will be that of half an arch. This does not signify the size of the fish; only that it didn’t swim through the entire cone. So, when reading arches, bear in mind that what matters most is the thickness as opposed to its fullness or lack of it.

Baitfish displays as small dots, lines, or small dashes on the fish finder, while vegetation is yellow. If it’s a group of baitfish, they are displayed as a ball suspended on the water. You want to be sure to tell these apart from real fish.

Underwater Structures

It helps to be able to read these as you could be misled to believe there is a group of fish where there are none. The depth finder helps you identify how deep the water runs so you can see what lays far below. Located on the top-left corner of the screen, this part of the fish finder will tell you the type of fish to expect in that particular river.

Take your Time

A fish finder takes a bit of time to learn to read most of the time, but you get the hang of it with a few lessons and some practice. Patience is also key since you learn almost each time you use the fish finder.