Humminbird Side Imaging Forums
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: sblatt on June 15, 2011, 01:34:57 AM
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hello everyone, im having trouble determining a fish from everything else. my question is does anyone use the fish id feature on there units. i never see any of the pros using it on tv. what does a fish look like with the fish id off? thanks for the input.
sam
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Hi sblatt
I use a 798ci - great unit and works well in waters off Perth, Western Australia. I started with a 788 and at the time used the fish id feature - the software is supposed to 'interpret' the sonar repsonse of fishes. Most of the reading that I did on the subject suggested that this feature should be turned off by the user. The sonar response is a wide open inverted U shaped arch. The edges of the arch represent the entry and exit of the sonar beam across the fish - the central section of the arch is thickest representing the strongest return of the central part of the sonar beam. The shape and composition of the arch will vary greatly deending on boat speed, fish size and time that the fish spends in the sonar beam. Other responses include scattered spots or clumps that can represent baitfish schools (individual fish too small to generate arches). [attachment=1] I've attached a photo showing a reef ('bommie') and you'll notice some fish arches to the right - classic shape - there are also some smaller clumpy spots that probably represent small baitfish schools. Ive found other articles though that reckon you should turn the fish finding algorithm on (see attached) - I guess its a matter of trial and error. A couple of books that I found really useful both published in Australia by the Australian Fishing Network (AFN) are
1.) How to use depth sounders & GPS - Fred Studden - AFN - ISBN 9781 8651 3152 8
2.) Depth sounder secrets - Rick Huckstepp - AFB - ISBN 9781 8651 3103 0 - really great illustrated examples of interpreting sonar by a renowned fisherman.
Good luck with it all
Regards
Simon
[attachment=1][attachment=2]
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Nice article. Too bad he didn’t make screen snapshots versus taking a picture of the display… The images did show one feature that many overlook: we place the Fish ID Icon above the raw sonar return, so with the Fish ID on you can slowly learn what sonar returns that the unit thinks are fish and apply that so that at sometime in the future you can also turn the Fish ID function off and feel confident in identifying fish on your Humminbird sonar unit.
Humminbird units do not simply assign every sonar target that is not attached to the lake bottom a Fish ID Icon. Each sonar return has to meet certain criteria before this is done (don’t ask me what these are as no one will tell me!), so not every sonar return will be shown with a Fish ID Symbol.
Also remember that if you are displaying both the narrow and wide sonar beams that the Fish ID Symbols will be shown in Orange (narrower 200kHz) and Blue (wider 83kHz) to help you determine where the fish are in relation to the transducer.