Humminbird Side Imaging Forums

Side Imaging Forums => Helix Series Units => Topic started by: MadCatter on January 17, 2016, 10:00:44 AM

Title: Helix 5 SI and locating submerged timber?
Post by: MadCatter on January 17, 2016, 10:00:44 AM

Hi everyone,

New to the forum, and have already learned Alot from you guys prior to joining.

So on my home lake in central texas (Lavon Lake), most of the lake is filled with flooded timber. The north end is covered with it and fairly shallow (5-10ft), the south end is the main body of the lake and still has submerged timber but the depth ranges from 10-40ft. I'm struggling to locate the timber and brush piles in the deeper water say 20-40 ft even with down imaging. I've played with the sensitivity and contrast, even the sharpness while scanning a tree that I can see the top of in 18ft of water. I've narrowed my side view down to 30 ft and can still only get a faint shadow. Keep in mind that this timber has been submerged for years so I would imagine it's pretty water logged. Any suggestions?

So far the only way that I have been able to locate the timber/brush is that when I make a pass, the crappie are stacked to the tree so tight that they actually form an outline of the tree with their bodies on the screen. Took me a minute  and a few jigs to figure out that they were holding to a tree.

Any help would be appreciated. I'll try to get some screen shots up as soon as I can.

Title: Re: Helix 5 SI and locating submerged timber?
Post by: rnvinc on January 17, 2016, 10:10:34 AM

Vertical structure are definitely very challenging for SI ...

This is partly because most opinions lend towards the mantra of "3-5mph for best scan speed"  ...

While that mantra does allow covering a lot of water very quickly...it just doesn't work for relative small diameter vertical structure ...simply because the boat passes by the vertical structure so fast that very few transmit pings actually hit the target (vertical structure) ...

Try slowing the boat down (to 1mph or less) with the Chart Speed at 1 ...to allow more pings to hit the vertical structure ...

Quality scan images can be obtained at less than 1mph ...you just won't cover as much water as quickly ...

(http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr134/rnvinc/HB/null_zps8630f91a.jpg) (http://s477.photobucket.com/user/rnvinc/media/HB/null_zps8630f91a.jpg.html)

Rickie

Title: Re: Helix 5 SI and locating submerged timber?
Post by: MadCatter on January 17, 2016, 09:02:31 PM

Thanks for the detailed response Ricky.  I've made passes with my trolling motor at about 1 mph with the chart speed set at 1 and it definitely made the images sharper. With regards to the vertical timber, it did not show the actual timber but the shadows are definitely more apparent. I did notice that the images of the schools of fish are noticeably clearer for sure.

I think that the timber has been submerged for so long that it will not give a hard return due to the density being pretty close to the water density. That's my guess anyhow. I'll be heading out this coming up weekend for some testing and get some screenshots to post as well.