[Bromium]

I have recently picked up a fishin buddy max to up my stillwater float tube game. After much searching for a 120 or a 140C which proved very tough to find I settled on the newer max version which unfortunately does not have the side scanning of the previous models. After the first test run I have a few questions which I'm hoping someone experienced with the unit may be able to answer.

1. Do you have to take into account the 1.5 feet that the transducer is already in the water like if it has a bottom reading of 8ft on screen is that actually 8ft or 9.5ft

2. What would be your go to sensitivity setting as I assume if you use a sensitivity of 10 it would give a lot of false fish IDs.

3. Do you use the fish ID or just interpret the raw data and if yes what should I be keeping my eye out for. Saw no arcs and no strong red returns but did see some blue bars or lines on the sounder and with the fish ID on I couldn't really interpret what was setting that off from the background.

4. Can weeds be picked up at a high sensitivity as I was in say 15ft of water and the bottom was showing red but from 15 to 10ft was just vertical lines of blue. Or was this by any chance a thermocline.

Sorry for all the possibly stupid questions but it would clear a lot of things up.

Cheers

 

[Penobscot]

1. No, the depth is the depth.

2. Midrange

3. Fish ID is a nonscientific piece of data


4. Weeds can be seen if seetings are correct.



Take it a clear, shallow area(where you can see) and study the bottom vs. the screen, and don't overthink it.

 

[Bromium]

Hey thanks for the reply i probably am overthinking it a little but have been told that learning to read the sonar properly is extremely beneficial. On the first question can the unit calculate how far the transducer is in the water already somehow or how does it discern the correct depth while being submerged the 1.5ft.

Cheers

 

[Penobscot]

Most likely they have factored the 1.5 in the depth reading.

 

[GAT]

Geez, somewhere I missed that a new model of Fishin Buddy is now available. Of course I use the side finder quite a bit with my 120 so I'm won't be too keen to jump on the new model anytime soon...

I thought the original design single unit went the way of the wild goose... maybe their marketing departments read the posts on WFF...

 

[bchapman]

I'm sorry, but the depth reading is from the transducer to the bottom (assuming a hard bottom). It does not factor in some sort of guestimate of how deep you have the transducer submerged (FBs are used on other things than pontoons). So, add the distance your transducer is submerged to the depth reading to get a better approximation of the true depth. Want to test it? Barely submerge the transducer and note the reading, then submerge it as much as you dare and compare that reading with the first.

Water clarity should affect which sensitivity setting you choose. Play around with it in different settings to get a feel for it over time. Generally, the clearer the water the higher the sensitivity you can use. However, dialing down the sensitivity in murkier water is a two edged sword. Here's a quote from a blog posting by Aaron Martens (a Humminbird pro):

"In real clear water, it's easy to dial in the sensitivity. You can run it really high and it's much easier to see the fish and objects than in dirty water. For the purposes of adjusting sensitivity: by dirty water, I mean anything in the water that will cause interference on your graph, such as algae, oxygen in the water from waves or current, silt, etc. When you are graphing an area, the dirtier the water, the lower your sensitivity should be set. But, the lower the sensitivity, the harder it is to make an object out. So, when you start looking for fish, turn it back up; it will be like looking through fog with a flashlight to find an object, but it's the only way in dirty water. After I have my sensitivity dialed in, I will then adjust the contrast setting. The contrast setting can bring an object into sharper focus and it's usually the last setting I change."​

Fish ID is an algorithm that gives rather dubious results. Try to learn to read the arcs instead.

Regarding weeds, etc., you can usually tell what is going on at the bottom of the lake. I don't use my FB Max much, but on my FB 140c you can see the structure that is giving the main returns (red), i.e. the hard bottom, and often other colors/structure immediately above, which can show how deep the sludge is or how high the weed growth is, or both.

Good luck with your new fish finder!

 

[Penobscot]

On my high side Willie Drift Boat, the transducer is essentially at the surface.


Still, this is way overthought.

 

[Bromium]

Thanks for the replies guys it has cleared up a few questions. I do however have one remaining question. If you turn off the fish ID and learn to read the "arcs" how do you know what depth the fish are at. The only scale I can find on the fishin buddy (if in say 20ft of water) is the zero ft at the top and the 30ft at the bottom. Or am I missing a setting somewhere that gives a more extensive scale.

Thanks

Eoin