noise on fish finder. out of ideas

[takern]

I have a lowrance 4x hdi fish finder i just installed on my 1648 alumacraft. I fish shallow water in the flats a lot and spend a lot of time in the 4-8ft depth range. The ducer is transom mounted between two strakes and 3-4 inches outside the prop circumfrence on the starboard side. it then runs up the side and into the side where some 3" plastic conduit contains all of my wires. the ducer is roughly 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch below the bottom of the hull and is just slightly nose up. The sensitivity is auto set for 56%, and I am worried if I go any lower I wont be able to pick up the holes and slight cover on the bottom. sorry for the crappy pictures. my phone is not exactly fancy. But any ideas are welcome.

Here is a list of the tests and results i have done so far
Motor on/off-no change.
Neutral/Idle/slow speed-no change
Going on plane then riding-struggles while getting on plane but works fine after the nose settles
Trolling motor on/off/running-no change
sitting still/drifting-no change

Is it normal to get a lot of interference at depths up to 5 ft? I can reduce the surface clutter but that just hides the problem, not fixes it.

 

[ccm]

Try dialing down the sensitivity. You wont miss too much bottom detail. Also if it has a manual mode set it to a certain depth just a little beyond the range you will be fishing. Try doing a few of these things, in shallow water my dad's HDS graphs do a similar thing in shallow water.

 

[takern]

I will give it a shot. i got tomorrow off so im gonna head out so some deeper 30-40 ft water an give it a test and try to catch a few fish. how much will dialing down the sensitivity mess with my ability to see fish? this boat is alsu used in lakes and rivers for bass and striper so i would like to be able to pick out a fish thats lingering down near a stump or tree or what have you. Sorry for all the stupid questions. First real boat and fish finder. Finally upgraded from my 9ft bass hound so I am learning as I go

 

[ccm]

Experiment around with it. To much sensitivity & you cant see anything ( clutter ) and to little sensitivity & you cant see anything. It takes a little experimentation to dial things in. Cary your manual with you it will be your best friend when learning how to use features & settings. You really have a great graph, from experience with down scan ( dad has an HDS 8 ) you can see fish in brush piles & you can also tell what kind of fish are down there such as a school of stripers vs. catfish. I was taught structure fishing from an early age ( dad is an avid bass tournament fisherman ) and electronics really do help, I've seen it from Bottom Line's side scan in the early 90's to the technology we have now. I guess my point is learn how to use your electronics to their fullest potential ( so many anglers don't do this ) a person with a cheap graph that has learned to interpret it with same skill level can out fish his competitor with a top of the line system if the competitor hasn't learned to use it. You really do have a good unit & once you figure out how everything works it really will help you find & catch more fish. The best of luck to you ccm.
PS feel free to ask more questions I'll try to help if I can.

 

[takern]

I got it dialed in pretty well. Ran the sensitifity on like 62% and turned the surface clutter option to low. That seemed to help. I got the clutter so it only goes down to about 2 feet. I was able to pick up a flounder in about 5 or 6 feet of water and dropped a swimbait down to it and managed to catch it so that was pretty cool. I know what you mean about the structure fishing. I have always been a bass fisherman fising downed trees and docks and such in lakes so this saltwater stuff is new.

Any tips on getting more of an arch to show fish? they are either really steep arches or just comig up as blobs. I tried to lower the ping rate but that just made the whole thing go bonkers. I am starting to get the hang of it.

The only complaint I have about it so far is that stupid plastic star gromet they give you to attach to the mount blows. It is already softened up and the finder is wiggling about. Didnt even survive one drift across a grass flat... Im gonna call lowrance and see what they say about it

 

[ccm]

Sounds like your getting the hang of it. Schools of small fish generally show up blob like & larger fish show up as arches. Catching that flounder is awesome! Sorry to hear about that grommet hopefully Lowrance will take care of that.

 

[takern]

they are. i called them and they are sending me a new one. the guy I talked to had "never heard of that before" but offered to send me a new one no questions asked. now I just have to get this trailer worked out. its apparently very difficult to load a semi flat bottomed boat on to a trailer in 20kts of wind without guides. Bust Out Another Thousand

 

[ccm]

takern » 22 Jul 2014, 15:14[/url]"]they are. i called them and they are sending me a new one. the guy I talked to had "never heard of that before" but offered to send me a new one no questions asked. now I just have to get this trailer worked out. its apparently very difficult to load a semi flat bottomed boat on to a trailer in 20kts of wind without guides. Bust Out Another Thousand

Now that's what I call good customer service. I got the same problem with my old trailer. So I'll be doing the same thing pretty soon. I got a couple of homemade L brackets that my lights sit on. So far I've had to replace lenses twice because the boat broke them from the wind pushing it.

 

[earl60446]

I am pretty sure that "wallijig" a member on this forum is a lowrance representative, he is from SD. I would try pm-ing him with questions if the new unit does not work to your expectations. If nothing else he should have some good suggestions.
Tim