depth/fish finder question

[MMax]

Recently having put more focus on striper fishing and reading all the advise on the importance of "finding the fish", I believe I need to upgrade my depth finders. I currently have two Garmin Fish Finder 140's (low end) on my boat; one's on my casting deck and one's on my console. I don't want to spend any more than I need to but I want to get the right tools to do the job. What would you recommend. Thanks in advance.

[aceoky]

You might want to look at the Lowrance LMS520C , has external (puck) antenna for the GPS for marking those hot spots (and just as important those dangerous navigation points/places)

I bought one a few months ago and am very impressed , you can download the "emulator" here so you can see how it works (and "try before you buy others as well) even before you buy it. Not "cheap" but not top $$$ the color is impressive on how well detail and differences show up compared to b&w IMO

Emulator(s) here : (NOTE they will not work with MS VISTA OS)

http://www.lowrance.com/en/Downloads/Product-Emulators/

The hummingbird Side Imaging look impressive too, but are much more expensive from what I've found

[cumberlandguy1]

The biggest thing about a depth finder for stripers is....learn how to read what you are seeing. I have a low end lowrance, but once I learned to read what I was seeing, I started to catch more fish.

[Boat Bums]

I have a 55x I have no idea what I'm looking at!!!!!

[aceoky]

I have B/W Humminbird on the bow and the Lowrance (color) on the console and comparing the detail differences in color VS B/W is amazing (at least to me)

[PRO V LE]

Lowrance will be coming out with the new H.D. models soon. You will be able to buy the left over models at much reduced price soon.

[JUSTINHALL]

I have a Raymarine C120 which is probably more than what you are after and it is great. However I did have a 520C and I thougt it worked very well also, I had a standard on the bow and color on console and to me color is well worth its money. The settings needs to be altered a lot on the lowrance colors to see what you want to see but worth dialing in the settings for sure. With out spending crazy money the Lowrance 520C is a good unit.
Like others said you need to know what you are looking at and setting certainly change alot.

[aceoky]

Justin , if you don't mind saying what color changes did you try and would you recommend on the 520C

[smuckey41]

i like humminbird myself, i have the b/w i think is the 595 for 199.00 it has good detail one of the best for the money but it is just a fish finder no gps. the first one i owned then i bumbed up to the color one with gps in the dash, now i have the 1197si on the front. and i would recomend all three. i have not had any proublems out of any of them, but i have had some buddys who have had alot of proublems with lowrence. and had proublems with getting them fixed or traded in through lowrence. just my 2 cents

chuck

[JUSTINHALL]

Aceoky,Turn noise rejection off, this will allow you to see fish hanging near the bottom better.

Turn surface clarity off or at least low. Most say this only affects the top 10 ft but it does interfere with the whole column.

Turn the sensitivity all the way up 95-100%. Most settings are much lower to create a prettier picture but you will see a lot more info if you set it here.

Turn you colorline setting to 63-65% this changes the image colors a lot and will look a lot different for the first day until you get used to it but helps a lot to separate junk from fish or structure.
These settings work well with lowrance color not black and white and not other brands.

Stripers don’t show up as big arches like they are supposed to for some reason. You will see more straight lines or ghost marks where they shot up and ate the bait fish. If you see mark going in and out of the bait fish from below this is the stripers feeding and is a really good sign. Locate the bait fish and the stripers are not far behind. When I changed my setting to this from standard it helped a bunch. However these setting don’t work well in salt water at all. With the above setting you will see more arches appear then before but keep in mind what stripers really look like.

[aceoky]

JUSTINHALL , thank you so much! Those are good tips I will put to use next time out on the water! I do have the LMS520C Lowrance so I can take full use of your advice, thanks so much for taking the time to respond as I'm still "new" to this particular fish finder

[adam7456]

Aceoky,
Stripers don’t show up as big arches like they are supposed to for some reason. You will see more straight lines or ghost marks where they shot up and ate the bait fish. If you see mark going in and out of the bait fish from below this is the stripers feeding and is a really good sign. Locate the bait fish and the stripers are not far behind.

It took me going out with a guide and seeing what stripers looked like on his display and then going back the next day and seeing what they looked like on my display before I finally figured out what to look for. Once I knew what to look for it completely changed my ability to find and catch stripers.

Here is what stripers look like on my Lowrance. The first pic they are on the far left. The second pic is all stripers.

http://lakewoode.com/pic/striper_fishfinder.jpg

http://lakewoode.com/pic/striper_fishfinder1.jpg