Which screen page setting do we prefer to use
on the units in our own boats?
By Jeff Boyer – Sonar GPS Workshops LLC
T
his issue’s question is one Captain Jack and
i frequently get when we’re out presenting
seminars. ”Which screen page setting do we
prefer to use on the units in our own boats?” in other words, what’s the best Pages view setting?
it’s really a personal preference, but it should also take
into consideration the type of fishing you are doing at
the time. i suspect Captain Jack uses different Pages
settings when chasing stripers in the Sacramento delta
than i do when targeting black bass in the same waters.
and i’ll bounce between several Page combination
settings while i’m navigating and searching out bass
and structure there. But do i have a favorite Page
setting? one i fall back on time and time again? Yes. if
forced to use just one Pages setting and none other,
i’d pick the Pages setting with four windows, labeled
“Structure+Structure+Sonar+Chart” . (refer to the
image on the next page.) You’ll find this by pressing the
Pages key under the Structure heading.
This is one of my favorite Pages settings because it shows you the entire spectrum of what’s going on, all in one view. in the lower left window you see the body of water, chart information, and can monitor your boat position as you move through the water.
In the lower right window is your sonar imagery , showing bottom contour, structure, and fish signals. across the top you have two StructureScan windows. if you set one to left&right Scan and the other to down Scan, you can then see the entire
StructureScan transducer cone angle simultaneously. This is very valuable, because if you’ve spent much time using StructureScan, you probably already know you’ll see things in the down Scan view that don’t show up in the side image views, and vice versa. That’s because the down Scan view displays primarily what is directly underneath the boat, whereas the side imaging views display what is left or right of the boat. look closely at the two views in the picture and you’ll see for yourself.
In the Down Scan view (upper right window) , notice the large hump shaped structure in the middle of the screen. Behind it looks like a scattered school of fish, then another separate and smaller school of fish a little further behind.
Now compare the Left & Right Scan view (upper left window) . on the right side is the large hump shaped structure lying on the bottom, meaning it’s large enough to appear under the boat and off to the right side of the boat. But notice this structure is absent on the left side of the boat. Now look for the fish schools. on the right side, notice the fish school behind the hump. See how it is distributed differently than the schools in the down Scan view? This is why i like to see my left, right, and down Scan views all at once so i can see the total picture and better understand how it lays out.
Did you also notice the Down Scan view window is directly above the Sonar view window? This
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