Fish ID or Fish Arches ?

blake711 · November 03, 2008, 02:06:45 PM

Which do you use and why? Looking for some in depth detailed info here fellas..

Blake

bassadict69 · November 03, 2008, 02:33:47 PM

On my color 332C, I keep it showing arches. The arches show up pretty good in deeper water. From what I have always read, having it on fish symbols will cause your unit to display everything from trash & debris to air bubbles as fish.

Up front, I have a LMS-480 & keep it on symbols...I have never been able to get it to show arches worth a darn, besides, I am only watching it for depth & contour changes.

About the only time I am actually watching for fish is when over brush piles looking for crappie.

-Joe- · November 03, 2008, 03:46:58 PM

Quote from: bassadict69 on November 03, 2008, 02:33:47 PM
From what I have always read, having it on fish symbols will cause your unit to display everything from trash & debris to air bubbles as fish.

I have noticed that on my HB if I have it on symbols that I will get false readings also. So I leave mine on arches.

Joe

wildweasel · November 03, 2008, 05:23:46 PM

The Savannah River is down about 6 feet right now, average depth I would say to be 8-10 feet.

We keep both of our DFs on the fish symbols - we are fishing for pan fish right now and are looking for concentrations of fish, not a single Russki Missile boat type fish. We see lots of stumps, logs & brushpile, as well as lots of fish.

Seems to be working good - we're catching catfish nearly every time.

WW

Jdaddy · November 04, 2008, 07:23:24 AM

Quote from: blake711 on November 03, 2008, 02:06:45 PM
Which do you use and why? Looking for some in depth detailed info here fellas..

Blake

I thought you knew everything and whatever you don't know you search in every possible search engine,

Fish I.D is off, you missing lots of cover and structure while using fish I.D, not to mention you can not tell the difference between a bass - a stripe bass- jacks - cat fish or turtles on the fish I.D .

blake711 · November 04, 2008, 07:58:40 AM

Quote from: Jdaddy on November 04, 2008, 07:23:24 AM
I thought you knew everything and whatever you don't know you search in every possible search engine,

I just want to compare what all you jokers say to all the data I have gathered in my searches..

I searched this site and didn't see any mentions of this subject. The internet as a whole has some stuff but I like to hear peoples opinions that I trust.

Jdaddy · November 04, 2008, 08:04:26 AM

Cool beans, ask away bubba.

coldfront · November 04, 2008, 02:01:01 PM

Arches. Nothing but arches.

But recognize that you really need to not expect too much unless you're in deep enough water...and also realize what's going on... I've had days where thre are nothing but lines on my graph ... horizontal lines... typically that happens when crappie start schooling...there are no 'arches' to be had...and most times I won't get 'great' arches.

Now, for the guys that use color graphs, they talk about something called 'yellow-bellies'...and have set their units to levels that allow them to get not only arches, but in those arches see different characteristics...the California guys who hunt the deeper bass see those 'yellow-bellies' as bigger fish...but I suspect you really have to be in 10-15 foot or deeper water for this to work well...preferably 30+

Lowrance manuals have excellent written descriptions as to what is being seen (and how it's being produced) on their screens...

pawpaw · November 04, 2008, 04:40:41 PM

I allways have mine set for arches, like a couple of the other guys said I believe you get a lot of false information with the fish symbols. I get a kick out of seeing someone with the fish alarm turned on and the thing beeping every 10 seconds when they are over brush or standing timber.

fishin couillon · November 06, 2008, 10:10:41 PM

I use the fish archs.......My unit on the console shows much better pics than the unit up front. But thats cause i'm idling around. Arch will show up better when moving. If you trolling slooooooooooow then it will be longe streaks or such. Here is some recording i done this past weekend. Now this is from the unit at the console. My bow unit does not show this good although i can see my spoon/jigs and also seen fish right before they took the bait. Here is my pic. Now it did show up great on the unit but i enhanced it a little with the sonar viewer at the house. Of course as you can see the "yellow clouds" are schools of bait fish and then the fish underneath them.

Baron49 · November 08, 2008, 10:55:34 AM

I have to agree arches are the only way to go, #1 reason as mentioned is you are missing a ton of information when using the Fish ID. I use a Lowrance X102C on my dash and put a better unit on the bow as that is where I spend most of my day fishing. I want the best quality of picture and information I can get while fishing an area. The LMS520C has worked outstanding for that. With a little practice you can see all kinds of structure and fish and be able to tell the difference between a rock on the bottom and a fish.

Like anything else the newer, better electronics have a "learning curve" you have to willing to read the manual and spend time on the water with these units to get the most possible information out of them.