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Posts: 194
| I've heard this phrase several times across musky podcasts recently. It begs the question:
1. What about side scan are they using incorrectly? Marking cover? Recognizing fish?
2. How does somebody go about systematically improving these problems?
3. Are there any "little used" areas of the electronics that you think people would benefit knowing and using more often outside of sidescan?
I've heard again and again the adage that people don't know their electronics well enough, but sometimes you don't know what you don't know, and I'd love to hear more experienced anglers' thoughts on how to fix it if you suspect the podcasts are talking about you (me). |
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| The guy at Northland Marine who checked me out when I put a new Explorer unit on my boat this spring said most anglers only use a small part of the capability. Steve Worral might address this, I think his son was looking at helping people with their electronics rather than guiding only. |
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Posts: 7153
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | "How to use" is one thing, I think the questions that really need to be asked first:
-do you have the correct amount of POWER going to the unit (minimum is not enough, more than enough seems to be enough)? more power = more detail
-is your transducer at the right angle? bad angle = bad picture
-are you using the right settings to get the best view?
-are you adjusting your screen for depth versus width?
Make sure you do all of that correctly FIRST....then take a few thousand hours staring at the screen figuring out what is what! |
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Posts: 1365
Location: E. Tenn | Slamr - 11/4/2026 1:52 PM
"How to use" is one thing, I think the questions that really need to be asked first:
-do you have the correct amount of POWER going to the unit (minimum is not enough, more than enough seems to be enough)? more power = more detail
-is your transducer at the right angle? bad angle = bad picture
-are you using the right settings to get the best view?
-are you adjusting your screen for depth versus width?
Make sure you do all of that correctly FIRST....then take a few thousand hours staring at the screen figuring out what is what!
When I upgraded electronics a few years ago, and took the boat out one day, armed with only the manual downloaded to my phone. I spent several hours practicing what a former colleague from Germany jokingly called "derfingerspoken".
The most important takeaway was what not to do. I got the units dialed in, and developed a good sense into what to change for different depth, clarity and such.
A couple years ago a friend was gifted a unit identical to mine, and he asked me to "set it up" for him.. Unfortunately he's the type that can't leave a button unpushed or a switch untoggled with the predictable outcome..
Edited by miket55 11/4/2026 4:30 PM
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Posts: 2128
| Many look down on ffs, but there were guys that had side scan really dialed in back around 2010, ….for sure 2012, I have an example that’s quite remarkable, anyway for me it was a what the heck moment, and there were clear indicators I was seeing in 2012, this isn’t good - what was to come and where we are now today- I personally can’t stand the idea of throwing to fish I know are in front of me/to the side of me, etc… you want your side scan that dialed in might as well get ffs too, just my opinion … but what do I know, I also bow hunt with no trail cameras.  |
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Posts: 368
Location: Vilas County, WI | I may take some flack for this, but I would absolutely pay a subject matter expert for their time in teaching me how to use my electronics more efficiently. I currently have outdated versions of the Helix. The plan is to buy a new boat next year, with the latest and greatest electronics. After I do that, sure I'll jump on YouTube and the Google machine to cut the learning curve. But as mentioned above, I would pay an expert for a few hours on my boat for some hands-on education. |
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Posts: 1741
Location: Brighton CO. | In the late 80's when living in California one of my co workers had a Canoe and we would fish by his home (he had a long commute to work) so it was hour drive to his home then off to Lake Parris where there was a world class Spotted Bass Lake. We would paddle across the Lake with all the speed boats dogging us and fish in the tree's and catch only Baby Bass. so I bought a portable Depth finder (a hummingbird fish ID) with lantern battery and suction cup. That changed everything and we started catching bigger fish. I still have it just looked at it now, covered in dust, some where I still have the booklet and VHS tape on how to work it. |
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Posts: 194
| IAJustin - 11/5/2026 8:33 AM
Many look down on ffs, but there were guys that had side scan really dialed in back around 2010, ….for sure 2012, I have an example that’s quite remarkable, anyway for me it was a what the heck moment, and there were clear indicators I was seeing in 2012, this isn’t good - what was to come and where we are now today- I personally can’t stand the idea of throwing to fish I know are in front of me/to the side of me, etc… you want your side scan that dialed in might as well get ffs too, just my opinion … but what do I know, I also bow hunt with no trail cameras. :)
I've seen what you mentioned about side scan once. It blew my mind how good this guy was with it. Even after explaining some of what he does to me, I am nowhere near his skill level. |
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Posts: 467
Location: SW Ohio | My old Helix 9 still works fine (my Helix 10 lost one side years ago) although the pixel count is far less than today's graphs. It still picks out fish but sits in storage most of the time in favor of Garmins. The Garmins don't take a lot to dial in. The newer SI units come pretty much ready to run right out of the box. But understanding what the settings do, and how SI actually works, is essential to getting everything you can out of them. You can actually mess up the display, making it less detailed, by changing too many settings. At least a factory reset is available to help when that happens.
Slamr pointed out "more power" is helpful. Most units can run on more than 12vdc but it needs to be "clean"...not using your TM batteries, isolated from your engine's charging system, etc.. Using dedicated power, and running the wires separately from the boat's wiring, is recommended for clearer images. Today's TMs, with their digital power profiles, make a lot of electrical interference which distorts SI images. I'm constantly fighting interference on my bow units even with a new Ulterra, and a dedicated lithium battery for my graphs, due to the way the wiring is run thru the boat.
Tailoring the graph's display speed to the boat's speed is also crucial. Too slow, things are missed. Too fast, things are stretched and distorted. Fish are easy to miss. Hard to see the actual fish at times but their "shadows" stand out when the graph is adjusted to the boat speed.
Knowing what frequency to use based on water depth and clarity is a must. Best thing you can do is spend a day or two on the water and hit all your favorite spots. Places you're familiar with and think you know what the bottom looks like. Then go over that area a few times while adjusting the settings to see how they affect the display. Pretty amazing what will show up.
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