First time out with the Lowrance Elite 4

[dsiekman]

Did a trial run with my new Elite 4 today. Marked some fish (I think), but I'm pretty sure it needs to be fine tuned. It seemed to pick up a lot of what I would call static. I paddled across the wake of a small center console and the whole screen lit up. I tried the fish icon and it was convinced that there were a lot of small fish hanging around 3-4'. This was not constant, so maybe there were? I saw what looked like a few nice marks (upside down V), but they were blue. I'm used to fish being shown yellow on almost every FF I've ever seen. Any ideas? I tried both 83 and 200 MHz. Not sure which to use in >20' of water. Other than that, everything was set to factory specs.

As a side note, there were no bites. I couldn't even catch the bottom today.

[Jaspratt]

Mess with your surface interference setting. That will clear all of tht up. You can change the color of the screen to whatever you like I beilieve. I have a "dsi" so I'm not exactly sure about the color change on a standard ff.

[J.A. Veil]

I found a user's manual for that unit on the Lowrance website. http://www.lowrance.com/Root/Lowranc...-10161-001.pdf

On the various Lowrance units I have owned, the sensitivity control helps to screen out some of the electronic clutter. Look through the manual to find the section on sensitivity (p. 17) -- adjust it up or down to optimize what appears on the screen.

[BassMoore]

I just used my elite 4 for the first time yesterday on the pomtomac in areas I know very well... N I have to say or a thro the hull installation it was PIN POINT . I was shocked

[dsiekman]

google 'dr sonar' i think. it's a site with lots of info for adjusting FF's. it takes some time to get used to FF displays and it is worthwhile trying to learn to adjust.

yes - almost all powerboats filter their exhaust through the water, where the prop whips it into tiny bubbles making a trail that lingers for quite awhile and is usually very visible on FF's.

most of their noise is directed underwater along with their exhaust. i think this leads powerboaters to think they're not making nearly as much noise as they are. while swimming underwater, i can hear a powerboat 1/2 mile away easily. while running an outboard in the driveway (connected to a garden hose) one has to yell pretty loud just to be heard above the sound of the motor.

Makes sense, but why doesn't that trail interfere with trolling? If you're right on this, could some of the clutter have been my paddle strokes?

[dsiekman]

Thanks Southerly. I hadn't considered the possibility of my hull causing clutter, but it does make sense.