I spent 3 hours with Slade Dougharty on Lake Fork yesterday afternoon fine tuning my HDS-9 Touch Screen and HDS-8 Gen 2. It was well worth the investment. I can see structure so much more clearly and I can now make way more effective use of the two units. Now if I could just make the fish bite.

Good to hear....I've got a date with Slade in a couple of weeks!

What all is involved with "fine tuning"?

Yes, I'd like to know as well. I have the same hds 9. Any advice or tips you learned would be greatly appreciated.

Easy!
1. Match chart speed to gps speed
2. SI sensitivity to 12
3. SI contrast to 12

Not really, I have no clue what fine tuning involves, but I'd love to hear. I doubt OP will spill all the beans, he did pay for the fine tuning...

I doubt OP will spill all the beans, he did pay for the fine tuning...


Then what's the point in posting in a forum meant for exchanging ideas and discussing topics?

To give props to Slade Dougharty and recommend his services to others on the forum. I could be wrong, maybe he'll throw us some pointers.

Sounds like it belongs in Plugs & Announcements then.

yep, like goin out with a guide then posting all the spots ya went to,..duh.

My buddy went to see Slade a week or so ago. He was very impressed and learned a thing or two.

So if you pay for an education you should not teach what you learn?

Going to see Slade real soon!

Slade brings disks with him and updates the units. I am not sure all of what is on those cards, but it does improve the performance. Then he resets all the settings on both units and it is amazing how much clearer the images are on both 2-D and structure scan. Then Slade takes you to several pieces of structure, including brush piles, ledges, sunken boats, road beds, bridges, which really helped me get a better feel for what I was seeing. As we were doing that he pointed out fish that I probably would not have even seen before. Slade created new screen combinations that I was not using. He showed me how to stop the screen, zero in on structure or a fish and save a screen shot. He provides some great fishing tip techniques, too. The only thing he did not do is show me how to make the fish bite.

how do we get in touch with slade???

Krikster, thanks for the reply and info. I really wasn't trying to get into anyone's secrets just generally what all was involved with the tuning and you answered all of that and more. It's a shame that we spend thousands of dollars on these units and then have to pay someone to update them and "tune" them for us. I've made lots of adjustments to my HDS units over the last several years and improved the results from them but still trying to learn more. I'm sure that with the tuning and the on the water training it's well worth what Mr. Slade charges. I've seen several of his posts on the TFF and he's seems like a real stand up guy. Thanks again for your post.