I have a new simrad 12 and need help using it. Is there anyone that teaches the ins and outs of the simrad on the water? As well as teaching how to locate fish and structure correctly using electronics.
Thanks
Heath

I had a simrad Go7 XSE on my last boat. Simrad is owned by the same parent company as Lowrance. In my experience, operating the Go series was pretty close to an Elite Ti with a few tweaks.

What model do you have? What transducer? Have you had other electronics before? There are people that will help you set up your electronics and teach you on the water. I don’t know of any that specialize in Simrad, but it still may be beneficial for you depending on your basic electronics knowledge.

What lake are you on?

I wish those fancy fish finders came with instructional videos on how to really use them. Huge learning curve! Check out my YouTube channel “Respectthefish” for examples of what to look for especially for white bass and hybrids.

Thanks for the advice. I have a simrad go 12 xse. It is a total scan transducer. I haven’t had a fishing boat in 11 years so all this new technology is overwhelming. I will just keep messing with it until I understand it.

Ok, so you have the Go series with totalscan. The first thing I would do is go to their website and download the manual. I had the manual that came out of the box on my Go series also, and it was [censored]. I don’t know if they rushed the product to market or what, but at some point after that I realized they released a much more in depth version online, so you may want to check.

For the most part, I thought the unit’s settings were pretty good out of the box and didn’t need a lot of tweaking. If you haven’t had a fish finder in over a decade you may be wondering about the sidescan. The first thing you should check is that your transducer has clear line of sight on both sides and below the transducer. That is, check that if you are looking at your boat from the side, check that all you can see is “blue sky” so to speak from the transducer down. Nothing else should block the “view” of the fish finder such as the outboard or other accessories from the side. You also need the transducer to be essentially level when you are at scanning speed. If you have no idea whatsoever on what sidescan is showing, google some YouTube videos, probably better than someone explaining it with a keyboard. Note that sidescan works best while moving 2-5 mph or so (ie, better moving than while sitting still). The next advice I would give you for sidescan is to go to structure you already know exists to learn how to read it. IE, go to a bridge and pass the columns at about 15-25 ft off of one side. Go to standing timber that is above water level and drive 15’ off one side of it. You should see a tree on that side of your scan. Note that if you see things on the opposite side of your screen instead, there is a setting to “flip” your screen (rather than your transducer), see your manual. My experience with the sidescan frequency settings was that 455 kHz gave you the best view (vs 800). In theory, the 800 is supposed to give you a more defined image at the cost of less range. I would challenge someone with Simrad or Lowrance in these comparable models to prove the 800 has a better image. I found the opposite to be the case, even with a good amount of setting changes. I’ll tell you this, I didn’t have any trouble finding schools of fish on a 7” screen with 455 kHz as long as you know what you’re looking at, so I would leave it there until you’ve had a chance to learn it. Anything you are specifically interested in learning how to use?

One frustrated day I decided to stop and fish these “rocks”...

Not sure where you are located but Michael Littlejohn of Tawakoni Guide Service set up my Humminbird, not sure if he does Simrad. Also, there is a guy named Slade on Lake Fork who does graph trips, you can ask in the bass section and someone will have some info for you. He set up my bass boat. Both guys did a great job