Okay here is the deal. I went out on 12/24/2012 with my new Lowrance HDS-8 Gen2 w/LSS-2 for it's maiden voyage. I captured several images and as expected I am not real sure what I am looking at or even if the install is correct. I installed it myself using the manual as well as the internet.

First thing I noticed is that the center line that is representative of the boat (white center stripe) seems to be wide and hazy. Does it look correct??

Most of the images I got seemed to be phenomenal to me, just not sure what I was seeing.

Let me know what you guys think and if there is something that stands out in the settings that I need to change. Pretty much factory settings on everything.


















This one really baffles me. Am I seeing solid ball of bait fish???




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Good screen shots.

I have found that its a little more defined when i run my contrast 63/68 and range about twice my depth sometimes 3 times the depth.

The fuzzy centerline on "sidescan" is competely normal, reflecting the disturbance of the surface as you move over it. I don't think it's "prop wash," since you will see it, if you're still moving, even after you cut your motor off. Looks like you found the baitfish, and that's certainly what you're seeing stacked up on the bottom on one of the pics. I've often seen the same thing on the bottom of the Guad. You might find 2d more effective for finding hybrids and other fish. They will often appear as large arches or "spaghetti strands" on 2d (depending on speed), but as little white "blips" on "sidescan" and "downscan." You will be able to get more sharply defined images, with practice, if that's important to you. Much depends on your speed. Well, water clarity too, but not much you can do about that. Congrats on a sucessful install.

Thanks for the info.

duff1, in the last picture, the downscan image shows a wall of bait fish?? The sonar image of the same thing doesn't show the bait fish?? However the sonar image shows several fish on the bottom, correct??

Nice graph and great shots. I have the same brand graphs and these are my observations:

Crappie tend to be "round" in their image, presumably because they move slower and don't make darting/moving images like sand bass and hybrids do. Also, crappie tend to hover around in very, very tight schools. So I think you have crappie in images 4, 5 and 6. (If not crappie, then most likely they are schools of perch.)

I think you have sandies and maybe some hybrids in image 8. See how the bodies are long and lean, and the school is not as tight as the other pics? Those are sandies/hybrids (although probably more likely sandies). That is what I have seen before. And if you see them clinging to the bottom---then you can bet they are feeding and you better drop a slab.

I have no idea what that ghostly blob of stuff is in images 9 and 10. I very much doubt they are baitfish. Your guess is as good as mine.

As for the blurry centerline, you're just going to have to play around with the settings to get it right. My HDS units always show some kind of thick, blurry line in the middle.

The first thing I'd do is cut the contrast back to low to mid 60s and see how the center line looks.

I run down scan all the time instead of 2d sonar. It is much easier for me to tell what is down there with it.

Here is an example of what I mean.

Who knows? Lots of room for guesswork here. If you can find the screen shots Tall Tale posted for me on Jan. 1, 2012, on the Canyon Screen Shots thread, in the Whites-Hybrids forum, you'll see a good example of how 2d will occasionally show you things you don't see on "structure scan," and vice versa. I can also show you pics of bait carpeting the bed of the Guadalupe, similar to the pattern seen in your last two screen shots, if you're interested.

I make no pretense to expertise here, but I would expect hybrids or stripers to show up a little larger than what I see in your shots.

Any chance that could be a type of grass in those last 2 pics? Or maybe some kind of algae bloom? Looking real closely I could even guess maybe your ducer was just acting up, even the bottom isn't showing up very defined.
I don't think it's a bait ball, there would be something showing up on the regular sonar (yes I see the bigger fish, just nothing to suggest there are any little fish).
Looks like you did a nice job on the installation, the only thing I could suggest (and it's been suggested several times) is to lower the contrast a little bit.

Thanks again for the input.

Great shots for your maiden voyage. They are a lot better than my first time out. I belive you Structure Scan transducer might be installed a little off level. Notice the shots of the bridge where the bridge looks like it is leaning to one side. This is usually a sign of an unlevel transducer.

Big10 is absolutely correct.

A vertical object (bridge pilings, etc) should always be vertical and never appear slanted regardless of which direction they are approached.

To eliminate this problem (believe it or not it will give you much better images), you should make sure that your LSS transducer is parallel with the water surface at the speed with which you scan.

On your scans, you will notice that the image of the bottom of the pilings is recorded before the tops. This means that your LSS transducer is tilted toward the front and not level with the water. I suspect that you may have positioned it level with the bottom of your boat.

Thanks guys. I did put it level with the bottom of the boat. So are you saying that the ducer needs to be lowered on the aft end ?? It appeared to me that if my boat was sitting in the water, stern heavy it would need to be like this but I can agree with your statement of the leaning objects. This is why I asked, so I could get the best from my equipment. Here it is as it sits on the trailer. I did make the statement to myself that it may be a little high on the arse end.

When I mounted mine I did it after fishing on a lake that left a scum line on the boat. I used it to get the angle of the ducer figured out.

Didnt think about doing that way..... When i did mine i took a level with me to the lake and set it on the floor of the boat, cruised around about 3/5 mph, and then when i got home i used the level to adjust the transducer.

This is what I am going to do!!!