Education & Instructional Trip

Had a great trip this morning. Got my clients Helix 9 SI/GPS combo tuned up and reading well. We stopped and fished a bit during our time on the water Lake LL. Educated on way-point approach & buoy presentation. Fish wanted the Joker Black/Chart
Fish were on submerged timber in 15' of water.

We have great image returns coming in from the 455Khz frequecy.

Humminbird Helix 9 SI/GPS

David this is an excellent image, was this on compact or HD transducer?

It was 455kHz HDSI transducer which is the same kHz the compact transducer operates on.

In your opinion is it worth the upgrade?

Nice picture. Looks like the tire anchor at Tower Bay.

It is not necessary. Majority run the HDSI on the 455kHz 99% of the time which is what the compact transducer frequency operates on. "IMO"

Now I have to ask, what conditions dictate switching from 455 to 800? Slade recommended the upgrade and I think I can see a difference but I haven't had time to really compare since I changed it. Wasn't bad with the compact after spending time with Slade but with the 899 I had to try.

In shallow water switch to 800kHz and adjust settings to get a little bit clearer image that's about it. Also I have been told that when fishing bridges switch to 800kHz and adjust setting.

I know where that is, Crappie Quest and I call that the truck bed. Always holds a few fish.

Steve put the brush pile you see their. It is an old Horse Trough. Yes it holds good fish.

I 'think' I know that spot. (Yeah, I do)

After hunting season, we need to get out on the lake.

heres the difference, the 455 setting reads from the start of the water column, all the way down to the bottom. So if you were trying to scan real close to a bank, and wanted to scan as far up the bank as possible , or rather as high up the water column on the bank, you would use the 455. If you are scanning for things deeper in the water column, like in 8 feet of water down to say 60 feet, you would use the 800. The 800 khz beams dont read from the toip of the water column to the bottom. Imagine a compass. If you start at zero degrees and to 45 that would be the water column on either side of the boat, then go to 180 degrees,.

Heres something else abt hummingbird units that many folks get wrong, the Chart speed adjustment. Doug varenburg who is a very good Humminbird teacher was stating that it is best to set the chart speed the same as the boat speed, and that is a myth. The chart speed and ping speed are LINKED on humminbird units. It is part of the computer programming. The faster the ping speed, the more accurate, detailed, crisper returns you can get. Think of the chart speed as a train going by, and the ping speed is a tagger, painting the train with a spray can. If you have a slow train and slow tagger, your gonna get a slow picture update, and a low detail picture. If you have a fast tagger, and faster train, you will get a more detailed pic, with faster updating.
I run my chart minimum 6, and increase from there. run your chart as fast as you can stand it, and you will get the crispest pics. In deep water, on the DI, it makes a huge difference. That sonar ping has to come back as far as it went down, and the faster your unit does that, the better picture you will get.

Here is an interesting post from Crappie.com, with different settings with picture results.
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/fishing-e...imaging-system/

Thanks; great info with picture results.

Here are a couple of images I pulled from Lake Grapevine. The Bird is set at 5 on chart speed and I cruise at 3-5 mph when searching for structure.

Rock Crusher - Lowrance 12 Gen3


Rock Crusher - Humminbird Helix Chirp 12



You can see those big ole catfish hanging tight to the bottom

good stuff guys