How to Read Fish Finders

Fish finders provide the electronic means to find fish, whether in a lake or in the ocean. A fish finder uses an echo sounding system to locate the bottom of the lake or ocean and find other objects, such as fish. Echoes are returned to the fish finder when they strike the lake or ocean floor and bounce back. Echoes also occur when there's something in between, such as a fish. In order to identify an echo as a fish, you have to know the difference between a brush pile at the bottom of a lake and a fish.

Things You'll Need

• Boat
• Fishing pole
• Fishing tackle
• Bait

Instructions

1. Read the instruction manual for your fish finder. Although the general guidelines for reading a fish finder are the same, there are details that vary among manufacturers.

2. Determine the depth of the lake or ocean floor. This is usually given as a numeric value on the fish finder's display. This will help you determine how much line to feed out from your fishing pole.

3. Learn to identify brush piles if you're fishing on a lake. A brush pile will appear as a blob resting on the lake bottom on your fish finder display. Many fish such as bass like to hide out in brush piles, so consider stopping your boat and fishing near these echoes.

4. Decide whether to use the automatic mode of identifying fish. In automatic mode, the fish finder will display a small symbol that looks like a fish on the display, along with a depth. But these can be misleading, and it will not tell you where the brush piles are.

5. Learn how to identify fish on your fish finder with the fish symbols turned off. In this mode, fish appear as short curved lines in between the display's representation of the ocean or lake floor, which is a jagged, solid line near the bottom of your fish finder display, and representation on the display of the water surface, which is a jumbled static-filled horizontal line at the top of your fish finder's display.

6. Adjust the fish finder's controls to enhance the echoes. Fish finders vary among manufacturers, but in general there is a sensitivity control, which should be increased if the echoes are faint, and a noise filter, which can be adjusted if there are too many lines in your display that look like random static.

7. Remember what the fish finder display was indicating when you catch a fish. This will help you to learn the subtleties of your specific fish finder display and help you know what to look for next time.

Tips & Warnings

• If you don't have the instruction manual for your fish finder, check online. Many manuals are online and can be downloaded.

• Even if you identify an echo as a fish correctly, there's no guarantee that the fish will take a bite of your bait.

Resources

• Fishing Regulations