Newbie question about 788ci

[Fredeich]

I just put new 788ci's on my boat. Being new to fish finders and how to use them I have trouble telling the fish from other suspended junk or even telling the difference from structure and fish on the bottom.

I turned on fish id the last time out and I was amazed at how it showed the fish and the relative size. When I discussed this with more experienced fishermen they indicated that no one uses this feature.

My question is why not use the fish id? Seems like an advantage, especially for someone new like myself.

[DougV]

Actually many don't understand the FISH ID feature and sure Mike will be along he has great shots where it shows how well Humminbird's FISH ID Works. THe thing with FISH IS it's a tool to help you learn and the biggest thing I have against it is it takes all the fish in the water and "culls" them into three size catergories which we all know there are alot more sizes of fish than three. The Orange Fish come from the 200kHz readings and the Blue FIsh come from the 83 kHz. so it shows you exactly where the fish are in relationship to the transducer. What I recommend is while on the water play with turning it on and off and learn the way fish are reperesented on the display and it will help you learn what are fish and what area not fish.

[Triton Mike]

Very legit question and I will do my best to answer it for you.

I used to be one that wasn't a fan of fish ID. Still not in a lot of cases but in schooling fish applications I find it very important in vertical fishing. If your fishing in the middle of a big school of fish and your using say dual beam or whatever how do you tell what fish is closest to your offering but still get a "wide" view of whats under your boat. Essentially your just jigging blindly in a school of fish versus targeting a specific fish.. Bottom line is if your spoon is not at the right depth of a nearby fish it's usually not going to be as productive as being at the right depth of a nearby fish.


Use this image below for example. Orange fish are in 200khz ie narrow 20 degree beam and the other blue fish are more "off to the side" of the boat ie 83khz aka 60 degree beam . So this tells you which arch to fish for with your spoon amongst a big school of fish. I have found it to be extremely helpful in this application and surprisingly accurate that I can try to turn on a specific arch that is closest to my spoon which also makes sure that I am working my spoon at the right depth level.


Just one of the advantages that I have found favorable to FISH ID..



Here is the excerpt from the manual regarding FISH ID..
[img]

Here is a pic of the beam layout.

[IMG]

So to answer your question in this specific application I like to use FISH ID. Once you get more experienced with your graph you will be able to determine fish from junk. 9 times out of 10 if it's suspended its some kind of fish unless you got a thermocline of some sort. Hope this helps.



Mike

[Fredeich]

If you had only the 788ci to use would you run it in dual mode all the time? It seems to me to be the best solution. I have experimented with the 83 and 200 individually and found them, at least in my limited experience to be more productive when used together.

[Triton Mike]

Freidrick, I use dual beam 95% of the time. The only time I will use 200khz by itself is when I feel the need to get the most accurate waypoint. The 200khz aka 20 degree cone is the narrow beam so if you see something you like in narrow beam that will be the most pin point waypoint you can get. 83khz is 60 degree cone and wider per the beam illustration above.

To go further on this. If your in water less than 20ft you should have a switchfire mode under sonar. Turn it to CLEAR.. If your over 20ft alot turn the switchfire to MAX. Then adjust your sensitivity to where there is a little clutter in your image but not too much clutter. At those settings you should be at the optimum settings. You should be able to see you drop your spoon in 300ft of water or until you run out of line or hit the top of some timber (whichever comes first ).