Fishing is a very interesting hobby which requires a lot of patience and consistency. For all those out there who are fond of fishing, there is a helpful device by Humminbird in the form of Fish Finder. Yes! It is an instrument which helps you find and track the movement of the fishes underneath your boat or ship. It comes in handy if you are sailing in deep waters also.
However, the trickiest question is how to read a HumminbirdFish Finder? Well! The following information will definitely interest you in this regard.
How to read a Humminbird Fish Finder screen?
Power on:
As you press the button on the side of the device, it is powered on. In a moment, you will see the startup screen if you press the “Menu” key. The arrow keys are there if you want to scroll up and down the screen.
Use Instruction Manual:
Keep the manual instruction and stimulator along with you as it will be helpful for you to understand how to read a Humminbird fish finder.
Track environmental factors
You can keep the track of temperature changes, time lapse and distance travelled and off course the speed during your fishing trip. Yes! The information is right there:
- Temperature on the top of the display screen of your device.
- Time is mentioned there in a box right under the temperature indicator.
- Distance travelled in the second line of the box
- Speed indicator in the third line.
Check speed of your boat:
While you are enjoying your fishing adventure, you might need to check the speed of your boat at periodic intervals. This fishfinder by Humminbird comes in handy as it also tracks and displays the speed of your vehicle also. Yes! You can easily keep the track of your boat or ship by looking at the centre left of the display screen.
Check the water depth:
In order to be aware of your surroundings, you need to check the depth of water which you can find on the lower right corner of the display screen.
Record the data:
Since you are on a constant move, the device checks and records the data and it appears moving from right to left on your screen, keeping you updated on the go.
Read the presentation:
It is important to read the bands correctly. As the device collects data from the surface of surrounding button, it represents it as:
- Thin line for compact surface
- Thicker line for a muddy surface
- Broken line for rocky surface
In case of upper screen design:
- A thin line may also represent a clear surface
- A relatively thick line represents a surface with debris and mostly runs horizontal under the surface line.
Learn the Fish Icons:
The device represents the location of fish through different colour codes which you need to get familiar with as for example:
- Orange colour means that the fish is directly underneath your boat.
- Blue colour indicates the fish is in the outer rim of the sonar.
Right above the fish icon, you can find the depth of the fish at a given point in time.
Humminbird Side Imaging
While you will try to know how to read a Humminbird fish finder, you will like an interesting feature of the fish finder which is the side imaging. Yes! The light beam extends to both sides of the boat at 180 degrees, in a resonating movement from right to left of your boat. You can have a clear view of the water area around your boat or ship up to the depth of 450 feet with the beam lighting the sea up to 240 feet. This gives you an edge as you can track the location of fishes on the go.
With the help of an additional feature in the form of Dualbeam and Sonar, you will have a better idea about how to read a Humminbird fish finder. The Sonar lets you to have a deeper view upto 1500 feet.
Interpreting the Display in Side Imaging Mode
The layout of the Side Imaging Mode is user-friendly and you can easily get used to it after the first-time use. You can make out the different sections of you display screen when you are in the side imaging mode.
- Top: you will find your boat or ship in which you are fishing at the top.
- Middle: you will have the information about the Sonar beams as they move from right to left.
Similarly, if you want to know how to read a Humminbird fish finder, it is important to understand how various objects, ditches and fishes are displayed and represented on the display screen. Yes! Here are some of the relevant information for you:
- Light colour represents the hard bottom
- Dark colour means soft terrains or ditches
You can have idea about the size of the marine life by the size of their shadows. As the beam hits an object, it casts a shadow. Large sized fishes have even larger shadows. If you are using the side imaging mode, and you see:
- A spindle shaped object, it means that it is a bigger fish.
- A cloud-shaped sonar shadow indicates that it is a ball of baitfish.
Similarly, the distance of Sonar shadow from your boat also tells you the location of fish in water. For example, if the shadow is far from your boat, the fish is positioned a bit higher in the water.
Humminbird Down Imaging
In order to understand how to read the Humminbird Fish Finder correctly, you need to get yourself familiar with the Down Imaging feature of the device also. Yes! This feature enables you to have a clarity about:
- what is happening right under your boat.
- the depth of the ditched and lengths of the mounds over which you are moving
- where you need to cast high concentration of food to attract the fishes.
- locate the target fishwith the help of your display screen.
Conclusion:
As you will use the device, you will get to more about how to read a Humminbird fish finder and this will definitely help you while you go on a fishing trip next time. This is definitely a very useful device for the professional fishermen as well as the people who take it up as a hobby.