Does your fish finder lie to you?

[OldTroller]

Mine keeps telling me there is/are fish every where but I can look over the side and see there are not any fish at all.

It seems to be worse in shallow water i.e. less than five feet deep.

It's an Eagle if that helps.
[signature]

[orvis1]

I think it may be an eagle thing... I have a cheap one I use on my finder and it tells me the same thing. I use my humminbird portable on the ice and on my boat and there are hardly any fish. I think both of them lie to me!
[signature]

[flygoddess]

I have an Older Humminbird and is it shows fish, my rod is bent...LOL
At 5' I can't imagine any finder can work well except with maybe a side finder.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Eagles are notorious liars...especially in shallow water. I used several Fish Eagles over the years and they all show fish marks where there are no fish. About the only advantage they offer is price.[/#0000ff]

[#0000ff]On the plus side, they are fairly accurate at depths beyond 10 to 12 feet.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[kochanut]

believe it or not i actually love the accuracy of my fishing buddy 120. it tells temp and depth and every once in a while it marks a fish. i would consider it fairly accurate, and here i thought i would hate it.
[signature]

[Illinoisgiller]

I can't speak for other models, but I have used an Eagle Fisheasy 320C for three years and it has never lied to me.
I run it on default setting where it shows fish profile and depth, bottom type ,and surface temp. I rarely fish depths over 40 ft.
I'm really supprised that Eagle is still in business if mine is the only one that isn't lying. They did discontinue my model this year and replaced it with a 350 that looks the same except the case is now black so it will soak up more heat. Same $200 high price range.
I wouldn't even turn a finder on at 5 ft.
If I wanted a finder for that shallow I would set up with a Vexilar FL8 and supressor cable.
I did try an Eagle 242? once and it lied from the bottom to top. Screen was filled with trash constantly.
Illinoisgiller
[signature]

[flygoddess]

[quote kochanut]believe it or not i actually love the accuracy of my fishing buddy 120. it tells temp and depth and every once in a while it marks a fish. i would consider it fairly accurate, and here i thought i would hate it.[/quote]


That is because Humminbird now makes them. When Bottom Line did, they were a Joke.
[signature]

[peter805]

My Cuda 300 is the biggest liar out there. But its good
to find depth and structure. Thats all I need for now.
However Im oslo ready for better fish finder............

Peter
[signature]

[rw02kr43]

I have a Cuda 300. It's worthless. I tried using it a few times last year and it lied constantly. It also didn't show structure very well either. I haven't even been tubing this year, but when I go, it won't be going with me I don't think.

Jason
[signature]

[albinotrout]

I have the old buddy three and I let my son use it. We went to Jordanelle and I decided to have a little test. i had my humminbird 565 and my son the buddy III. I tied his tube to my toon and both had our FF on. I noticed that I marked fish about the same time he did. usually about the same depth. Sometimes I had more marks than he did, but it seemed pretty accurate to what I was seeing with the newer model. So I am happy to pass it on to my son for he definately has fun with it.[cool]
[signature]

[mojorizing]

I don't think they lie. I think people just don't know how to read them correctly.

Here's a cool video that starts with the basics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcJE0fEsicI
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Not always true.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]It is not uncommon on the Eagle Cudas to be in 12 feet of crystal clear water...where you can see the bottom...and to have fish marks showing on your screen at different depths below you when you can clearly see there are no fish at all.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]That is not angler error. Sonar lie.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[flygoddess]

Mine will read fish instead of floaters if I don't have it adjusted right.
All in the sensitivity mode
[signature]

[LeGrand]

Guess I'll have to dust-off my old digital Eagle 6000 (one of the first).

Accurate for deep water, but the transducer not really made for shallows.
[signature]

[mojorizing]

[img]../../../images/gforum/cool.gif[/img]Question for anyone.
How wide is your beam at 10'-15' depths. (Water is 10' to 15' deep.)
And most sonar transducers are 20º cone angles.
[signature]

[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]The information provided with the Humminbird 565 says that the "footprint" of a 20 degree transducer is about 1/3 the depth. So, in 15 feet of water you would be seeing an area of about 5 feet in diameter on the bottom...less at mid-depth.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]That was one of the factors that appealed to me about their dual beam transducer. It also shows a 60 degree cone...to show fish that are not in the 20 degree beam but are still in the area. Not as good as a sidefinder for determining location but good to help you understand the cruising depth of fish in the area.[/#0000ff]
[signature]

[cpierce]

I too really like the Humminbird 565.

The wide beam shows most of the fish, the narrow one seldom picks up many that are directly below me. Mostly that is because I usually fish areas that are not more than 20 to 30 ft deep, so the narrow cone below me is only from 3 to 10ft wide.
[signature]

[flygoddess]

Mine is an Older Humminbird, but top of the line for it's day. No temp, speed or arches, but it shows fish and a few seconds later, my rod is bent.
It showed fish subsurface today and I could see them swimming around.
[signature]