Fish signals on graph

[CALVINIST]

I fish mainly for walleyes, and am new to using and interpreting a graph. I recently bought a Ray Marine L470 graph. It's a very nice of equipment. I have the fish symbols turned off, and sensitivity on auto. I was wondering why I am not getting the classic "hook shape" echos on fish; all I seem to get are these odd cigar shapes, some big some small, some suspended, some hugging the bottom (over sandy/gravel bottom, for example). I am pretty confident these are fish, but not certain. Can anyone help me out here and tell me what is going on?

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Calvinist
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[Surface Tension]

First make sure your transducers surface is parallel to the water.
There are some variables that determine the shape of your marks. Boat speed, cone angle, depth, chart speed and location of target.
To get a perfect hook you have to drive directly over a stationary target, now throw in the other variables I mentioned. As you can see to make a perfect hook everything has to be just right. As long as you have the transducer set correctly don't concern yourself with how your marks appear.
Hooks appear because the outside you cone angle is weak and a direct line perpendicular to the transducers surface has the strongest signal. As you pass over a target the outside of the cone hits that target first, recording thinner because of the weak signal and deeper because of the increased distance as a result of the angle. When you get directly over the target thats your sounders strongest point and it will record as a darker and thicker line along with a little shallower because the distance from point A-B is shorter.

[MuleSkinner]

Calvist, I have always seen what you describe too. Surface Tension is right on the money. I fish mainly for walleyes. To be honest I seldom see the fish I catch. But I do get excited when solid marks show up, sometimes followed with a bite.

Now I have a question. If I am in 20 feet of water, a walleye is hugging the bottom to my left or right (within the cone angle) and he is more than 20 feet away from the transducer, is he even going to show up?

I have my tranducer mounted on the left side of the transom. I fish on the right side. Mainly for walleyes. So with my rod length included, fishing mainly off the bottom behind the boat...wow. Surface Tension, you got me wondering now if I should remount my transducer to the right side???

[Surface Tension]

MuleSkinner, I lay in bed at night with enough thoughts, now this. LOL
Actually a glob or flat line could in a lot of cases be a target off to the side, which side of the boat is the Million Dollar Question.
I guess if you really needed to know a side scanner will tell ya.

[Dusty]

Holy Moly, Now are we going have to have a locator with two transducers one for each side of the boat and a split screen? LOL

[vikes40for60]

Dusty,

Why yes that can be done. Its called the Vexilar EDGE.

The Edge is like having two depth finders in one. The features are designed to give the angler the best sonar for any situation. The split screen, dual frequency design allows you to compare one view with the other to help you gain much more information about what is below. It lets you see fish and fish structure like never before!

The dual frequency feature gives you an incredible advantage. The low frequency, 107 kHz, beam provides a wide cone with a lot of power. This allows you to see fish, as true arcs, as they pass under the boat. Also, it allows you to see breaks and structure off to the sides of you. The high frequency beam, 400 kHz, is an excellent compliment. It gives you a precise narrow beam for locating fish and sharp edges of structure that are directly under the boat.

By mounting the two transducers side-by-side and using these two beams together you will be able to locate fish, structure, identify bottom conditions, and even control your boat much better. Imagine following a weed line using the Edge. Simply keep the weeds within the wide beam, but outside the narrow beam.

[Dusty]

Vikes,

Come to think of it I have looked at those. Too much $ for me. I am Still learning to use my Garmin 240. That Vexlar looks like the ultimate.

[Giant_Jackpot]

The Humminbird Matrix 37 has the split screen feature too. 83 and 200 Khz. Reeds had them for $249 a few weeks ago.