# uderstanding depth finder + salt water live bottom help



## Slayer (Sep 22, 2010)

Hello to all.....

been trying to learn about what I should be looking for on the sonar when fishing offshore/nearshore.....

I've had a depth finder for years in my bass boat....but I have quickly learned that offshore fishing makes having and understanding a depth finder a "must" ...

Having been given a fair amout waypoints from a friend out of the Carrabelle area, I have been pleasently surprised that my Lowrance 520c  markes every reef or rock/rubble pile plain as day with great detail .....but what I cant find on the web is any pixs or video of what "live bottom" will look like.....

So I was wondering if any of yall have any pixs or video of the screen of your depth finder showing what different bottoms look like,,,,,like the difference between sand/rock/coral/livebottom....

any videos that yall know of on the web that shows actual bottoms such as those listed above would also be great...I've searched the web and still havent found much that gave discriptions + the actual screenshot....

any help would be appreciated


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## Wild Turkey (Sep 22, 2010)

You can zoom bottom and look for jagged edges or small lumps of stuff.. Typically I identify live bottom and little to no real structure with lots of fish above it. Also If you see turtles floating around, the bottom is typically live. They hang around live bottom areas.


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## Parker Phoenix (Sep 22, 2010)

Mine has more to do with colors than anything. I look for dark red  to black to find bottom, then look for green on it to see fish. Yellow to light red indicates sand. So  where I fish, at Steinhatchee, rarely do you find anything that just blows up your screen, instead I look for subtle changes that most folks ride over. I find plenty of fish using this approach, then let everyone elso look for the major stuff. IMO the big stuff anyone can find, it is the subtle changes that hardly gets fished, therefore more fish for me. My unit is a Furino.


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## Slayer (Sep 22, 2010)

yea...I am also educating myself on the many makes and models of depth finders....gonna add a second as a backup...that way I can run one as a gps and the other as the sonar.....I just cant spend the money on any of the 8 to 10 inch display models on the market....they would be nice, but for the amount of fishing I do + other obligations, there wont be any 2k + depth finders on my rig...so I will probably just add another lowrance iGPS/sonar combo. that way transfering data will be easy.....

its learning what I'm looking at on the screen that has me wrapped up right now


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## grouper throat (Sep 22, 2010)

Parker Phoenix said:


> Mine has more to do with colors than anything. I look for dark red  to black to find bottom, then look for green on it to see fish. Yellow to light red indicates sand. So  where I fish, at Steinhatchee, rarely do you find anything that just blows up your screen, instead I look for subtle changes that most folks ride over. I find plenty of fish using this approach, then let everyone elso look for the major stuff. IMO the big stuff anyone can find, it is the subtle changes that hardly gets fished, therefore more fish for me. My unit is a Furino.



x2 Color is the easiest way to tell. I can't help you with a video though


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## d-a (Sep 22, 2010)

My 2 cents worth with out knowing your machine and ducer and if you have it set up correctly.

Go find you some sand In a known area and see how thick the mark(bottom line) is on the screen, make a mental note or take a photo of it. Then go find you some rocky bottom and do the same thing it should be thicker, much thicker. The denser the bottom line the harder the bottom is. Live bottom is also hard, generally a limestone substrate. 

d-a


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## Slayer (Sep 22, 2010)

I have the lowrance 520c color finder.....and after having the standard monochrome all those years...just going to a color unit was amazing!!!!!!!

I only have a standard transom mount ducer for the unit


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## saltlife addicts (Sep 22, 2010)

parker phoenix quotes "instead I look for subtle changes that most folks ride over"    well put!!!


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