Bass Below!

Part 2: A Selection of Sounders

Steve Morgan

Part two, Steve takes a selection of current-model sounders from various manufacturers for a run - icons off - so that you can see some raw data for yourself.

Sometimes it can be hard to make an informed decision about what brand, model or type of fish finder will suit your needs. It’s an unfortunate situation, but sometimes electronics dealers will rubbish an opposition’s product for the simple reason that they don’t have it on their shelves.

John Schofield’s Lowrance LMS-350A paints an easily read picture while idling over bass at Cressbrook Dam. (Note: Pics obviously not from test day).

Also, you’re confronted with a barrage of conflicting advertising, attributes and features, all of which seem to be indispensable while you’re reading the ad or the company’s press release.

Even harder is making a decision based on some specifications that you’ll see on the box, coupled with some tinkering around in the unit’s ‘Simulator’ mode. All in all, it’s not an easy task. What you really need is to see the unit in action, on the water and finding fish, just like you would be doing when you’re out bass or barra fishing.

What we’ve done for this article is grab a selection of commonly available sounders that range from $500 to around $1,300 in price and taken them for a run over some fish and some structure in Lake Maroon in South East Queensland. We’ve also collected some screen shots for three of the popular units (Humminbird Paramount, Lowrance X-75 and Lowrance LMS-350A) taken at different times in the same situations to fill the gaps in any of the units that weren’t present on the test day.

We’ve rigged them up, one at a time, and run them from a shallow weed-bed out into deeper water, and then stopped over some fish on the adjoining flat. This way, you can see what the weed and bottom definition is like while idling and what a fish looks like on the unit when we’ve stopped.

All of the units were set in ‘raw sonar’ mode - that is, with any fish identification icons turned OFF - and with the scroll speed set to the highest possible.

Just as the depth of pixels is important for vertical definition of fish, the speed at which your unit is creating them (scroll speed) dictates how wide the fish show will be. Think about it. If your unit is only displaying one pixel across for each metre you travel, the chances of picking up a fish that will turn that pixel ON is smaller - especially if you’re sounding for bass that commonly range from 25 to 45cm. If the unit pumps out ten pixels for each metre travelled, the fish signal return will be much greater and wider on the screen. The Zercom units seemed to achieve the fastest scroll speed, with the information ripping across the screen very rapidly indeed!

Naturally, the number of fish that you see on the screens of the units is dependant on how many there were in the area each fifteen minutes (as that was about how long it took to hook each sounder up). You’ll see that at the start of the runs (eg Zercom LPG2000) there were several fish but by the end of the trials (Navman FISH450) there were only scattered specimens. Don’t judge the units on how many fish they picked up, but rather on the quality of the return from each fish. The easier it is to define a fish on the move and while stationary, the more useful your sounder will be to you.

So,

Click on each image in this table to open a larger view
The Zercom LPG2000 was one of the class units of the trial with good bottom, weed and fish definition at rest and on the move. Very fast scroll speed possible. Very user-friendly knobs and menus.
Illustrating the benefit of grey pixels. At the same sensitivity setting, and on the same dam (Somerset) these Humminbird units are showing schools of bass from 30-35cm (A) and 42-46cm (B). Useful, huh?
Eagle’s Accura 240 offers all of the features of the popular Lowrance X75. Why wouldn’t it - they are the same unit re-badged.
Honestly, I didn’t expect the Garmin Fishfinder 240 to be as good as it was. Excellent bottom and fish definition and a menu system I didn’t have to resort to the instruction book to use.
The Raytheon Fishfinder L265 showed fish on the move and at rest. Its narrow screen meant that a little of the history gets lost when you run the unit in the fastest scroll speed.
At the lower end of the price bracket, Navman’s FISH450 showed the weed and showed the fish. In the time available, I didn’t get to work out the relevance of the colours, but there is an after market book available that all about the FISH450 that will bring you to expert status in no time. Fuel transducers and the associated functions are also available.
The Humminbird Paramount and its cheaper cousin, the TX450 offers superior grey pixels and excellent size selection abilities to seasoned users. (Note: Pics not from test day)
The Lowrance X75 is a tournament standard for many anglers with an easily viewed screen and excellent illumination at night. (Note: Pics not from test day)
The Zercom Z165 had all of the advantages, but slightly less detail than its bigger brother, the LPG2000.

for each unit, you’ll see a “GO” and “STOP” picture, corresponding to whether the boat was idling along or drifting out of gear.

The overwhelming message that we left the dam with was that all of the units can return information about single fish while set with the ID or icon modes OFF. There isn’t a lemon in all of the units tested in the price range, and that’s comforting to know when you’re outlaying that amount of cash for a tool.

To help you make a decision about which of the units could suit your fishing situation, there’s also a table hereabouts listing some of the more pertinent features. What we’ll do now is look at each of the features and their usefulness for barra and bass fishing.

PIXEL COUNT: We’ve already explained the usefulness of more rather than less pixels. Put simply, the more vertical pixels the better. More horizontal pixels means that you get a better history about what’s been happening while your scroll speed’s set at the fastest possible. Fast scrolling on a narrow screen may mean that you miss some vital information if your eyes aren’t constantly glued to the sounder screen.

PIXEL TYPE: There are a few types of LCD technology used in this range of sounders. There’s the simple screen that offers either a clean position or a black pixel, with no middle ground. These units are described in the table as Black/White in the Pixel Type column. These units create ‘grey’ looking areas by shading with alternate black and clear pixels.

Other units can actually create individual pixels that are varying shades of grey (in between black and clear). Advantages of these units are that they can more accurately define weaker returns with fewer pixels. In practice, it means that it’s easier to determine size of fish you’re sounding. The two pictures shown illustrate this point. At the same sensitivity setting, these units are showing schools of bass from 30-35cm (A) and 42-46cm (B). How do we know this? Because we caught a heap of bass in those size ranges out of the schools after the schools were found on the sounder and the photos were taken. This ability to differentiate between sizes of fish is extremely useful for tournament anglers.

Colour pixel technology is still developing and offers the ability for an individual pixel to be illuminated in one of three colours on the Navman FISH450. On the day of the tests, we didn’t experience the size range of fish to further test this unit. All of the fish shown from Maroon Dam are between 30 and 40cm.

FREQUENCY: This measurement describes the magnitude of the oscillation of the sound beam as it is emitted from the transducer. Without going into great detail, low frequencies (like 50kHz) are good for penetrating great depths, but not as good for accurate resolution of targets. Higher frequencies (190kHz and above) can leave you scratching your head when you’re out on the continental shelf, but do offer better definition in shallow waters.

Relatively, all of the rivers and dams are shallow and all of the units are constructed with frequencies that are eminently suitable (192kHz to 200kHz) for bass and barra fishing.

BEAM TYPE: This is where the whole equation can become a little complex. There are a variety of shapes of beams and within that, the beams’ coverage can be at varying angles. Also, there can be multiple beams that your sounder uses to assemble the picture on the screen, and each type has its own consequences on the data you see.

Angles: Broadly, for bass and barra sounders, it’s beneficial to have a wide beam (for instance, a 20° rather than an 8° beam), as a wider beam offers greater coverage of the water column in the relatively shallow waters we fish.

Shapes: Single, conical beams (like an upside-down ice cream cone) generally show you arches as you idle over fish at the expense of accuracy of bottom definition. The broad cone averages the bottom readings to give an overly smooth features. The advantage, however, is that they do pick up fish over quite a wide area.

Flattened cones give coverage that’s wide but not deep. You’ll see fish across a wider area, but they will disappear more quickly as they pass out of the beam.

Multiple Beams: Dual cone beams generally utilise a narrow beam to detect and draw the bottom structure and a wider, conical beam to display fish and anything else suspended off the bottom.

Tri-beam units utilise a narrow beam to detect and draw the bottom structure and a flattened cone pointing out each side to detect fish to each side of the boat, as well as underneath.

OTHER OPTIONS: Most units have the ability to accept added options - from the addition of GPS modules to fuel sensors and computers and a variety of speed and water temperature sensors. The addition of these is usually at the owner’s discretion. Take note of what you may need in the future when choosing a unit, but don’t let any gimmicky features steer you away from a unit that finds you fish. I assume that’s why most of you are reading this article!

MAKING YOUR DECISION

Armed with this information, we hope that you are more able to make an informed decision when it comes time to buy your first (or next) unit. Make sure that you quiz any salesmen heavily and make sure that they really know what they’re talking about - after all - you’ve seen what they look like out on the water, now.

WHAT DO THE PRO’S USE?

It comes as no surprise that the top five in the 2000/01 BASS Pro season use top-shelf sounders. John Schofield, the BASS Pro circuit’s latest Angler of the Year, also uses a GPS unit module in conjunction with his sounder to keep track of where the fish are and where they’re moving to.

1. John Schofield - Lowrance LMS-350A

2. Tim Morgan - Humminbird Paramount (x2)

3. Mike Connolly - Humminbird Paramount

4. Gavin Dunne - Humminbird Paramount

5. Wayne Blundell - Humminbird 450TX