Fish I.D. is an easier way for a sonar novice to recognize a fishy signal return when he sees it. However, locating fish by symbol only has some limitations.
Your sonar unit's microprocessor is remarkably powerful, but it can be fooled. Some of the echoes calculated to be fish could be tree limbs or turtles! To see what's under your boat in maximum detail, we recom- mend you turn off Fish I.D. and begin learning to interpret fish arches.
Fish I.D. is most handy when you're in another part of the boat or per- forming some task that prevents you from watching the sonar screen. Then, you can turn on Fish I.D. and the audible fish alarm. When that lunker swims under your boat, you'll hear it!
Fish I.D. can also be useful when you want to screen out some of the sonar detail gathered by your unit. For example, in one case fishermen in San Francisco Bay saw clouds of clutter in the water but no fish arches. When a down rigger was pulled up, it brought up several small jellyfish. The fishermen switched their Eagle sonar to Fish I.D., which screened out the schools of jellyfish and clearly showed the game fish there as fish symbols.
Other Free Training Aids
The following section discusses Fish I.D., fish alarms and other fea- tures in greater detail. If you or a friend has Internet access, you can also learn more about interpreting what you see on your sonar screen. Visit our web site, WWW.EAGLESONAR.COM. Be sure to check out the free Sonar Tutorial, which includes animated illustrations and more pictures of actual sonar returns, all described in detail. There's even a "printer friendly" version of the tutorial available on our web site…it makes a great supplement to this operation manual!
For the ultimate training aid, be sure to download the free emulator software for your unit. Aside from being just plain fun, this program can help you learn both basic and advanced operations without burning boat fuel! Eagle is one of the first sonar manufacturers to provide this type of training tool for customers.
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