Can anyone talk me through the proper operation/settings on my new Fishfinder> What I have is an Eagle Cuda 168.

A few of the things im confused about is scroll speed. How do you REALLY know when your over an object,like a hump or drop off? When I sit stationary,anchored,my Fishfinder still scrolls,Very confusing.

I understand that the fish ID feature is for the most part unreliable,so I turned that off and didnt see ANY arches the whole day. I know there are fish there but they dont show up on the graph.

Or is it just a matter of keeping an eye on the depth your in,and any sudden changes?

Is there anywhere that I can get a crash course on reading a graph?

You must be moving for any arches to show.  If you are still fish will be flat lines.

My may want to go to the Lowrance web site and go through the tutorial if you are no familiar with depth finder operation.

Can anyone talk me through the proper operation/settings on my new Fishfinder> What I have is an Eagle Cuda 168.

A few of the things im confused about is scroll speed. How do you REALLY know when your over an object,like a hump or drop off? When I sit stationary,anchored,my Fishfinder still scrolls,Very confusing.

I understand that the fish ID feature is for the most part unreliable,so I turned that off and didnt see ANY arches the whole day. I know there are fish there but they dont show up on the graph.

Or is it just a matter of keeping an eye on the depth your in,and any sudden changes?

Is there anywhere that I can get a crash course on reading a graph?

My cuda came with abooklet that explained it...didn't yours?

The screen keeps scrolling when you are sitting still because the sonar is constantly recieving new information. It is not like the graph is taking a photograph of the bottom. It is an active system constantly aquiring new information so the screen scrolls to present that information.

well usually...you are over the hump etc when it shows on the graph. The sonar beam goes down...and there is not alot of lead time...but each boat and set up is a wee bit different. ( a slight angle on the transducer can make your graph show things slightly differently than another) I would suggest to move the boat over something easily definable on the bottom in some calm water somewhere...when it shows up on the graph ( tossing a marker bouy helps) ...cast out and drag a weight until you hit it and can feel what you are seeing. Then you will know if you graph is showing things directly under you, slightly infront, or slightly behind.

scroll speed...the faster the boat is going the faster the scroll speed you want. for sitting still or trolling around this setting is not really necessary.

The cuda 168 is really good for getting basic information on what the bottom looks like. Its sonar is not sensitive enough to be used reliably as an actual "fish finder"...it is a "where fish could be" finder.

Think of the transducer as sending down a single beam to measure depth. The leading edge of your graph shows what is under the transducer at that moment. Everything scrolling on the graph are things already passed over. It's like looking at the historical graph of what you passed over and the leading edge is what you are on top of. Unfortunately you cannot see into the future to see if you are at the top of a hump. You will only know where the top of the hump is after you passed over it.

My Cuda did come with a booklet,but I really couldnt undersatnd it. It never mentioned anything about the scrolling feature constantly updating information. I know that now,and Im starting to understand it better.Thanks for the help on this issue.

Dude check this out  

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/fishfinders.html