How to use a fish finder: Pro Tips and Advance Techniques

Fish finders are essentials for every fisher willing to hunt down the maximum number of fisheries on a journey. Just as important as it is to own a fish finder, the need to learn its correct way of operation is equally significant.

For your this ease and convenience, we have compiled this article. Here we will list down how to use a fish finder from scratch along with important skills that are sure to make your fishing experience with using fish finder better than ever.

To master fishing, you need to get some serious practice of using fish finders to catch plenty of fishes. Without much a do, let’s get started.

How to use a fish finders
How to Use a Fish Finders?

Easy steps of how to use a fish finder?

What is Fish Finder?

For a beginner, First of all, you need to know what is fish finder? and why people use a fish finder. so nowadays, there are a lot of attempts for a fisherman to catch the fish. And sometimes, these attempts are useless. Fishermen will never stop trying to find ways on how they can catch as many fish as possible.

First of all, these fishermen want to try their best to catch as many fishes. They can find different ways to make sure that this happens and one way is to use a fish finder which will help the fisherman in catching more fish.

A fish finder is a useful tool in catching all sorts of fishes that swim in different places all over the world and if you are looking for the best fish finder, then read this article at

Step 1: Understanding the fish finder

Manual Reading:

There are many brands available on the market manufacturing fish finders with distinctive features and technology making them different from each other. So it becomes essential to read a fish finder manually thorough to comprehend the functions to be familiar with the device to make your fishing experience cool. 

The first step is to familiarize yourself with the workings of the fish finder. As these finders range from easily comprehendible finder to complex flasher readout displays, you must go through the included manual before getting started.

Understanding fish finder (how to use a fish finder )

Secondly, you should realize what part of the information is displayed on this screen. Down Imaging views are read from the right side of the screen to the left whereas Side Imaging mode is read from top to bottom. This transition displays the crucial information first and minors later on.

Step 2: Realizing what you need to look for

After you have known exactly what information your fish finder displays using its manual and browsing the internet for it, the next step is to realize what signs you need to look for, based on your specific fisheries requirements.

If you want to hunt smaller fisheries then you should look for smaller patches, dots, or blobs on your display. Meanwhile, bigger fishes are indicated using larger dots or arch shapes. Equally important is for the user to look at the type of terrain they are floating on using the thick at the bottom of your display.

This terrain helps the fisher locate specific fishes as some prefer to stay in the rocky areas instead. If you have a built-in chart plotter on your finder, then you can easily mark any area using its split-screen feature and pursue fishing there later on. If not, then you will have to mark this waypoint separately on the plotter yourself.

Step 3: Customizing your display

Customizing your display .How to use a fish finder

Modern fish finders are equipped with smart features that make it possible for the user to adjust their screen display according to their personal preference. Firstly, through the zoom-in feature, any fisher can magnify a fisheries hotspot and look for their required breed.

Next, fish finders allow their users to change the screen display color accordingly to their suited preference. By easily going on its menu option, you can select from a white text on a black background or vice versa, given your surrounding circumstances and vision.

If you are still confused about dots and arches on the screen, then you do not need to worry as the customizability of the fish finder has you covered. For easy viewing and understanding, simply turn on the Fish symbol feature and get rid of other complexities on your display.

Step 4: Correcting the accuracy of the Transducer

Fish finders are prone to run into technical glitches or difficulties from time to time. This does not mean that there is a fault in your device but that it simply needs its transducer to be peaked. If your screen does not indicate spotted fisheries for a long time, then you need to adjust your device’s sensitivity settings manually.

Accuracy the transducer .how to use a fish finder?

This will correct the inaccuracy of your device. Additionally, you should always set your range at least thrice of the depth you are fishing at. This again is done using the finder’s menu layout. Cannot figure out the exact sensitivity value for your fishing?

Here is an easy way to solve it. Keep increasing your sensitivity scale using the settings tab until your screen displays two readings simultaneously. If this causes your display to clutter then decrease this range until only the second reading remains.

Important points to remember when using a fish finder

The sonar of the finder always scans in cones, not lines. This should be known as cone scanning covers a larger area and the fishes indicated are not always directly below our finder.

Thicker lines, vivid colors, and high brightness are used to indicate hard bottoms underneath. The lighter these factors are, the softer and thinner is the bottom you are floating on.You can also read How to read a Fish Finder?


Fish finders are incredibly important devices for fishing. However, if their work is not understood correctly, they can turn out to be increasingly complex and difficult to use. This guide summarizes the dos and don’ts of using a finder along with how to use it from the very first step.

Let it be through the manual provided or any website or video you watched on the internet, the final decision relies on you and your dedication towards the fishing sport. This article has mentioned how to use a fish finder in easy language, now it is your job to make yourself familiar with the workings of your device.


What are the three best Fish finders For the money?

  1. Garmin Striker Plus 4
  2. Deeper Pro + Smart Sonar Wireless Fish Finder
  3. Hummingbird Helix 7 Chirp GPS G3

What are the top 3 Best Kayaks Fish Finders?

  1. Garmin Striker 4 (Amazon choice)
  2. Humminbird HELIX 5 (Best Runner up)
  3. Lowrance HOOK2 7 Trippe shot

What are best gps combo fish finders?

  1. Lowrance HDS-7 LIVE GEN 3 Best Amazon Choice /Premium
  2. Garmin Striker 4 Best Amazon Choice
  3. Garmin Striker Plus 5 CV Best Reliable Fish Finder

What are the best fish finders for Ice Fishing?

  1. Garmin Striker 4 with Portable Kit (Best Fish Finder Ice Fishing Overall Winner)
  2. Humminbird ICE H5 Helix 5 (Runners Up)
  3. Deeper Chirp Castable and Portable Fish Finder (Amazon Choice)

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