Lowrance Elite 5 Tips

[Ringo]

Hi guys,

I have. Lowrance Elite 5 Chirp with a 455/800 transducer and am trying to figure out how best to config the sonar and views for trolling the coast waters. I've heard from other folks that this unit is capable of showing very detailed images of the structure and also the canon ball, etc. But I'm more interested to know what setting you guys are using on a similar unit when trolling for salmon in our coastal waters. Whether the downscan function is useful or not is not really my intention but rather to know what sonar settings and page views you guys use when trolling.

Any tips or tricks would be appreciated.

Cheers,
BCR

 

[Sir Reel]

Hi BCR,

I have a Lowarance Elite 5 non chirp and this is what Steve (Moose) at Harbour Chandler suggested for settings. Different transducer but think the sensitivity settings still apply.

The factory settings after a reset are sub-standard for West Coast saltwater use (Lowrance’s primary market are fresh water bass anglers). When viewing the sonar screen, press “Menu”, scroll down to settings, press enter and make sure “General use” is selected. Back on the sonar screen again, press Menu, select Auto Sensitivity and turn it off (no x in the box), scroll up to “Adjust” and set sensitivity to 81 (as a starting point). I adjust sensitivity on a daily basis as water salinity and algae/plankton blooms affect image quality. I aim to have a “salt and pepper” effect on the screen, turn sensitivity too low and you lose bottom and fish targets, too high and the screen is cluttered. Also switch over to 83khz for deeper water (over 100ft). Hope this helps.

 

[CBsqrd]

I installed an Elite 7 last year with the 83/200kHz and 455/800 kHz transducer (the latter range is for DownScan imaging). As you mentioned, I find I don't use the DownScan at all; I've tried playing around with it but it seems to be geared towards fresh/shallow water.

I find I usually run the sonar on the "Medium Chirp" setting which uses both the 83 kHz and 200 kHz channels and get good results with the sensitivity / colorline settings set pretty close to default. But having read SR's tips I'm going to give them a try next time and see if I can get an improved image

FYI, the regular Navionics maps are what I normally use for the chartplotter. The "Fish n'Chips" is the more detailed "Sonarcharts" that they advertise but I find it too detailed - the entire screens almost turns black from the contour lines (there is an option to turn the sensitivity down, but it goes too far in the other direction, i.e. not enough detail). Maybe if I has looking for a particular piece of structure it might come in useful, but I find the regular charts provide enough detail for regular use.

 

[Ringo]

Thanks guys for sharing your tips. Please keep them coming.
SR: You mentioned the General Use setting. Did you not find the Slow Trolling option useful? My experience is that the Slow Trolling option works ok until early spring and when the freshet season is in full swing (between April-mid July), this option doesn't provide good sensitivity for depth>100 ft. Not sure if this is true but wondering if you'd ever wanted to change the Fishing Mode based on water clarity, temperature, etc.

Oh, one last question: did you guys find the Fish ID option useful for tracking winter springs or halibut in deeper waters?

Thanks again.
BCR

 

[tubber]

I have an Elite 5 no chirp. Don't use the fish ID. Over time you will learn to read the arches of salmon and other bait fish marks. I find that the screen is so small that the image of my downrigger ball and dummy flashers take up a big piece of the screen, so I prefer to angle my transducer a bit more forward so once it goes below about 70' I can't see the balls.