Interferance or normal?

[Kulin]

I just recently bought an HDS 7. I am very inexperienced when it comes to fish finders. I see a lot of dot like figures on my screen. Its clear sometimes and I am not sure if its interference or just the way its suppose to be. Should I be concerned where I placed my transducer? I just don't know if its suppose to be clear with just arks for the fish and structure or what. Its hard to explain so if anyone needs more clarification I will try to to the best of my ability. Thanks all.

[Ken Sauret]

The clutter you see is normal. Fish will show up as definite arches or straight lines on the screen. The small dots could be water turbulence from a propeller or current. They could be algae in the water, individual baitfish or even a thermocline in the water. This is normal on Auto Sensitivity.

You can eliminate this by changing from Auto Sensitivity to adjustable sensitivity. Reduce the normal setting for sensitivity and you can clear up your screen. This will also eliminate the ability to see smaller fish, fish on or near the bottom, smaller bait clusters and such. You will need to experiment with this to find a setting you like and can see what you need to see for your type of fishing.

Personally, I like to see all that "stuff" on the screen and interpret what is mixed in there along with the bait or possibly just above or below a thermocline for example. This takes a little time to get used to but look at the screen, fish alot and when you catch fish look at the screen and see if you can determine a pattern to what you are seeing on the screen to your success fishing and look for that setup all over your fishing area.