Bass Fishing Forum - Westernbass.com

Hey guys,

I just purchased a boat, and it has a Hummingbird 998c SI graph on the front. Until the last month or so, I wasnt too savy on graph reading. Ive been doing a lot of research, plus using it on the water and Ive came a long way. Here is my question. In a lot of vids, you can see guys vertically fishing straight below their boat, and you can see their line/bait/lure/jig on the graph as it descends below the transducer; and can even see it bouncing up and down on the screen. I have tried the same thing with mine, and sometimes I can pick it up on the screen, and sometimes I cant seem to find it on the graph. Do you guys have issues with this as well, or are you always able to see it below the graph? The graph seems to work ok, but Im wondering if because Im not always picking up my jig on the graph, if something is not quite right with my fish finder/graph. Any words of wisdom appreciated from you seasoned bass/graph readers.

Thanks

Make sure your transducer is straight on your TM. Mine was off to the left so when dropping straight down I couldn't see my bait!

Chad Sweitzer wrote:Make sure your transducer is straight on your TM. Mine was off to the left so when dropping straight down I couldn't see my bait!

Thank you. Ill definitely check this. What is trange, is sometimes I can see the bait, and sometimes not.

Keep in mind that the depth you are fishing determines how big the sonar cone gets. In deeper water, you can move further off the top of the bait and the bait will stay in the cone that the sonar sees. On a windy day in shallow water, I have a very hard time seeing what I am doing vertically because I cant keep the boat still. Spotlock helps...

Need to make sure the transducer is straight as well like the last person who posted said.

What you see displayed on the screen is history of what is displayed...it's not real time.
Real time is displayed in the 1st 1/4" on the far right side that looks like a flasher display as the screen moves right to left.
Tom

I have a hummingbird also. I had the same issues and I posted a similar post and a really nice guy reached out to me and walked me through his set up. It helped a ton, I don’t get a perfect picture of the fish moving to my lure. I chalked it up to it being an older model. I have a 858hd. I know over the last few years graphs in general have come a long way.

My suggestions are to
play with your sensitivity and contrast to get your best picture.
Slow down your chart speed. Slower the speed the better the picture. My trolling motor graph I run on 2-3
Check your software make sure you are running the newest addition. You can download the software off hummingbird website.
If you have the users manual read the part on the transducer. In my unit I have a few different settings that change the beams frequency, ones better for super deep, ones a better picture so on and so. If you don’t have the manual go to the website you can download it.

Hope it helps. PM if it still doesn’t help. We can set up a time and I will turn my unit on and we can go through my settings.