Anglers can select preset combos from the home page
or quick select with the multi-function key pad 1-4.
Maximizing Your View
by Brad Wiegmann
Take control of your preset combos by making your own customized sonar/charting panel.
On a recent fishing trip, I had the pleasure of fishing with a guide who had only one sonar unit and no trolling motor. Sounds a little crazy in today’s world of multiple fishfinders on the bow and attached to the console of the boat. Nevertheless, we caught fish and had a great time. The guide, however, rarely looked down at the old, outdated fishfinder to see the depth instead relying on it mostly to see waypoints marking fish attractors and boat-running channels. He utilized a preset combo screen of sonar and charts when looking at his fishfinder.
If you are like my guide with only one unit to use or a second unit to go along with a live imaging sonar (LIS) unit, using a split-screen view that combines two or more views allows you to maximize your fishfinder’s capabilities. Most fishfinders can have at least two screens open at one time. The sonar views an angler can see are limited to the model of fishfinder and transducer module connected to it.
Using Garmin as an example, they have four basic styles of sonar view anglers can select from, including a non-split full view, split-screen view with the ability to split-screen a combination of available two or more views, split-screen view and a rarely used split-frequency view allowing the angler to separately adjust the gain for each of the different frequencies.
Similar to sonar views, anglers can select from multiple chart views, including navigation chart, fishing chart, perspective 3D, 3D chart, mariner’s eye 3D and fish eye 3d. Again, what model fishfinder and optional preloaded mapping or supplemental mapping you have purchased make a difference on what you can see.
Home screens on fishfinders typically have access to preset sonar/charting combos. An angler can select which combo they want by touching the screen of the view they prefer or pushing the multi-function key pad to select the cone they want. Depending on the fishfinder, it may have quick-select touch options or quick-select key pads on the side of the unit.
While most fishfinders have a wide selection of preset sonar/charting combos, it’s better to make your own customized combo pages. Only you know what screens and where you want to place them on a custom combination page. How many sonar or charting views depends on the fishfinder.
It’s best to have side-to-side imaging in horizontal windows and sonar or charting on vertical windows to maximize the image information. Also, put the charting window at the upper left-hand section of the combo page because the unit normally will have it as the active panel being controlled by the multi-function key pad or touch screen menu. It sounds simple, but it’s important to do, so an angler has quick control over the selected combo page without having to change panels.
Anglers with LIS can have combination pages open. However, reducing the LIS panel size results in harder-to-view screen size.
(Brad Wiegmann of Springdale, Arkansas is a fishing guide, podcaster, social media influencer, professional photographer, videographer and outdoor writer published in dozens of print and electronic media outlets across the nation. Every month, he provides CatfishNOW readers with the latest information on the ever-changing world of fishing electronics. Learn more at BradWiegmann.com.)
