Lowrance HDS 10

Cheers All,

Purchased a new Lowrance HDS 10 with Broadband radar and have a question for those who also own the HDS 10:
I am not receiving any arches to signify fish depths and wonder if others with this unit have good signals or not. I don't know why not and have been told that it is because of the algae bloom that is currently inflicting trauma on those fishing around Nanaimo. Do you receive good fish signals or not and, if so, what settings do you use?

Thank you all in advance!

I bought the HDS 5 . I bought it because I was told that with this unit you could see your lures?
So far all I have seen is small fish at 50Ft.
If there is so many fish passing through the Nanaimo area and some in my boat You would think you should see some?
I have played with the ping speed and other settings nothing.
So for the 1+G that I spent on it I am desapionted so far.
So I also would like to get more info.

We've got the HDS 5 as well. Normally we leave the sounder set on Auto and get a good number of arches around bait balls. I get lots of surface clutter so I don't see a lot of fish near the top though. It's not perfect but I'm pretty satisfied with it.
Dave

I have the HDS 7, a year old now, and it works well for me. I have taken it into the " Chandlers" in Nanaimo and they updated the software for me, twice now. It shows salmon around the bait, at Port Renfrew and around here, but the algae bloom has really upset it definitely shows arches around the bait at Port Renfrew, but the algae bloom has upset mine at Gabriola.

I bought the hds 5 and by far it's the best sounder I've had. I was getting excellent scratches 150 down to 300 ft last outing. Too bad I found out they were hake

I have found using default settings is fine for water up to 200 feet with the algae bloom in full swing, but after that I turn off auto sensitivity and set sensitivity accordingly, use custom depth range with no more than a 100-150 spread. I also set to no noise filter, high or medium surface clutter and 2 or 4 X scroll speed. Once in a while with the "algae bloom sttings" I use, the sounder looses its mind and thinks any given depth is bottom and holds that idea until I repower, but it's an easy remidy and well worth the high end readings I get in deeper water when fishing deep or shallow.

It took me a few days of playing to find my settings, but I'm more than happy with the best "view" I've had while fishing the bloom.

Thanks for the great info!
I have set depth zone.
I will try a 50 Ft spread
It sounds like you have the same problem as I have. When you travel along it looks on the srceen like youi hit a brown wall from top to bottom. Algae?
I will try your settings
What is your ping speed and what # screen works best for you?
Jeff

I haven't played much with ping speed as I only notice significant changes when fishing near other boats, (avoiding cross talk) however 200kh is my perfered frequency for these settings and by screen # I assume you mean pallette in which case I use default #13 I believe it is. white background blue/red soft returns.
Also this works for me but others may have to play a bit as I noticed I have to adjust settings here and there when switching between kicker and main, tide changes or moving any fair distance from when settings last tweaked.

edit for::::: forgot to mention use manual fishing mode so sounder doesn't try to read deeper than desired depth.

I have the HDS 5. No arches so set it on symbols and depths. Never showed a fish yet. Was also informed by Lowrance rep if you have it on symbols and depths setting it will not show bait balls. Had it reset at Harbour to upgrade 4.0 I think. Not much difference. After all the hype with the HDS units, it sure leaves something to be desired for the price. But at least the depth reading is fairly accurate if nothing else.

HDS 5 Elite with Gold Navionics chip for me. Like others I have never seen an arch, a scratch or anything that remotely looks like a larger fish. I also find I lose bottom over 500 feet but have just learned to live with it. More than anything I use the chart to follow a contour or specific depth. It has helped to put a few in the boat this May. I'm satisfied but the fish finder has not lived up to my expectations. Will try some of the suggestions - cheers.

This is a great info on the HDS-
I did go out on sunday morning tried to reset to what settings should work?
I narrowed the depth from 150-200 all I got was a blue screen with some pink dots,
But after adjusting it back to 0-150ft I saw lots of fish again at 50-60 ft of Neck Piont,
As a fish finder it works no better then the last $125.00 fish finder.
The chart does work will though.
Jeff