By Aaron Koenigsberg
All fish finders work with a technology called sonar that was developed during World War II. Sonar turns waves of sound into a digital image of the sea floor and the sea beneath your boat. Using subtle differences in the sound waves, fish finders can differentiate objects to help fishers find the fish.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate
Step 1
Turn on the fish finder. Most fish finders will have programmed settings, and you'll want to become familiar with them. This is best done by reading the manual. One thing particularly helpful for new users is to turn off the fish ID or fish icon, which can be confusing.
Step 2
A color fish finder is slightly easier to read than a black-and-white one. The color fish finder uses red, yellow and blue. Blue represents the water underneath the boat. Any dense object will be reflected by shades of yellow and red, with yellow being the least-dense objects and red being the most-dense.
Step 3
Interpret the colors. Red arches in the blue indicate fish movement and balls of red often represent balls of bait.
Step 4
When using a black-and-white fish finder, the top and bottom of the water will be shown and arches of movement will be visible. The black-and-white fish finders are much harder to use than the color ones, so they're not recommended for new users.
Step 5
Play with the settings on your fish finder as you become more comfortable with it. There are often a variety of resolutions and target separation settings you can adjust to your preferences.
About the Author:
Aaron Koenigsberg is a graduate of The George Washington University with a degree in economics. He primarily contributes articles on his areas of expertise, video games and math, but also branches out into areas of interest such as science and cooking. He has published mainly on eHow and has been writing since 2009.
