Furuno FCV600L Fish Finder not marking fish in 200+ feet of water

[WannaBeInAParker]

All,

I have a Furuno FCV600L fish finder installed with a thru hull transducer. I have been in schools of 30 pound cod fish like you read about and have not marked the fish on the fish finder. I am using the split screen (DUAL) screen with 50 and 200 khz in the fishing mode. I also have been using the bottom lock feature where it will zoom in on the bottom 20 feet. Am I overlooking something? Am I expecting too much from this fish finder? It seems to be a little more accurate in more shallow depths.

-Jack-

[lrobalo]

I have the same unit and mine has trouble marking fish as well in deep water. The main thing that it will not do is to mark the bottom past 900ft. An electronics expert down here that is a repair person for Furuno (He also installs electronics on large ships) told me that when you buy the unit, the transducer that comes with it is a standard cheap transducer that comes with most models from Furuno, Sitex, Ray Marine etc. He sid that it is like a computer, with the display unit being the Monitor and the transducer being the CPU. Get a lousy CPU and you don't get the quality coming out of the monitor. A good transducer for that unit cost as much as the unit and then some. However, for most recreational fisherman, the one that comes with it will do. I'll bet that those commerical bottom fisherman have the right set up. Hope this helps.

John

[Tom Bare]

Jack-

Do you have a bronze thru hull or a "shoot thru" hull xducer? That unit should have no problem marking fish in 200' split screen/bottom lock.

If you have a bronze, true thru hull xducer I'd say you have a problem w/ the unit; however if it's a shoot thru that's probably where your problem lies.

With respect to different xducers, if I am not mistaken Airmar makes them for everyone with the single exception of Lowrance, who make their own. There is no difference in the transducer the commercial guy gets and the one you get for your Furuno. Having said that, Airmar makes hundreds of transducers and a commercial tile fisherman will need a transducer that will mark fish on the bottom at 900', which is a specialized application. It's all about power and cone angles but you could get that same transducer no problem.

TB.

[WannaBeInAParker]

I have a bronze thru hull transducer (hole in bottom of boat).

Are there any tricks to checking out whether or not it is the unit? Obviously I can drop a weight under the boat and see if it is picked up, but is there anything beyond this?

I was wondering if the 200khz was too narrow a beam and was going to try the 50khz beam. I have a suction cup portable fish finder from humminbird that did a better job than this unit.

-Jack-
-Jack-

[Tom Bare]

Don't take this as smart ass but are you sure you have been on fish? If that's a "hell yes Tom you idiot," then do this:

Get a buddy to go in his boat one day and you jump back and forth between boats. If his marks more fish i.e. you see a big difference between units, you have a problem.

If you want to make sure it's nothing you are doing, put the unit in fishing mode, automatic. Use split screen, bottom lock in AUTO. If the fish are on the bottom the unit should mark them in 200' w/out a problem.

Can you get good arches at any depth, do you lose clarity as you get deeper, etc. Other than not marking these fish is it doing anyhting strange? It's not rocket science to figure out and the machine is good enough in auto mode where it should mark those fish.

Try the two boat deal and the auto config and let me know.

TB.

[WannaBeInAParker]

Tom,

Based on the cod to 30 punds I would say I am on top of fish.

You may be onto something with the auto mode, all I have been using is auto mode. Is the auto mode limiting? Should I not be using auto mode?

-Jack-

[John_Madison CT]

Get that thing in Manual mode, where she is meant to work when fishing.

Turn the gain up to just shy of a triple echo. YOu have to set the unit to 3X your depth and increase the gain until you just see that 3rd echo or bottom reading.

Go back to your appropriate depth reading and you should see an improvement.

John

[WannaBeInAParker]

John/Tom/Irobolo,

Thanks I am going to try manual mode. I will report my results.

-Jack-

[nodoubt]

i can take a bb.....ya know those lil things ya shoot the trash can critters with... .....drop it in 190 ft of very calm lake water....and watch it hit the bottom all day long and never loose it on the srceen...hmmmm.......i think you def need to re check that unit for sure....those cod should show a massive arch on the screen.... ...nodoubt..

[WannaBeInAParker]

No Doubt,

Are you using the auto fishing mode when seeing this "bb"?

-Jack-

[REH]

I would shut off the automatic operation, go manual with gain adjusted as described above. Put it in the normal mode, set the range at 15'or 30' and use the -shift button to shift down displaying the bottom 15 or 30 feet of water column on the full screen. Try 200 khz and 50 khz use what works best. Never fished for Cod, if they hang higher in the water column set the range higher or -shift less. I have no problem marking fish at this depth. I only use the automatic mode when running to and from spots.
Good Luck
Ray

[nodoubt]

parker......yeah.......to see it all the way to the bottom at that depth i usually have to....it was just a whim on the bb thing......i figured that was the smallest thing i could drop that would sink....and if it would mark that lil thing in 200 ft of water then thats all i would ever need... i have marked fish off the bottom in that same water and they showed up well... still impresses the crap out of me after 4 yrs......

[Mr. T]

REH, hit it right on the money.

The 600L has a feature that is not in the manual, it will detect fish better. When bottom fishing set the range scale to match the relief size, 5' relief 10' scale, 10' relief 20 scale, etc. Got my first three scales set to 10, 20 ,30. Now use your shift key to shift down until you see the bottom. Now the machine is looking at only the bottom on the whole screen, not a split screen. What a difference this makes. Keep the gain up to atleast 7.0-7.5. Hope this helps.
Tom

[WannaBeInAParker]

I went fishing this past weekend 2 days 553 lbs of cod, did not mark a single fish manual as suggested and auto. T, thanks read that tip from another thread and tried it. At this point I am going to work with the dealer that bought and installed it.

As an added bonus, the depth was showing 53 feet in 270 feet of water after I switched back from manual to auto.

Does anyone know if the transducer has any smarts to it. Could this be a transducer problem or just the unit itself? How does one troubleshoot?

Has anyone had experience working with Furuno? This should be a no questions asked situation and a new unit should be supplied.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

-Jack-

[boneman]

Here's how I would troubleshoot: borrow either a display or a xducer, on the water (a) swap units - see any diff ? If yes, the problem lays in the swapped unit; if no diff, the problem lays in the other half of the package.