Sonar readings (display) of Deeper PRO and CHIRP models provide crucial information about the water body, such as location of fishes, their approximate size, bottom hardness, weeds and their density, as well as underwater structure.
It is also important to understand how various settings such as Beam angle and Color palette affect the sonar display and the amount of information it provides.
You can find general information about how sonars display information and how to interpret it here:
How sonars work: https://deepersonar.com/us/en_us/how-it-works/how-sonars-work
How to read Deeper PRO and PRO+ displays: https://deepersonar.com/us/en_us/how-it-works/how-to-read-fishfinder
How to read Deeper CHIRP displays: https://deepersonar.com/us/en_us/how-it-works/how-to-read-a-fish-finder-chirp
Sonar display basics
Bottom: When set to Raw (detailed) sonar display, your Deeper can help you determine whether the bottom is hard or soft. When the sonar pulses sent from your Deeper are reflected by the bottom, a hard bottom will return a stronger signal than a soft bottom. To properly determine the bottom hardness, please use Narrow or Mid beams on your Deeper. Wide beams are not suited to determine bottom hardness.
Second sonar return: You may also see a second sonar return: this is caused when the sonar signal bounces between the bottom and the surface of the water and back again. Hard bottoms will show a strong second return, while soft bottoms will show a very weak one or none at all. To properly determine the bottom hardness, please use Narrow or Mid beam angle on your Deeper. Wide beams are not suited to determine bottom hardness.
Fish Icons: Fish Icons are displayed in three different sizes. The classification of fish by size depends on many variables, with weight being only one of them. This means Fish Icons do not always accurately reflect an actual fish’s size. If you want to determine the fish size more accurately, you should choose Raw sonar display and untick Fish Icons. Read more on this topic here.
Water surface: Along the top of the screen, you will see a blue water surface line with a grouping of intense colors. This area is surface clutter, which can be caused by waves or other sonar interference on the surface of the water. Surface clutter is the blind zone, where the sonar will not detect any fishes or underwater objects.
The length of surface clutter depends the beam angle and frequency used. The higher the frequency – the smaller the surface clutter is, and the less depth Deeper will need to operate.
Deeper CHIRP surface clutter
When using Narrow CHIRP beam (675 kHz), surface clutter zone will be stretching down to 0.15m (0.5 ft) from the surface of water. No fish or underwater objects will be detected in that area. Deeper sonar will display “too shallow or too deep” error message if the actual depth of water is less than 0.15m (0.5 ft).
Mid CHIRP (290 kHz) will have a surface clutter zone of 0.6m (2 ft) and will not detect any fishes or underwater objects in that area.
Wide CHIRP (100 kHz) will have a surface clutter zone of 0.8m (2.6 ft) and will not detect any fishes or underwater objects in that area.
Deeper PRO surface clutter
Narrow beam (290 kHz) will have a surface clutter zone of 0.6m (2 ft) and will not detect any fishes or underwater objects in that area.
Wide beam (90 kHz) will have a surface clutter zone of 1.3 m (4.2 ft) and will not detect any fishes or underwater objects in that area.
Weed: Weed beds and vegetation are shown in green when Classic color palette is used.
Schools of fish: Deeper sonars will clearly show schools of bait fish, which will be represented as clouds of different shapes and sizes. Their exact appearance will depend on the number of fish, and the speed of your boat if you are trolling. You can read more about finding fish here.