Everybody wants to know what a fish looks like with their sonar. The next question is, how am I to find baitfish using a fish finder? Bait is important for finding fish that bite and other times it makes no difference. I have fished some lakes where you must find the bait to catch fish and on other lakes the bait location does not matter. When I can't figure it out, I believe we just have to wait until we receive enough information on fish and bait to solve the problem but in 20 years someone may have studied the prey-predator relationship in detail on the lakes and we will have the information to make educated decisions.
The DownScan and side scan both have wider cones than the 2D. The difference between the DownScan and side scan is the DownScan is aimed straight down like the 2D sonar and the side scan is aimed to the side so it "sees" out farther. Learn more about side scan range settings in this article.
Looking for fish near weeds can be difficult because the fish and weeds look similar with sonar. Whether you have DownScan or not, these examples will help you understand your sonar better. My understanding of using sonar to fish near weeds has improved with the DownScan feature on my Lowrance HDS. The cone is narrower with the DownScan and the transducer is a higher frequency so you get improved target separation. I would not be surprised if Lowrance offers DownScan only instead of traditional sonar in the future.
The DownScan has a wider cone than 2D sonar so it can bounce off objects near the transom like a kicker, the main motor, a transducer or anything lower than the LSS transducer. When on auto range the DownScan may interpret the digital depth (DBT depth below the transducer) is the object at 1.2 or 1.4 feet from the transducer. Auto range changes to 5 foot range and you must wait until the digital depth corrects or take it off auto and manually adjust the range to match the depth of water you are presently in. You can select auto after the digital depth locks on the bottom.
