Humminbird Helix - Adjusting Depth Contour Colors

One of the keys for me this week at the Cabela's NABC event in Minoqua, WI was finding weed lines that had cabbage and coontail in 10 to 15 feet of water. Where I found these weed lines, I then was able to focus on the steepest breaks and points that were adjacent to the main lake.

The Humminbird Helix units have a feature that allows me to adjust the visible colors at various depths, making it much faster to not only find these key areas, but also helps my boat control as I can be sure to stay outside of the deepest color highlighted.

It is a very easy feature to use and extremely helpful for locating and catching more fish. Here is how I adjusted mine on the water.

1) Here is my Helix 12 with default settings.

2) Press Menu and Press Arrow to Select HB Chart. Scroll down and here you can adjust the color contour highlights.

3) Scroll Down and Adjust Shallow Water Highlight to be the Shallowest Depth you want to focus on. For me, 5 feet was the starting depth. Then, adjust Depth Highlight to be the Deepest Depth. I could have chosen 15 feet since that was my deepest range, however since I wanted to see the steepest breaks from 5 feet to 15 feet, I used Depth Highlight Range (+/-). I set this for 3 Feet. Because there is +/- of 3 Feet, I set my Depth Highlight Range to 12 Feet. The final product is Three Color Contours. Red is 5 Feet or Less, Green is 9 to 15 Feet (12 +/- 3 Feet) and White which winds up being the flat between 5 and 9 Feet.

4. Here you can see the points and steepest breaks from 5 to 15 feet of water. On tournament day, if the fish were relating the deep edges, I could quickly position the boat outside of the weed lines (Green). If the fish moved up on flats between 5 and 15 feet (White), and if they moved up ultra shallow (Red) I could adjust and find other locations with similar structure and depth.

For questions about Humminbird Helix products or tips on how I use mine, you can reach me at Michael.walters@studio503.com or @mwalters503