What a Vexilar is showing us

Recently I was asked to do a seminar on using Vexilar Electronics while ice fishing.  I have had the opportunity the past few years to do several of these, and interact with hundreds of people.  While conversing with all these avid ice anglers, one of the most interesting things people comment about or are glad to hear about is the explanation of the different colors of lines.  

Below you will see the graphic that helps people understand what the Vexilar is showing us.  The concept is easy, the green line is further away from the center of the transducer, the yellow is a little closer to the center, and red is directly below the transducer.  These simple facts are basic and are known by almost all ice anglers using a Vexilar, we all want to see red!  

We all can take our fishing to the level by understanding what the Vexilar is telling us though.  Not only do the colors tell us how far away from the middle they are, but it tells us the depth too.  As seen in the illustration below, all the crappies are at the 7.5 foot level under the ice.  However the Vexilar is telling us that one is at 7.5 feet, one is a little past 8 foot, and the last is well over the 8.5 foot mark.  The crappies are not stacked on top of one another as the Vexilar suggests.  Remember, a sonar works by sending a signal through the water column and bounces back up when it hits something.  The "green" crappie is further away from the transducer, so the signal travels just over 8.5 feet and then bounces back which reads that distance and marks it on the Vexilar.  So, we have to train our minds that the green and yellow marks are ALWAYS above where they are actually showing on the flasher, because those fish are away from the center of the transducer, thus the distance of the sonar signal travels farther to go the same 7.5 foot distance.  

I hope I have recreated a part of my recent seminar so that you can understand what your Vexilar is telling you, and so you can keep your bait above your "true" targets!