I am unfortunate at the moment not to have a fully loaded fishing boat, although I plan on buying a small jon boat with a sonar unit next season to bass fish from. I can't say I catch a limit every time I go out fishing, but I catch my fair share of fish when I go out. Moving along the shore I can pick out the "spots" where I know the fish should be, but the only pattern I can really fish is to fish visible structure or cover I can see above water. I feel like I am at a huge disadvantage by not having a depth/fish finder to find under water structure, schools of fish, etc.
So, how much success in bass fishing is due to the use of sonar/gps units? Have those of you who have fished with and without them find that you catch far more fish with the use of a sonar unit? What about the use of electronic mapping such as Navionics Hot Maps that gives you a complete view of the lake floor?This question goes out especially to competitive anglers. How do you think your success rate would differ, if at all, during say a tournament if you could not use a your GPS/sonar units?
This is always something I have wondered about but never really asked about. I wonder that if I had all the tools of say a Tournament Pro, could I be as a successful as them? I am not saying that years of practice, studying and experience are not factors. But I wonder how much easier fishing would be if I had all of the high tech toys.
and how much of your success on the water is owed to them? I grew up fishing shiners under a bobber. From there I moved on to using artificials, but most of my fishing to this day is still pretty primitive considering. 100% of my bass fishing is done without the use of sonar.
I am unfortunate at the moment not to have a fully loaded fishing boat, although I plan on buying a small jon boat with a sonar unit next season to bass fish from. I can't say I catch a limit every time I go out fishing, but I catch my fair share of fish when I go out. Moving along the shore I can pick out the "spots" where I know the fish should be, but the only pattern I can really fish is to fish visible structure or cover I can see above water. I feel like I am at a huge disadvantage by not having a depth/fish finder to find under water structure, schools of fish, etc.
So, how much success in bass fishing is due to the use of sonar/gps units? Have those of you who have fished with and without them find that you catch far more fish with the use of a sonar unit? What about the use of electronic mapping such as Navionics Hot Maps that gives you a complete view of the lake floor?This question goes out especially to competitive anglers. How do you think your success rate would differ, if at all, during say a tournament if you could not use a your GPS/sonar units?
This is always something I have wondered about but never really asked about. I wonder that if I had all the tools of say a Tournament Pro, could I be as a successful as them? I am not saying that years of practice, studying and experience are not factors. But I wonder how much easier fishing would be if I had all of the high tech toys.
This is a question I have thought about many times myself and I am very interested in how people answer. I like the idea of the low end Lowrance but I also would like a Sonar that supports Navionics. I'll be watching this thread closely....
i can see how bass are relating to structure, and can usually tell what type of fish is on the screen and how close they are to the boat.
i drop shot a lot so electronics are a must. i watch my sinker and bait on the screen drop through the water in real time. i can also see fish coming up to hit the bait...or see them just looking at it. basically, i can see how they're reacting in real time. it's pretty awesome to see it on your screen and feel the hit a split second later.
if you don't care about seeing fish, their size, or any fine details, don't waste your money. but these are the types of details you'll see with a good finder.
i have a humminbird 778C (color HD). it fits in a small portable case i carry around for my jonboat.
i personally think they are very important. it's not important if you're just looking for depth, contours, or obvious structure but the higher end models allow you to see the smallest details, bait, the thermocline (very important as bass don't tend to be below it), bottom composition, etc.
i can see how bass are relating to structure, and can usually tell what type of fish is on the screen and how close they are to the boat.
i drop shot a lot so electronics are a must. i watch my sinker and bait on the screen drop through the water in real time. i can also see fish coming up to hit the bait...or see them just looking at it. basically, i can see how they're reacting in real time. it's pretty awesome to see it on your screen and feel the hit a split second later.
if you don't care about seeing fish, their size, or any fine details, don't waste your money. but these are the types of details you'll see with a good finder.
i have a humminbird 778C (color HD). it fits in a small portable case i carry around for my jonboat.
like a video game
most important thing is knowing how to use it, change the settings properly, and being able to read what you're seeing.
you fish from a topper right? don't worry about side or down imaging. at that point, the power draw would mean you need a bigger battery. that's another thing to factor in...how much power can you get based on the battery you're using.
if you want to go portable, you're limited with the portable case and small battery they come with. even if using a separate big battery isn't an issue, you're going to have to mount certain models and deal with wiring.
dual beam is important.
hard to pin point what the most important thing is. but i would say if you're using it for a cartopper, it's probably not important to have side imaging or navionics. color isn't necessary either.
i would say dual beams, real time sonar, and being able to change from a "max" mode to a "clear" mode for different types of water (weedy or clear).
lowrance and humminbird are good. i only have experience with humminbird though. for a reference point, i have this humminbird:
http://store.humminbird.com/products/410430/778c_HD
it fits in this case and works all day on the small battery that comes with it.
http://store.humminbird.com/products/322965/PTC_U
any of the 700 or 500 series should fit in it if you're not looking to spend a lot of money.
i used to have the 570 which was more than enough to find depth, contours, fish, structure etc.
http://store.humminbird.com/products/313973/570
Everyone has their own style of fishing. Are you a boater or a crawdad guy? So that being said get electronics that suit your style.
I fish shallow 90 percent of the time. Do I need SI or high priced electronics for this? All I need is water temp, GPS and color. You can pick up a decent color unit for around $300.00.
Ok my two cents for what its worth
Everyone has their own style of fishing. Are you a boater or a crawdad guy? So that being said get electronics that suit your style.
I fish shallow 90 percent of the time. Do I need SI or high priced electronics for this? All I need is water temp, GPS and color. You can pick up a decent color unit for around $300.00.
Tommy is right on. If you will never find yourself spending lots of time out over 15-40' of water, there is no need for any fancy features. Water temp and depth is about it. Watts and pixles are important. The more watts a unit has the more powerful it is. More power = better , more accurate results. Pixles are what make up the screen. The more pixles you have the more detail the picure on the screen will have. The more watts and pixles you have the easier it is for your unit to show you the difference between a hard bottom and soft bottom, weeds and fish
Now lets talk transducer cones and angles. I believe the cone angle on most transducers is around 20* ( I think it is actually 17* but I am not 100% sure. That means that your "cone" or the circle that your actualy looking at is 8"... thats inches in diameter for every 1 foot of depth. So if you are in 10' of water you have a circle or picture with a diameter of 80" or 6' 6". In other words you are seeing a 6'6" circle of lake bottom on your screen. Thats 3 feet in each direction of the transducer location..... in other words, not very much.
remember that the deal with side scan is that you are only supposed to scan out to the side 1/2 the distance of the depth you are in. So if you are in 20' you should be scanning out 10 feet to either side of you to get an accurate picture, or at least thats what was told to me by someone who's in the know. Its not like with side scanning you can put your boat in 10' of water 50 yards from shore and see everything from you to shore.