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Hey guys:
If you wonder how someone found your buckets or fish attractors out on the big lake well here is the answer to that. Don't think your buddies gave the UTM coordiantes to someone. But instead look at this new instrument and think "That is how they found out my secrete spots"
These new devices can show a picture of a submerged tree or ditch below the surface of a lake.
Check out the new 900 series humminbird depth sounds at www.humminbird.com
Isn't that the truth? I am still baffled by those fish finders....
Yeah, that stuff is pretty amazing. Still a little rich for my budget though, almost 2 G's for the top of the line model.
only on Humminbird 981c SI and 987c SI, not the 931c, 937c, and 947c. I purchased the 981c SI with transducer for about $1600. Here is the story on those high-resolution images
Side-sonar imaging ready for anglers
By Elliott Minor
Associated Press Writer
EUFAULA — Side-imaging sonar, technology used to locate the wreckage of the Titanic deep in the North Atlantic, is now available to anglers who just want to find a good fishing hole.
Such systems have been used for years in Naval warfare, scientific research and underwater mapping, but until recently they were far too costly and cumbersome for the average fisherman.
That has changed with the recent introduction of new "fishing systems" offered by Eufaula-based Humminbird, a leading manufacturer of electronic fish finders.
The company hopes the new $2,000 side-imaging sonar systems will become as essential to serious anglers as the tackle box, fishing pole and can of worms. It also predicts the systems will be a hit among divers looking for sunken ships, recovery teams searching for drowning victims, underwater archeologists and anyone else who needs a view of the depths.
"It is cutting edge," said Gary Caputi, editor of Saltwater Sportsman Magazine. "Nobody else has done anything like this."
Fish-finding technology has improved only incrementally since the mid-1980s, when sonar fish finders with liquid crystal displays were introduced, said Mark Gibson, Humminbird's global products manager.
Sound waves
Sonar detects underwater objects by bouncing sound waves off them and analyzing the results.
Traditional fish finders project sound waves directly below the boat and produce two-dimensional images on a display that shows the contour of the water's bottom, the depth and blips representing fish or other objects in the water.
Humminbird's systems not only beam down, they also send sound waves to the side at a 30-degree angle. Their signals are fed into a microprocessor that produces three-dimensional images of objects up to 100 feet below the boat and 240 feet to either side. The images appear on a display similar to those found on laptop computers.
The systems also can be linked to global-positioning navigational gear so anglers can mark prime locations and return to them.
Structures are considered the most desirable spots because fish tend to congregate around them, either to hide from predators or to be predators.
"We were looking for something revolutionary," Gibson said. "We were thinking from the angler's perspective — 'What would I want my fish finder to show me?' I'd want it to show me an image of what's exactly under water.
"Side imaging provides both the high-resolution images and works in all water, whether it's clear or muddy," he said.
During a recent demonstration on Lake Eufaula, Gibson and Dave Betts, Humminbird's research and development manager, cruised slowly across the 45,181-acre lake as detailed images appeared on the display.
They saw a sunken barge and a pile of logs that had spilled out as the vessel went down.
Lake Eufaula, which stretches for 85 miles along the Alabama-Georgia boarder, was created in 1963 by damming the Chattahoochee River. The rising water covered buildings, trees, stumps and all other vestiges of human habitation.
Gibson and Betts have found a submerged swimming pool, a bridge foundation, the remains of a hydroelectric plant and scads of stumps and trees. They can also see schools of fish or larger fish individually.
In military and commercial systems, which can cost more than $100,000, the transducers are either built into a ship's hull, or they are mounted in a torpedo-shaped "towfish" that is too heavy for the average angler to handle.
Humminbird's transducer unit, only six inches long and weighing only a few ounces, can be mounted to either the front or rear of a regular fishing boat.
Developed in the 1960s, side-imaging sonar provided some of the first images of the Titanic, the ocean liner that went down in 12,460 feet of water with 1,500 passengers and crew members in 1912.
The technology was also used to locate the wreckage of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s plane, which went down off Martha's Vineyard in 1999, and again in 2002 to produce some of the first clear images of the USS Monitor, the Civil War ironclad that sank off the North Carolina coast in 1862.
Chad Lewis, an aquatic biologist with Mainstream Commercial Divers of Murray, Ky., said his underwater construction and diving company uses commercial side-scan sonar systems routinely to locate sunken vessels. Still, he was impressed by the quality of the Humminbird images.
"It can't do everything that a high-dollar sonar unit can do, but the image quality is up there with a $100,000 unit," he said.
Pat Hahs, who uses side-scan sonar to map the bottoms of popular fishing areas in western Kentucky, said the Humminbird system produced higher quality images than his commercial system.
"Fishermen will find it extremely valuable," said Hahs, who produces detailed underwater maps on CDs to help anglers find productive fishing sites.
http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturd...06/sonar.shtml
Agreed....I am still working toward and on-board charger and some Optima's!Quote:
Originally Posted by bhodges
Im still saving for a new transducer bracket for my old styff
Hey, I'm trying to find a place where I can buy Power Pro 10 yards at a time!
This is just like anything else in electronic history. The price will come down were it should be in about two years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by VietVet68
Ha ha....I hear ya!!!
Fishing is an expensive hobby!!
undefinedhowdy; don'y know about 2 yrs. took the hand calculator 'bout 10 yrs. to get to the real affordable prices, but that depends on just how deep your pockets are mine ain't so i've developed paitence. oh yea, and envy. tarfu :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Zig