Thread: Finding side imaging useless

Distance !! That's the big factor IMHO. You can see off "to the sides" at a much greater distance with SI than with any 2d or DI. It's pretty hard to imagine "seeing" anything outside the 60deg cone of 2d or the 75deg fan sweep of DI ... when compared to the ~90deg fan sweep of SI. Not to mention that with SI you can tell which side of the boat the image is coming from ... something you cannot do with 2d or DI.

... cp

I can see the distance benefit but since the image that shows on the screen is already behind you by the time you see it I don't know how to use it to my advantage. I guess I can turn back to get another view but how do you mark a spot visually for casting if it's not under the boat or within distance of a thrown bouy. Maybe I'm totally misunderstanding its use at this point or had expectations that were unrealistic.

Just add a waypoint, then return to spot drop a bouy at a distance you are comfortable with from the structure..........If you wanted to you could throw a bouy up wind and down wind to further identify the spot.........but then everyone else can see that too....

You could also go back to your waypoint using trolling motor and identify structure with TM mounted FF.......

I had hundreds of brushpile/stakebed waypoints before I had SI ...

Now I have thousands ...Most of which I never knew existed ...

Rickie

I love recording with my SI. After a day's fishing, I will go around and record new areas and then review at home to plan next trip or new places to try. Being able to record and review has also helped me to better understand what I am looking at. I use SI to find new places and then use 2D (and maybe someday DI) to zero in on spots.

danny

Originally Posted by Zippy

I can see the distance benefit but since the image that shows on the screen is already behind you by the time you see it I don't know how to use it to my advantage. I guess I can turn back to get another view but how do you mark a spot visually for casting if it's not under the boat or within distance of a thrown bouy. Maybe I'm totally misunderstanding its use at this point or had expectations that were unrealistic.

Cursor to the spot and mark a waypoint. Navigate to the waypoint and get on top of the spot with 2D or downscan and fish it.

With SS, you can scout a bay for brushpiles or shad in very little time.

Originally Posted by CatFan

Cursor to the spot and mark a waypoint. Navigate to the waypoint and get on top of the spot with 2D or downscan and fish it.

With SS, you can scout a bay for brushpiles or shad in very little time.

That has been the benefit to me. I can hit a new lake, and at 5 mph ease through a cove or along a creek channel and find every bit of available cover in there in just a matter of an hour. When I go to a new lake, I usually spend the better part of the first day just marking places to fish. Then that night, I take my card out and put it on my computer and get a better look at what I marked.

For me, I was an instinct fisherman that learned by trial and error. I picked up SI because of tournaments so that it cuts down my search time for fish or baitfish.

Everyone here is telling you exactly what you need to hear. SI is a research tool. Si will find structure very quickly and after you mark it you can return within seconds to start pulling fish or keep trucking and mark a lot more structure before pulling out the fishing poles. Like has been mentioned already most days on new lakes I don't even get the poles out of the locker. I will mark waypoints all day to return on future trips to harvest fish.

Try this some time. Start on a new body of water or a different part of a body of water you don't have waypoints on or know where structure is located. Scan with your 2d for an hour. Then switch to SI and compare your findings. If you find anything with your 2d you will find it much quicker with your SI and you will find structure you missed with your 2d. The hour worth of 2d search will be completed in a few minutes with SI and I mean a few minutes. Less then five.