Sidescan - Bow Or Helm?

[james 14]

I need to get a unit for the bow of my boat. I have an older Lowrance at the helm and the easiest option would be to mount a new unit on the bow, however, I'm open to going through the pain of re-running wires if there's some reason I'd rather the side scan at the helm.

 

My thinking is the side scan is more useful up front to use while I'm actually fishing so I can fish the spots or fish that come across the graph as I see them. The older sonar is fine on the back since any fish I see on it would be under the boat and they'd already be spooked.

 

Just curious what some other pros and cons might be while I weigh all my options.

[wnybassman]

I only have one SI unit, and it is at the helm.  I do a lot of idling around looking for stuff before I stop to fish.  Once I locate things, I can get up front and fish them.  You need to consider the best side imaging images occur when the boat is moving 3 to 6 mph, I rarely go that fast up front.  If you do a trolling motor transducer mount, you will need to keep the motor fairly straight as you move along as well.

 

I do know people with SI up front, but usually they have one at the console as well.

[Jig Man]

I started with one hds unit at the helm with the lss ducer mounted under the jackplate.  I drove around a lot and marked many things that I wanted to fish.  I got a chance to buy another hds and put it up front with ethernet cables to allow me to see the si/di from either position.  Even when I saw stuff from the front unit it was already behind me so I wound up buying a second lss.

 

After a couple of years using them, I rarely use the helm unit for di/si as the person in the back doesn't normally know what he is seeing.  I always run the one on the bow in down and sometimes in side and down together.

 

If I had to give one up it would be the helm unit.

[jhoffman]

Id put it at the helm on a ram mount and just swing it around when I stop to fish. SI to me means like was stated... driving and finding it, backscrolling, mark with gps. Even if you just came over it, could be as little as 15mins IF you even spook them that they come back. They are there for some reason!

[Todd Driscoll]

If I was forced to choose, I'd prefer sidescan at the helm, simply because I spend a lot of time idling and looking for both structure and fish.  This technology is so good that I won't stop and fish until I can see the fish.  Side scan certainly has its use up front, but I couldn't do without it in the back.

[greyleg33]

For my 2 I vote for the cockpit. I had mine at the bow but changed it because every time your trolling mtr turns your scan is shot.

[scbassin]

On the console, if you need to drop a marker & move away & fish it.

[james 14]

Thanks, guys and Wayne P for your detailed PM's. I think the route I'm going to check into is getting one unit and extra cables to run it in both locations as I see fit. I'm a few months out before I'll make a decision so I have some more time to research.