Hydrowave Work Or Nah ?

[rhino]

Anybody tried out a hydrowave product? Do you think it improved your fishing, or are they a scam ?  Your thoughts?

[Sam]

Kevin VanDam has a financial interest in the Hydrowave so I take what he preaches with a grain of salt.

 

However, KVD was using the old BSX model and he swore that it actually attracted the bass.

 

I have an old BSX unit on my boat and have not seen any difference in catch ratio when using it.

 

However, how do I know it actually helps attract bass?  I have no idea. I may have caught the number and size of bass without the machine.

 

The Hydrowave cannot hurt you unless you have the sound too high.  The sound volume is the key.

 

And if you are a Bama fan it will never work for you.  If you are an Auburn fan it will never work for you.

 

If you are a wonderful, handsome, intelligent and wealthy LSU fan then the Hydrowave will produce a lot of good bites.

 

Geaux Tigers!

[Tim Kelly]

Does scent on bait work? Very hard to prove anything satisfactorily. Seeing as some people turn off their sonar and trolling motors to approach fish as stealthily as possible it's hard to imagine another noise making device would be helpful if the noise made by the other things is harmful, but then again it is hard to prove that noise scares the fish. Logically you'd think it would, but empirically, who knows!

[Montanaro]

I always heard they were for turning on a school of suspending bass. I wouldn't buy one though

[Slade House]

Ive been using one for the past year and a half now , about 5 days a week on tough lake casitas.  I have all of the sound packs , KVD , Baitfish Expansion, and Crawfish expansion.  I've run the thing , and there are weeks when i haven't run the thing. My experience has even got some of the really cranky old timers at my lake to purchase one , and they love it too.  And yes it works. period, it works.   I think bass use sound and vibration alot more than they do scent.  The thing you have to remember is that the older units and even the 1st hyrdrowave only played sounds in 8-Bit sound quality , or the same quality of original nintendo music.  the hydrowave h2 plays sounds in 16 bit sound quality or the same quality as a sega genesis or super nintendo.  So get the H2 for sure as all of the best sounds from all of the expansion packs are on the h2 plus there is 15 , 30, and 45 second delay settings.  The best sounds come from the baitfish expansion pack which has my favorite sounds of "bait ball, and shad spawn" from the KVD sound packs , the "power pattern" is killer.   there are times when you don't want it on and you want complete silence.  but it all depends.    

My experience with it these past 3 weeks during the fall shad migration has been this.  Ill go find the large clouds of shad and i won't see any bass feeding on them.  Ill turn on the hyrdowave and sure enough i start seeing bass busting shad on the surface. 

Howell talking about using hyrdowave in bassmaster classic win, and he isn't sponsered by them. 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVuNIu1p6qo#t=57

cliff pace talking about his 2013 classic win.  also not sponsered by them. 

"Pace credited his electronics, mainly the Hydrowave for his victory. Cold air and falling water temperatures had the fish sitting on the bottom and were not visible on sonar while idling across points, creek channels and bluff walls. Pace said that when he started fishing an area he could see the fish lift off the bottom and made them just active enough they would bite. The 2013 Classic Champ ran his Hydowave unit on constant in the passive finesse mode. Cliff was throwing a Jackall Squad Minnow in the wind and a V & M 1/2 jig when it wasn’t blowing.

 

if you search this forum for hydrowave i think i provided a really extensive experience blog about it. 

[slonezp]

Does scent on bait work? Very hard to prove anything satisfactorily. Seeing as some people turn off their sonar and trolling motors to approach fish as stealthily as possible it's hard to imagine another noise making device would be helpful if the noise made by the other things is harmful, but then again it is hard to prove that noise scares the fish. Logically you'd think it would, but empirically, who knows!

Is there proof that this works?

 

I have no experience with the HW. I was watching Scott Martin Challenge this morning. He was fishing G'ville and was marking fish on the bottom on his Garmin(shameless plug) The cameraman took a screen shot of the graph, and yes, there were fish on the bottom. Scott turned on the HydroWave(shameless plug) and claimed he watched the fish on the Garmin(shameless plug) move up in the water column. This was not shown on tv. He caught a fish..... If it really did happen that way, wouldn't the cameraman getting a screen shot of the fish movement on the graph been the way to film it or at least edit it? I know if I saw the fish become active on the graph like Scott claimed, I'd run to BPS and pick one up today. Scott said "I caught that fish because of the Hydrowave"(shameless plug). I believe it was the only fish he caught at that spot. Maybe he caught it because he happened to be at the right place at the right time, maybe because of the HW. I don't know.

It's been on the market for quite some time now and I hear their customer service is great  Worse case scenario, you buy it, it doesn't work to your expectations, you sell it or put it in the garage. You're out a few bucks and life goes on.   

[Darren.]

Is there proof that this works?

 

I have no experience with the HW. I was watching Scott Martin Challenge this morning. He was fishing G'ville and was marking fish on the bottom on his Garmin(shameless plug) The cameraman took a screen shot of the graph, and yes, there were fish on the bottom. Scott turned on the HydroWave(shameless plug) and claimed he watched the fish on the Garmin(shameless plug) move up in the water column. This was not shown on tv. He caught a fish..... If it really did happen that way, wouldn't the cameraman getting a screen shot of the fish movement on the graph been the way to film it or at least edit it? I know if I saw the fish become active on the graph like Scott claimed, I'd run to BPS and pick one up today. Scott said "I caught that fish because of the Hydrowave"(shameless plug). I believe it was the only fish he caught at that spot. Maybe he caught it because he happened to be at the right place at the right time, maybe because of the HW. I don't know.

It's been on the market for quite some time now and I hear their customer service is great  Worse case scenario, you buy it, it doesn't work to your expectations, you sell it or put it in the garage. You're out a few bucks and life goes on.   

 

I remain skeptical. That's what bothers me about

this -- the critical "proof" is never shown on TV.

 

Things like this remind me of finding bigfoot shows.

"That sound over yonder is a Squatch!"

 

I'd like to see an unbiased underwater video of 

bass going nuts once the unit is turned on.  

 

Maybe Kim Stricker and his crew can do it...

No wait, they're sponsored by Strke King, and 

so is KVD who has money at stake selling the 

Hydrowaves....

[Tim Kelly]

Tim Kelly, on 01 Nov 2014 - 08:58, said:

Does scent on bait work? Very hard to prove anything satisfactorily. Seeing as some people turn off their sonar and trolling motors to approach fish as stealthily as possible it's hard to imagine another noise making device would be helpful if the noise made by the other things is harmful, but then again it is hard to prove that noise scares the fish. Logically you'd think it would, but empirically, who knows!

Is there proof that this works?

 

Exactly, it's very hard to be sure about anything in fishing.

[Lund Explorer]

I plan on buying one just as soon as I can get my Color-C-Lector, PH Meter, Cosmic Clock, and Horrible-Scope to

all align. Then I just need to fly to the perfect spot using my GPS and onboard radar, see those pesky little

fish on my down/side/360* imaging sonar, and I'll be ready to flip the switch to put all those fish into a

feeding frenzy.

I sure hope I don't backlash when that time finally comes!

[Ginosocalbass]

I've seen guys playing Metalica loud as can be and fill the boat full of bass. 

 

 

maybe hydrowave has a metalica setting  

[Slade House]

I plan on buying one just as soon as I can get my Color-C-Lector, PH Meter, Cosmic Clock, and Horrible-Scope to

all align. Then I just need to fly to the perfect spot using my GPS and onboard radar, see those pesky little

fish on my down/side/360* imaging sonar, and I'll be ready to flip the switch to put all those fish into a

feeding frenzy.

I sure hope I don't backlash when that time finally comes!

I bet you called televisions "idiot boxes" and the cars "horseless carrages" when they were invented or maybe you still do 

[Slade House]

what also you're not considering is how the sounds effect the shad the bass are feeding on.  but whatever , it works , i love mine can't live without, best customer serivce.  Gene Eisman called me back during his daughters soccer game on a saturday when i had issues with mine, which they gave me a new one free of charge.  

[Lund Explorer]

I bet you called televisions "idiot boxes" and the cars "horseless carrages" when they were invented or maybe you still do

Actually, I tend to consider any computer monitor where I read forum posts as today's "idiot box"!

However, if the device gives you the ability to catch fish then by all means use it. I just happen to look at it as just another in a long line of "miracles".

[Slade House]

I never said that hyrdowave gives me the ability to catch fish.  They're not miracles , their tools to use. that is all.  you use each tool to increase the odds of catching a fish.  like when i use sidescan sonar and I see a cloud of bait 40 feet off to my right , but i don't see any bass actively feeding on the large cloud of shad and i haven't caught anything yet.   so i turn on the hyrdowave and set it to "Shad Frenzy" which is literalluy the undewater sound of bass feeding on a large school of shad.  then i start to see bass busting the surface (that is because when bass are feeding around other bass the other bass start to want to feed too , or "firing up a school" ) then i throw out my crankbait and land a 7lber.      That happened to me on friday.  

[Tim Kelly]

What is the sound of bass feeding on shad? 

[Lund Explorer]

I never said that hyrdowave gives me the ability to catch fish.  They're not miracles , their tools to use. that is all.  you use each tool to increase the odds of catching a fish.  like when i use sidescan sonar and I see a cloud of bait 40 feet off to my right , but i don't see any bass actively feeding on the large cloud of shad and i haven't caught anything yet.   so i turn on the hyrdowave and set it to "Shad Frenzy" which is literalluy the undewater sound of bass feeding on a large school of shad.  then i start to see bass busting the surface (that is because when bass are feeding around other bass the other bass start to want to feed too , or "firing up a school" ) then i throw out my crankbait and land a 7lber.      That happened to me on friday.

Pardon me, but I'm pretty sure you just gave an example of this thing giving you the "ability" to catch fish.

The fact remains that this gadget is just like every other so called tool I described earlier. It is marketed as

a must have technological breakthrough that every fisherman has to have if they plan on catching fish. Just like

the flood of specially colored lures that followed in the wake of the Color-C-Lector, I'm sure that we'll soon see a whole raft of "sounds" this one will have on store shelves.

Perhaps one that sounds like a hatchery truck full of trout!

[aavery2]

My experience with the HW has been mixed.  I have seen times when we have pulled into a cove with no bait movement at all and within a few minutes the shad will be busting the top all around the boat.  Did the HW effect the bait fish, did it get the bass to move and cause the bait fish to bust, I am not sure.  One thing I am sure of is that it does have an effect on fish.

 

I had the opportunity a few years back to talk with Mike McClelland for a while about the HW.  He told me he credited his Elite series win at that time in part to the HW.  He was convinced that it made a difference.

 

Some guys think they are a gimmick and others think that they are another productive tool that helps catch fish, next time your at an Elite event, see how many boats you can count without one.

[aavery2]

What is the sound of bass feeding on shad? 

The speaker in sometimes connected to the TM, when you remove the TM from the water with the HW on it sounds like a series of clicking.  Sorry best way I can describe it.

[Wayne P.]

The speaker in sometimes connected to the TM, when you remove the TM from the water with the HW on it sounds like a series of clicking.  Sorry best way I can describe it.

The "clicking" can be the sonar transducer also.  

[aavery2]

The "clicking" can be the sonar transducer also.  

Two very different sounds as the HW is a series of clicks, once you hear one it would be hard to confuse.

[reelnmn]

Bass fisherman are notoriously gullible for anything to catch more fish.  I've been looking to buy a used unit for some time to test the hype.  The problem is you rarely find these for sale.  If I buy a $400 unit and I don't see a difference in the first few trips I'm putting it up for sale to recoup losses.  Apparently this doesn't happen for those that have made the purchase.

[mwwilliams]

On 11/10/2014 at 9:45 PM, Slade House said:

I never said that hyrdowave gives me the ability to catch fish.  They're not miracles , their tools to use. that is all.  you use each tool to increase the odds of catching a fish.  like when i use sidescan sonar and I see a cloud of bait 40 feet off to my right , but i don't see any bass actively feeding on the large cloud of shad and i haven't caught anything yet.   so i turn on the hyrdowave and set it to "Shad Frenzy" which is literalluy the undewater sound of bass feeding on a large school of shad.  then i start to see bass busting the surface (that is because when bass are feeding around other bass the other bass start to want to feed too , or "firing up a school" ) then i throw out my crankbait and land a 7lber.      That happened to me on friday.  

How can a professional use this in a tournament? Doesn't that kill the whole point of finding and catching the fish you find since it brings the fish right to you?

[Slade House]

cause its sound and not chum, again it doesn't bring the fish right to you, but it has increased the amount of fish i catch by double.  a friend of mine, non-believer, got one, went from back of the pack to 2nd place for the year in the local tournaments.  

[jjnosal@msn.com]

scam!

[Jeff H]

19 minutes ago, jjnosal@msn.com said:

scam!

What supporting evidence or personal experience do you have for your opinion of "scam"?