Depth Finders.

[Rippinlips14]

How often do you use your depth finder when finding fish? Do you use common knowledge somedays? Sometimes I use mine and then others I can just use my skills and instincts too find fish. Does anyone else here do the same?

[RoLo]

About the only time I'm not peering into the depth sounder is when I'm busy fishing (it remains 'on' till I haul the boat)

Kudos for calling it a depth sounder and not a fish-finder 

 

Roger

[WPCfishing]

MIne is on all the time. If I'm in shallows I'm looking for holes, drop offs, rocks, weed lines.. so I never turn it off.

 

Although I'm without it for a while. I had to send it back under warranty. It shuts it's self off about 3 times every hour. 

I'll make do with my Navionics app. 

 

Depth finders/sounders and Maps aren't ever going to stop me from being instinctive first.

[WRB]

Started using fish finder or flashers in thr very early 60's, graduated to paper graphs in the 70's, color sonar with GPS in the 90's, still using look down technology, haven't updated to side scanning technology and should.

Bass hear or feel sonar pings,so I will turn it off at times if I think it may spook big bass. I use my sonar and look at it by habit, it's become second nature or my eyes under water.

Tom

[kingmotorboat]

I don't have one so I guess never lol

[Bluebasser86]

Mine are on 100% of the time and I'm constantly looking at them for any clues to help find the fish. 

[Slade House]

Im selling my humminbird 998SI and going with the new Lowrance HDS 9 Gen 3.  Side scan sonar is awesome, period, changes everything. that being said. i caught my PB when my sonar was off, and i have been fishing a lake for the past 3 weeks without any sonar at all or depth finder.    If you don't have a depth finder or sonar you still have sonar (Carolina Rig with 1/2 oz tungsten weight) and depth finder (stick your pole in the water , if it touches the bottom your shallow). 

[PNWdude]

For 25+ years I've only shore fished until this year when I purchased a fishing kayak and then eventually a sonar unit(Lowrance 4x CHIRP). So far I've mostly been catching fish by just fishing where I think they might be based on what I see above the water, like how fast the shore is sloping or the more obvious laydowns and rocks sticking out of the water. Every now and then when I'm moving around I'll notice on my sonar a change in bottom depths or structure and try to fish it, but I don't seem to catch fish as consistently that way. It probably just had to do with the time of day, season, water temp, or user ignorance more than anything lol. The most useful thing about my sonar unit for me is knowing the water temp and depth so far. Hopefully that changes the more I use it.

[Catt]

When launching my boat I do two thing as soon as my prop hits water; I crank the outboard & turn the console depth finder on. When I reach my first spot I drop the trolling motor & turn the bow depth finder on.

I do not use the depth finder to find fish , I use it for its intended purpose...to find structure!

[gobig]

I don't know why people get hung up on the technicalities of calling a graph a depth finder or a fish finder. The truth of the mater is that they are both. Technology has changed, you no longer need a rock tied to a rope to find the depth and we no longer measure in cubits. With some of the new graphs you can see real time fish movement. We can tell when fish are suspended or hunkered down on the bottom. You can see schools of fish or bait fish to the side of you. You can see cover and structure with near perfect clarity. The blob that used to be on the screen is now a tree and you can actually see if fish are located in the tree. Obviously finding potential fish holding structure before you ever get on the water is key and so is graphing those locations when you get out there looking for specific changes. But the new graphs clue us in way faster.

[Raul]

It´s on all the time, even when fishing my everyday lake that I know like the palm of my hand, cuz what used to be fish less water last week is a honey hole right now.

[EmersonFish]

I feel like I always use my "instincts and skills" to find fish, but I often use technology to locate the kind of structure my knowledge/experience tells me should be holding the fish according to the conditions. The finding of the fish is in the planning. I don't drive around aimlessly hoping to see bass of the graph then drop on them.

[ward131]

  I have a cheap unit that came with my boat. I use it primary to show depth, then bottom, then structure and cover.   it does show fish icons going by the screen but I have yet to catch one of them. and who knows what they are.

[WRB]

I have a cheap unit that came with my boat. I use it primary to show depth, then bottom, then structure and cover. it does show fish icons going by the screen but I have yet to catch one of them. and who knows what they are.

Turn the icons off!

Suggest you pick up a copy of Finesse Fishinh and the Sonar Connection, Don Iovino.

Learn to use your unit manually so you can adjust the gain, depth range, scroll speed and ping rate for your fishing style. Fish should look like acres or bananas, bait fish like a cloud of tiny arces, suspended debris like dots, cold water like fog, dense cold water layer looks like dark gray line (thermocline). When you have the icon on everything is shown as a fish.

Most angler under power thier units, adjust the gain until you see some background clutter and a secondary bottom echo.

Learn to use this important tool.

Tom

[BASSPATROL247]

When launching my boat I do two thing as soon as my prop hits water; I crank the outboard & turn the console depth finder on. When I reach my first spot I drop the trolling motor & turn the bow depth finder on.

I do not use the depth finder to find fish , I use it for its intended purpose...to find structure!

x2 excatly! But im not ignoring fish that i do see with it... but totally agree 1. Find structure,depth,bottom content etc....2. Fish

[Sam]

Started using fish finder or flashers in thr very early 60's, graduated to paper graphs in the 70's, color sonar with GPS in the 90's, still using look down technology, haven't updated to side scanning technology and should.

Bass hear or feel sonar pings,so I will turn it off at times if I think it may spook big bass. I use my sonar and look at it by habit, it's become second nature or my eyes under water.

Tom

 

I do the same as Tom and turn off the trolling motor Lowrance sonar unit when stopping to fish making the console unit my major underwater device.

 

I am considering upgrading to Raymarine Dragonfly and maybe the side scan unit.

 

Going to speak with the people in Hartwell, Virginia that are authorized Lowrance and Raymarine dealers. Great people who told me about Raymarine two years ago and suggested I consider Raymarine to replace my Lowrance units.

[BobP]

Yes, instinct is important.  But as far as I'm concerned "instinct" (I prefer logic and experience) tells me where the fish SHOULD be.  My Humminbird with side scan tells me whether my "instinct" was wrong or whether it was right and it's time to stop the boat and fish a spot.  JMHO, anyone who has a good sonar but prefers to wing it with "instinct" just hasn't learned to use his sonar yet.  I can't count the times that sonar has found me productive fishing spots on a lake that I thought I knew like the back of my hand.  But if you prefer not to use it...great.  More fish for the rest of us.     

[Snakehead Whisperer]

Mine is almost always on, although I usually fish the deepest water I can find bass in. 

 

I just upgraded to a down imaging/side scan last year for the bow, and for the most part I use raw sonar and GPS split screen with that unit.  

[Wayne P.]

Turn the icons off!

Suggest you pick up a copy of Finesse Fishinh and the Sonar Connection, Don Iovino.

Learn to use your unit manually so you can adjust the gain, depth range, scroll speed and ping rate for your fishing style. Fish should look like acres or bananas, bait fish like a cloud of tiny arces, suspended debris like dots, cold water like fog, dense cold water layer looks like dark gray line (thermocline). When you have the icon on everything is shown as a fish.

Most angler under power thier units, adjust the gain until you see some background clutter and a secondary bottom echo.

Learn to use this important tool.

Tom

 

 

If you don't have a Humminbird, yes turn off the fish icons.

 

If you have a Humminbird unit, USE FishID. It is a REAL and valuable fishing tool.

 

I have already demonstrated its value with some of the screen shots above.

[WPCfishing]

My 5x HDI was shutting off on its own every time out. I sent it back to Lowrance. They received it Tuesday. I got an email from them today. They are sending me a new one. Can't ask for more than that!

[WIGuide]

If my boat is in the water, both of mine are usually on unless I'm headed to the first spot of the day. Once I'm there the front unit gets turned on before the trolling motor is dropped in.