Fishfinder opinion.

[mnfishing66]

Would you say a Fishfinder has help you to what you thought it would in regards to catching more fishes?

If you had to fish a day without it would you feel lost and almost feel it's a need to catch what you normally would with a Fishfinder? 

[Wayne P.]

Yep, been using recreational sonar for 45+ years. Got away from the bank and fish were most of the fish are.

Yep.

[Sprocket]

Have had sonar for a long time but only in the last 7 or 8 years have I been 'using' sonar.  As Wayne said, the bodies of water got a whole lot bigger and at least quadrupled the amount of bass habitat.  Can't imagine being without on a lake I didn't know well.

 

SE Kansas grass grower

[eddallen]

Yes and Yes.

The sonar does much more than show us where the fish are...it also shows us where the fish are NOT, shows us where the bait IS, shows us ledges and holes, sunken bridges and old road beds, grassy knowls and creek beds. For the recreational fisherman, today's sonar shows them the depths second ONLY to a Scuba Diver. Add all this great stuff to the GPS and Whammo! now you even can see where you came from and where you will be in 1 minute or two miles. Keeps you from fishing deserts and keeps you on the honey holes.

How can we NOT catch more and bigger fish with todays electronics?

[Further North]

Put me down for a "yes" as well.  Not sure I'd feel lost...but my effectiveness would drop a bunch.

Side imaging in particular, on new water, lets you see exactly what's down there and tells you the places to fish...and almost more important...the places to not fish.

[sully420]

yes even with a cheap unit you get water temp and depth as well as seeing baitfish it helps soo much

[Neil McCauley]

I've only have a little PiranhaMax 197c with a 28 deg sonar cone the past few months but mostly it seems helpful for identifying cover and baitfish, letting you know a spot isn't dead. Trolling crankbaits still seems more efficient at "finding fish" imo, esp if you can follow contour lines. I would be much more lost without Navionics. That changed fishing for me almost as adding a motor to my canoe.

[CDMeyer]

I would say handsdown yes to both.  And I by no means have a nice unit, for me getting the depth and the temp is huge.  Even on low scale models you can see the levels of the baitfish.  You can also use them to locate offshore structure

 

[Team9nine]

Yes to the 1st ?? - one of the best "aids" ever created for the angler who knows how to use them properly.

No to the 2nd ?? - Fortunately, I've been "trained" to find and interpret structure without the use of electronics, so while it would be a slower process, I certainly wouldn't feel "lost" or like I couldn't catch fish without it.

-T9