Sonar, can we live without it ???

[Bird]

My fishing partner and I had a long conversation about sonar and how it influences the way we fish......it really doesn't.

 

He has (2) hummingbirds on his boat and I have a Garmin on 1 boat and a lowrance on a boat I'm buying.

Water temps have a great effect on the way I fish pre-spawn but other than that, I don't see the significance of sonar.

 

My fishing partner and I have caught a total of 3 bass offshore in the last 3 years on structure we found using sonar.

 

The wife and I stayed on one of the biggest lakes in VA " Smith mountain"  for a week and every fish I caught was on a dock.

 

This is perhaps a knock against a popular device on a Bass boat but I've not seen where offshore structure trumps bank fishing at anytime. 

Yes, give me water temp.

[Dogface]

I guess it depends on where you fish. I fish a few small lakes where I can consistently catch bass along the shoreline so sonar is not needed.

 

I fish a few other bodies of water that have structure that is not visible without sonar. So in those instances, it is needed.

 

Then there is depth. Sonar is definitely needed to determine water depth.

 

I have used sonar to locate off shore structures that produced fish. In fact, I use it often. 

[GreenPig]

Can I live without sonar? Sure. Will I?  No. Not on big water. I fished many many years BLIND. After installing and learning my electronics my fish numbers and size have greatly increased. I've marked and fished humps & structure that produce alot of fish for me, that I never knew existed prior. One example is a 10' deep hump that's surrounded by 90 - 100' of water that seems to always hold Spots.

With my 360 Imaging I'm so much more efficient hitting a small rock pile in 30' of water or working a lure just outside a weed edge. My Winter vertical spoon fishing isn't possible without electronics. 

[Captain Phil]

Florida lakes are shallow with little offshore structure.   I can count on one hand the number of times sonar has helped me to catch bass in Florida.  When I started fishing out of State, I quickly learned their value. My first sonar was a flasher.  It didn't tell me much, but at least I could see depth changes. Today's electronics are phenomenal.  My current bass boat has two Lowrance Hook Reveals, one forward and one in the dash.  Unless I was fishing for $100,000, I wouldn't waste my money on Live Target. 

[gim]

I would not even launch my boat without basic sonar.  Its a safety thing for me first and foremost.  If I don't know how deep it is, there's zero chance of me throttling down and cruising across the water.  Its a recipe for disaster if you don't know how deep it is.  I prefer to avoid sending my prop or lower unit through a shallow water zone.

 

Strictly from a fishing standpoint, I still use my sonar to look for structure and fish, but mostly in deeper water (10+ feet).

[DaubsNU1]

Started bass fishing out of a belly boat back in the 1990's, and all I could do was fish one small wooded cove near the ramp. It was great to get off shore. Caught fish.

 

Met a guy from Texas with a canoe...opened up a whole new world. We could fish the entire lake, but still fished the bank, wooded coves. We were always wondering how deep the water was.

 

In 2000 I got my own boat, and scored one of these...

 

 

My world changed -- I could now see depth, and locate drop offs...and could see water temp.

 

Two years ago I ditched the Fisnin Buddy, and upgraded to a Garmin Echmap 73SV.

 

Wonderful upgrade.

 

Could I fish without the Garmin?  Of course...especially on my home lakes...I know them so well at this point...but I must admit, the Garmin has opened my eyes to areas of my home lakes that I didn't know where there. Do not see myself getting live-view any time soon. The echomap is good enough for how I fish.

[TnRiver46]

I fish without sonar all the time 

[InfantryMP]

Can I fish without it, sure. Did it for a long time. 

 

Last weekend I was finally able to use Active Target like I believe it to be designed. 25-30' of water here in the south. Slow day fishing, and found a couple bass laying on the bottom. (55* water temp). I switched from a DT 16 and DT20 to a 3/4oz black and blue jig, and in 3 casts, I beat my previous PB in a row.

 

1. 5.8

2. 6.3

3. 7.1

 

This is why sonar, especially FFS is awesome. It wasn't just that I saw them on sonar, but I was able to see that they were not interested in the moving baits. It showed me that I needed to change tactics, and when I did, I watched them eat it. It was a great day of fishing with those 3 fish. I also caught 3 or 4 2lbers as well.

[Team9nine]

The joke with a few guys around here was always, “1 foot, 2 feet, too deep.” If you can’t touch the bottom with the end of your pitchin’ stick, you need to get your arse back in tighter to the bank. Sounds like this fits you and your partner ? 
 

I, personally, love fishing offshore structure for all kinds of species, not just bass. I also love my sonar ?

[Deleted account]

11 hours ago, Bird said:

My fishing partner and I had a long conversation about sonar and how it influences the way we fish......it really doesn't.

 

He has (2) hummingbirds on his boat and I have a Garmin on 1 boat and a lowrance on a boat I'm buying.

Water temps have a great effect on the way I fish pre-spawn but other than that, I don't see the significance of sonar.

 

My fishing partner and I have caught a total of 3 bass offshore in the last 3 years on structure we found using sonar.

 

The wife and I stayed on one of the biggest lakes in VA " Smith mountain"  for a week and every fish I caught was on a dock.

 

This is perhaps a knock against a popular device on a Bass boat but I've not seen where offshore structure trumps bank fishing at anytime. 

Yes, give me water temp.

"Santa Maria, madre de Dios, ruega por Bird"...

[casts_by_fly]

I'm with the crowd here.  Could I?  Sure.  I don't fish offshore much.. or well.. or effectively.  That's not my bag.  But my fish finder is still good for a lot of things.  It tells me what time it is in really big numbers so I don't have to check my phone.  It tells me the water temp is warmer than it felt like when I waded into it in flip flops to launch the boat.  It even tells me its raining when I look down and see the raindrops making a mess of the screen.  Its really useful!

 

In all seriousness, I've only been fishing my current lakes for 2 years when we moved here.  You can learn a lot from a map but actually being on the lake and seeing a drop off in real time makes a big difference.  You can know that there is a ditch somewhere around 50 yards from the shoreline, but on the water when you see it on a FF you know that its lined up with that big sycamore perpendicular to shore.  You can go down a bank fishing the shoreline cover but what about 'seeing' this stumps and brushpiles that are 20 yards off the bank in 5' that you'd never be able to see or know they are there because of the dirty water?  You could fish every inch of the water which is what I'm sure lots of guys have done to build up a mental memory of the lake over tens of years (my dad is one of those).  Or you can use some additional tools to shorten the learning curve.

[gim]

44 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I fish without sonar all the time 

Ya but you park your rig right on the rocks too, so if you run into one out in the river, its essentially the same!

[Catt]

Even if y'all are fishing shallow y'all should be fishing structure. 

 

Deep offshore structure fishing ain't for everybody. 

[Choporoz]

I am not sure I have ever caught a fish I saw on my sonar.  But I am 100% certain that sonar helps me catch fish.

Some of the biggest things I get from my electronics:

- certain times of the year, the bait schools in such a way as to really drive bass locations.  Being able to eliminate creek arms or branches is huge

- I absolutely find fish oriented to brush, logs, rocks, and other stuff that I would never have found without sonar

- finding grass depth and weedlines is possible without sonar, but is so much better and faster with it

- seeing what depths fish are hanging at during certain times of the year is critical to catching them, even if you target them on drops close to shore

- seeing where bait and fish are oriented on huge points is far easier with sonar than fan casting c-rig blindly

[Bankc]

There are times of the year when I don't really need it.  But there are times when I definitely do.  

 

During the winter I'm looking for creek channels and other structure down deep.  I won't catch nothing fishing shallow most days.  Believe me, I've tried it for years.  During the prespawn, I use sonar to look for where points end.  Sure, I could drag a football jig or something to find them, but sonar is so much quicker.  During the summer, I need sonar to find the thermocline.  When the sun is low, I can fish the shallows and do pretty well.  But we typically don't have much shade on the water around here, so most of the fish head down deep once the sun rises, and I'm looking for structure near the thermocline.  During the fall, I'm looking for balls of baitfish.  Sometimes I'll see them busting the surface, but sometimes I need to look for them a bit deeper.  

If it's a lake I'm familiar with, I probably don't need sonar.  But if it's one I'm not, then sonar is often really important.  

[Bird]

I don't dislike sonar, I use it, just not much.

 

I'm all about visual structure, lay downs, standing timber, grass, pads, rip rap, rocks and stumps.

The more time I spend looking at sonar the less time I spend casting.

[J Francho]

Not much to look at on Lake Ontario. 

[gim]

33 minutes ago, Bird said:

I'm all about visual structure, lay downs, standing timber, grass, pads, rip rap, rocks and stumps.

Most of my bass fishing is like this too.  I have a hard time visualizing offshore structure that I can't visually see.

 

When you can't visually see the structure or cover, this is where advanced electronics and the ability to use them efficiently really pays off.  I've become better at it over the years, but I'm definitely still drawn to the type of visual indicators you previously mentioned.

[A-Jay]

1 hour ago, Bird said:

I don't dislike sonar, I use it, just not much.

 

I'm all about visual structure, lay downs, standing timber, grass, pads, rip rap, rocks and stumps.

The more time I spend looking at sonar the less time I spend casting.

Problem in water that gets pressured, so is everyone else.

Finding that same stuff in 20-30 ft is an art.

Or at least it used to be.

Now just requires seat time and a willingness to burn gas.

Payoff can be decent.

A-Jay

 

[WIGuide]

As others here have said I could do it, but I'd much rather not. There are tremendous benefits to using it in both shallow and deep water. Structure is structure regardless of the depth and fish will relate to it. There's a few lakes around that have a very shallow average depth which makes the small depth changes big deals. Without sonar, you're not going to find those no matter how many times you jab your rod tip into the water. I love fishing visible cover too and it can be great at times, but there are also times you need to fish cover that isn't visible and without sonar, that's very hard to do. To each their own though, but if it doesn't effect how you fish, you're under utilizing one of the best tools in your tool chest. 

[senile1]

Fishing in lowland reservoirs, there are times when the fishing is hot near the bank and maybe sonar doesn't seem necessary, but it can often provide understanding as to why the fish use a particular shallow area.  On the other hand, it is difficult for me to fish deep, clear highland reservoirs without using sonar.  For a lake such as Table Rock shallow water is often considered to extend out to 15 feet (some anglers claim even deeper) and fish will spawn at 10 to 15 feet in certain places on the lake depending on the water clarity.  A few weeks before and after the spawn I usually catch the majority of my bass in 15 to 25 feet of water there, and again in mid to late Fall.  In summer and into early fall, fish will stage on gravel points, etc at 35 to 45 feet of water which is typically at the thermocline and are often caught on dropshots.  I don't think I would find very many fish in this lake without my sonar.  I use sidescan and downscan by the way and haven't felt the need to go to FFS yet.  

 

As for the deepest water in my lowland reservoirs around Northwest Missouri, it can be 25 feet all the way to 55 depending on the lake.  The thermoclines vary from as little as 8 feet to 20 feet on these lakes.  Even if I am not using the sonar to find actual fish like with FFS it still allows me to learn the structure and cover in the lake and helps me find fish away from the bank.

[Catt]

In 1984, Humminbird  unveiled the LCR series, the industry’s first Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) fish-finder.

 

Since then I've been happy, happy, happy 

[Woody B]

~50 years ago they used the pull many of the lakes here down really low during the Winter.  The guy that took me fishing when I was a kid was out on the lakes when the levels were lowered.  He had an old notebook he kept maps he'd drawn.  He knew where all types of structure and cover were.   

 

If you fish the same lake most of the time, and KNOW that lake sonar isn't as big of a help as it is on a strange lake.  However, on any lake wasting time looking at a screen can result in less cast, and more fish.  

[Team9nine]

14 hours ago, Catt said:

In 1984, Humminbird  unveiled the LCR series, the industry’s first Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) fish-finder.

 

Since then I've been happy, happy, happy 

Lol - Those first LCR/LCD units were crap, no matter which company you went with ? I refused to give up my flashers and paper graphs for another 10 years until the technology finally became acceptable. That was around 1993/1994 with the introduction of the Lowrance LMS-350 & X-70 units (GPS & Non GPS respectively). It wasn’t terribly long after that that paper graphs started to get phased out by companies, and then the paper rolls got really difficult to find to keep existing units running. 

[Catt]

28 minutes ago, Team9nine said:

 I refused to give up my flashers

 

I had both a Super Sixty & LCR

 

Still got a Super Thrity somewhere around here.