Next Gen Forward Facing Sonar

[stratos4me]

With recent advancements in recreational sonar tech and the large investment it requires, I find myself wondering what comes next. Specifically, concerning forward facing what do you think the technology will look like over the next couple generations? Will we just see incremental increases in resolution, or do you think there is a gamechanger in the works? One thing I would love to see is a wireless or internal transducer for terrova/XI style trolling motors. What do you think comes next?

[Bird]

Next will be sonar that shocks the fish to the surface...... perhaps an additional battery required ?

 

 

[stratos4me]

Just now, Bird said:

Next will be sonar that shocks the fish to the surface...... perhaps an additional battery required ?

 

 

Love it! Sign me up.

[gim]

2 hours ago, Bird said:

Next will be sonar that shocks the fish to the surface

That's been out for years.  its called an electrofisher.  I used it in college both from a boat and walking trout streams with a back pack.  It sends a shockwave through the water column, and the nearby stunned fish float to the surface.  You net them, toss them in a big bin of water, measure them, etc, and then release them.  No harm to the fish.

 

Only legal for research purposes, of course.  The MN DNR electrofishes lakes to best determine the largemouth bass population, because gill and trap nets are not very good at catch largies here.

[king fisher]

What ever it is, I hope it is inexpensive, is easy to install, on a kayak, and comes with a free gift for my wife.

[Dogface]

3 hours ago, king fisher said:

What ever it is, I hope it is inexpensive, is easy to install, on a kayak, and comes with a free gift for my wife.

 

You're going to have an FFS unit with AI that not only electro-shocks the fish but robotically retrieves them and attaches them to your lure before they include a free gift for your wife. ?

 

Just hand her the equivalent cost in cash. 

[Susky River Rat]

I think they maybe have some camera sonar hybrid type thing. I know I’ll never have this stuff on my boat. I want to disappoint myself the old fashioned way. 

[Woody B]

(Not directed at the OP, everyone calls live sonar forward facing sonar)

 

Why is it called forward facing sonar?   You can point any sonar pretty much any direction under water.  The unique part about active target, live scope ect is it's live sonar.   Traditional sonar is historical data.  2D sonar down scan and side scan are all historical data.   Mega 360 faces all directions, but it's historical data also.  

 

Why isn't what's usually called FFS not referred to as Live Sonar?  

[Dirtyeggroll]

I don’t think there will be a big jump in improvement of the quality of these live sonar images. I think there will be small incremental improvements and a plateau that’s near.

 

What I do think will really change is how the day are processed and displayed. The information will be begin to be displayed in 3D (think like those cute little 3D pregnancy ultrasounds) rather than 2D and the beam width will begin to grow to cover a wider area.

[Bird]

I think all fish should be chipped so we can track them AND an option to sedate them on demand.

Simply float them to the surface, take photos.....oh and kiss all over them. ?

[detroit1]

Fish will be different colors on the screen depending on their activity level. Red will be "hot" (feeding), yellow for "neutral", and black for "negative"or non-feeding fish.

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, Dirtyeggroll said:

I don’t think there will be a big jump in improvement of the quality of these live sonar images. I think there will be small incremental improvements and a plateau that’s near.

 

What I do think will really change is how the day are processed and displayed. The information will be begin to be displayed in 3D (think like those cute little 3D pregnancy ultrasounds) rather than 2D and the beam width will begin to grow to cover a wider area.

this is my thinking as well. The transducer technology in live imaging is pretty simple. The image processing on the head units is where the improvements will be short term. 
 

longer term, I could see a dual beam technology coming in. Think chirp for forward facing. Combined with a bit more power on the transducer you get to a wider beam and more definition together. 

[GaryH]

Next new technology will be to the rod & reels. They will be Ethernet to the the mega live and you just cast and they will drop the lure right in front of the fish. 

[FryDog62]

1 hour ago, Bird said:

I think all fish should be chipped so we can track them AND an option to sedate them on demand.

Simply float them to the surface, take photos.....oh and kiss all over them. ?

I would actually like to chip a few fish in my local river just to know their seasonal patterns throughout the year.  Not sure about the sedation or smooching aspect but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes..

[king fisher]

In Alaska, I took planes and jet boats many places they were not meant to go trying to access new water. Luckily I never crashed a plane, I did chop a few willow bushes with the prop, but no damage.  I stranded myself a few days waiting for weather to change so I could safely take off from some remote  smooth place in the tundra ridge top, or gravel bar, but always made it back to civilization.

     I tore the boot off of more than one outboard jet, and put a boat or two completely high and dry on  skidding turns.

     I floated rafts down creeks so bear infested that by the time I made it to my pick up spot the bears had tore my tent, stole my food, and bit so many holes in my raft it looked like it was made of duck tape and glue.

     In Mexico, I have driven down roads that dead end in some remote ranchers barn lot looking for access to lakes.  The rancher, his wife, kids, workers, and even the animals, all look at me as if they are looking at an alien.  I guess they have never seen a lost gringo driving a beat up car, with a giant orange kayak strapped to the top looking for a lake before.  I just wave while I turn around and look for another road.

       All of this effort in hopes of finding that one magic fishing hole.  I have never found that perfect fishing whole, but I also haven't found the one magic lure I have been looking for my whole life, but I am going to keep looking for both.

[Deleted account]

13 hours ago, king fisher said:

What ever it is, I hope it is inexpensive

[stratos4me]

20 hours ago, Woody B said:

(Not directed at the OP, everyone calls live sonar forward facing sonar)

 

Why is it called forward facing sonar?   You can point any sonar pretty much any direction under water.  The unique part about active target, live scope ect is it's live sonar.   Traditional sonar is historical data.  2D sonar down scan and side scan are all historical data.   Mega 360 faces all directions, but it's historical data also.  

 

Why isn't what's usually called FFS not referred to as Live Sonar?  

How often do people point it at the outboard?

[Happybeerbuzz]

It  may not be the very next evolution in fish finder technology, but somewhere along the way, it will be a visual over lay goggles or glasses that let you see everything under the water in your field of vision including but not limited to fish, vegetation, rocks, etc.  Instead of looking down at a screen, you will just look "through" the surface of the water and see all the way to the bottom with points of interested highlighted.  By deploying drones/buoys, nothing in your domain will be able to hide or move without you seeing it virtually in real time.  The detailing will be good enough to ID the species and size.  Either that or civilization collapses, and we go back to sharpening sticks and spearing them.  

[TnRiver46]

On 2/18/2023 at 6:17 AM, Woody B said:

(Not directed at the OP, everyone calls live sonar forward facing sonar)

 

Why is it called forward facing sonar?   You can point any sonar pretty much any direction under water.  The unique part about active target, live scope ect is it's live sonar.   Traditional sonar is historical data.  2D sonar down scan and side scan are all historical data.   Mega 360 faces all directions, but it's historical data also.  

 

Why isn't what's usually called FFS not referred to as Live Sonar?  

The old flashers and ice fishing vexilars are live sonar. You can set old 2D depth finders to live/flasher mode

On 2/18/2023 at 8:28 AM, Bird said:

I think all fish should be chipped so we can track them AND an option to sedate them on demand.

Simply float them to the surface, take photos.....oh and kiss all over them. ?

I’ve seen some fish get chipped in college. You know, use taxpayer money to put a $5000 thingamajig in a fish, so you can learn that they swim