Lowrance side and down scan is awesome!

[MuskyManiac]

Upgraded some electronics this year and decided to get down and side imaging as well. Boy do I wish I would have gotten it sooner! Not only is it cool to look at but it has helped me catch a few more fish this year for sure by being able to tell if baitfish/structure/fish are more on one side of the boat--sometimes a 30 yard move on your trolling pass can make all the difference.

Devil's and Stump are made for down and sidescan, so much structure under that water it's incredible. Here's a couple screen shots from over the weekend on Stump. The first one looks like a swing set, the next two are some trees, with the one showing a lot of rocks as well.

How many of you have down and/or side scan? What do you all think about it?

 

[muskelllunge13]

Yep got the Lowrance like yours, I can see better with than the hummingbird. Got to compare them at Reeds on the water during a special trial. Had it for three years. Biggest fault is poor vis on high sunny days. Use it a lot on Leech for walleyes.

 

[lunkerslayer]

Wow that does look like a swing set, that's unbelievable. Cool pics

 

[johnr]

I cant tell what the hell I am looking at, seems like you are ontop of a road, and some sticks are on either side.

I haven't used one, I am sure they are neat and all. I have to limit myself to $5000 grand a year in upgrades, and its been repairs the last several years.

I am sure I will put this in when the old one goes dead, or next year if mrs johnr lets me upgrade the vessel.

 

[eyexer]

fished with guys that have both the lowrance and bird's and my Garmin beats them both.

 

[Vollmer]

I only have the dsi but love that. Would be head over herls for ssi. Does your imaging map itself onto your gps? Seen that once and thought it was, as johnr would say, "neat".

 

[SDMF]

I have SI on a 'Bird 898 and DI on a 'Bird 788. Stump is the coolest place I've used it so far, though SI is pretty cool on the river as you're getting close to sandbars too.

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Everytime I catch a fish I paint an "x" on the bottom of the boat so I can troll back through.

 

[Fishmission]

Didn't have a clue how to use side scan when I bought the new to me boat this spring. it came with two on it.
Watched a bunch of videos and it helped immensely. This is a bass guy but I liked his instructional video the best.

 

[huffranger]

This is the golden highway on Devils Lake

The walleyes were stacked on it

 

[MuskyManiac]

This is the golden highway on Devils Lake

The walleyes were stacked on it

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That is a cool picture huffranger.

Johnr and Dirty Mike, it sounds like you guys like running cranks. You guys would love side scan. A lot of times you will see some return on your regular 2D sonar, but on the SI most of the time the return is on one side of the boat or the other. With SI you can tell, and a new trolling pass just off to one side can make all the difference. It's a pretty cool tool and I've just started to scratch the surface in the couple months I've been using it.

 

[riverfisher]

i just have down scan and am still kinda learning how to use it. so far i like it

 

[Crankn]

We have it one our boat. The first time we used it it was great.When we went to move our starting battery was dead.Has this happened to anyone else? Have been reluctant to use it.

 

[DirtyMike]

I use it on my bird a lot more this year. I didn't quite get it last summer so I stuck with regular sonar and DI. This year I've notice the same thing MM. A ten foot bump to the left has made the difference between not catching and catching.

Ive ran my battery dead drifting more times than id like. The old motor had an easy pull start. I don't have that option so I will hit the starter more often.

 

[MuskyManiac]

I only have the dsi but love that. Would be head over herls for ssi. Does your imaging map itself onto your gps? Seen that once and thought it was, as johnr would say, "neat".

Yes, I can do that, but I've found little use for it so far compared to the regular SI, but perhaps in the future as I learn more.

The real cool thing I've been doing this year, and you don't need DSI or SI to do it, is custom mapping based on your own sonar data. There are a couple little musky lakes I like to fish as well as some areas on Stump that are not mapped out to anything real accurate. Here are a couple pictures of a sunken road I mapped on Stump. We were catching fish in the ditch for the most part.

The more you use it the more accurate it gets. You can merge multiple trips into one map file. There are also different layers you can download onto your map, one shows where the vegetation is and the other shows a map of bottom hardness. This is Lowrance Insight Genesis, by the way.

 

[espringers]

so... i have the hdi ducer for a 4x. finally got it out the other day. didn't works so well. i need to practice with it. it just looked like a funny colored regular sonar. on another note... whats the difference between structure scan, side scan and down scan? my last investment this year is going to be in a transducer for my gen 2 hds7. but, i am only aware of the structure scan ducer. what should i be looking for?

 

[Captain Ahab]

It can teach you a thing or two about where the fish are related to the structure. I used HB's 360 imaging the other day to see where I was spot locked on the old road. Turns out I was right on the center line with the back of the boat.

 

[BBQBluesMan]

Crazy what these new depthfinders are capable of. Pretty soon a guys gonna be able to determine cheek size on walleyes