If you can get your trolling motor to stay in one exact position .. pointing straight forward that will help.
Remember that the New Humminbird Side Scanning sonar units work in 3 D side scanning mode or in 2D mode. 2D mode is like the conventional sonar units where the sound is directed straight down from the transducer toward the bottom. You may get a 20 deg cone angle in 2D mode.
But the 3D Side scanning mode requires that your boat be going slow and in a straight line with the transducer fixed into one position looking straight ahead. It won't work right in 3D side scanning mode if these conditions are not met.
The side scanning sonars transducer has multiple frequency sound waves it can use. High Frequency for long range mode out to both sides for a total view of 240 ft in all directions. You can see out to 120ft in each direction. Left or right of the transducer.
I would recommend that you visit the www.humminbird.com web site and do some study on these units to learn how they work.
The best feature of the side scanning units are the fact that you can see something on the screen and then stop the screen and use the cursor control stick to mark the object right on the screen. Since these units use gps it will mark the exact spot on the lake bottom of the object. It would be as if you were right over the object with a regular sonar unit and using a gps handheld unit to save that spot as a waypoint. But with the Humminbird Side Scanning 797 or 979 or 1197 units you can do this far a distance. It's like looking out though the water column 120ft to each side of the boat and marking a stump's waypoint GPS location that's 120 ft off to the right side of your boat after you have pasted this spot.
Using the Side scanning units to map the lake bottom. Marking stumps or rock piles or submerged boulders on the lake bottom with the gps waypoint thing. Then you can place the boat over that exact waypoint and zero in on the submerged stump using the unit in 2D mode.
The display unit can use split screen to show GPS and 3D side scanning screens at the same time or you can use GPS and 2D mode at the same time.
You can even use the map mode on one side of the screen. Your way points may even show up on the map. Using the map you can position your boat right over a stump or boulder that you marked using side scanning mode earlier.
The price is the only thing keeping me from owning one of these units. And I am tempted to just go out and charge one to the credit card right now. It's so tempting for me to buy one of these.
I know **** well that my fishing on any lake would improve 1000 %. And that's ONE THOUSAND percent.
You can't catch fish if you can't find them. These side scanning units will find the fish for you and it will definitely find the structure that the fish like to hang around.
Originally Posted by RANGER519
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