Side scan fish finders are a hot topic these days, and units from Lowrance, Humminbird, and now Geonav have been the talk of the town. But since few people have gobs of experience with them, there are a lot of questions floating around out there. Here are some side scanning factoids that should help you figure things out.
- Since side scanners use very high frequencies, the distance they can see is very limited. In most cases, 120’ to 150’ will be maximum range in any one direction. In real-world use, however, they’re much more useful when range is set to 80’ or less.
- Always tune your side range to no more than double the depth. In 30’ deep water, for example, don’t try to look more than 60’ off to the sides. Otherwise, you’re looking a blank space blocked from view by the bottom.
- Never trust anything you see on-screen when moving at speeds over eight MPH.
- You can run a regular down-looking fish finder side by side with a side scanner, without causing any interference.
- Individual fish seen off to the sides usually produce very small returns, often just a small white dot.
- You can “see” thermoclines on side-finders, just as you would on down-lookers.
- Sensitivity is usually best left on automatic. These units are pretty darn good at deciding how they should be tuned, all on their own. It’s rare that you can do better, unless there are abnormal conditions like lots of mixing water temperatures/densities, or swarms of plankton or jellyfish.
- The track-back feature is imperative, because it’s very difficult to re-locate marks found off to the sides. Learn how to use it, and practice, practice, practice.
- When purchasing a side scan fish finder, choose the very largest screen you can afford. It’s far easier to see the returns, even on a screen just an inch larger.
- After locating new hotspots, be sure you write the GPS coordinates down in your little black book. I already made this mistake once, and when a unit took a dunking I lost 50 or so awesome spots stored in its memory—but not backed up by a hard copy.
Side scanning fish finders are all the rage - but you need to know these tips, to use them effectively.
