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  1. #1
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    Do you actually "find" fish with a fishfinder?

    My comments pertain only to 2D sonar, not FFS since that's a whole different animal. The way I fish, I'm casting at or near the bank. Rocks, weed beds, timber, laydowns, riprap, whatever. It's just the way I've always fished. I'm casting visually and then working the bait back a ways. I use basic 2D color sonar. I can honestly say I've never caught a fish I saw on the screen. I'll see fish under the boat as I'm going to where I'll be fishing, but once I get there it's not like I'm going to roll over the areas I'll be fishing to see if fish are there. I could call my fishfinder a "depth and temperature finder" and it would be a more accurate description for how I use it. I realize you can locate hump's, ledges, brush piles, etc. but I've never successfully caught fish off those places because I've found them using my sonar. I catch lots of fish, but it's always with my fishfinder looking straight down into water I'm not fishing as I cast towards my visual targets. Am I alone in this?

  2. LS-180 basfish's Avatar
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    Jul 2008
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    #2
    No
    Always Think Like A Fish.....No Matter How Weird it Is!!

  3. Member Jeff Hahn's Avatar
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    #3
    I’ve caught a few fish that I’ve seen on 2D sonar, especially deep fish. But, I mostly use 2D to find the kinds of places that fish are likely to be.
    "The man of system is apt to be very wise in his own conceit; and is often so enamored with the supposed beauty of his own ideal plan of government that he cannot suffer the smallest deviation from any part of it…He seems to imagine that he can arrange the different members of a great society with as much ease as the hand arranges the different pieces upon a chessboard.” Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments

  4. Member
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    #4
    I have caught thousands of fish just off sonar alone

  5. Member
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    #5
    For a while now I've suspected that my opinion is far more common than I once thought. If old school downward sonar was really that effective in putting fish in the boat I doubt that FFS would be the earth shattering game changer it is. Before FFS, nobody ever said a fish Finder was an unfair advantage or that it would ruin fisheries.

  6. Member illinifish's Avatar
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    Sep 2004
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    #6
    Yes, use it when going over humps, points, ledges. You can mark the fish and or structure they are holding on then position the boat to cast to them.
    Enjoying life in Southern Illinois

  7. Member
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    Hillsboro, NH
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    #7
    I've used the console 2D to catch me many a summer smallmouth in 20'-35'. If I could see more than one down there, it was almost a certainty that I could turn around and catch them. Now, with networked units and the bow mapping unit displaying waypoints, it's even easier.

  8. Member
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    #8
    Quote Originally Posted by PsuHntr View Post
    I have caught thousands of fish just off sonar alone
    I'm sure many will say the same thing. Maybe it depends on how you fish.

  9. Member
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    #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Okie74133 View Post
    For a while now I've suspected that my opinion is far more common than I once thought. If old school downward sonar was really that effective in putting fish in the boat I doubt that FFS would be the earth shattering game changer it is. Before FFS, nobody ever said a fish Finder was an unfair advantage or that it would ruin fisheries.
    I'll be honest up front, I have not been around long enough to have first hand experience with this, but I have heard plenty of other say the same. People were saying the same thing about flashers and sonars when they came out. "It's not fishing" "It will decimate fish populations" "It takes the skill out of it"

  10. Member
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    Paducah, KY and Palm Bay, FL
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    #10
    Quote Originally Posted by PsuHntr View Post
    I have caught thousands of fish just off sonar alone
    Absolutely my personal experience. Using my Lowrance sonar off shore, it is "easy" to locate schools of bass once you know what to look for and have chosen your settings. I always use the standard transducer settings. I never got used to using any of the CHIRP settings because of the way they altered the color of the fish returns.

  11. Member
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    #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Okie74133 View Post
    I'm sure many will say the same thing. Maybe it depends on how you fish.
    We have a lake around here that sets up ideally for vertical fishing, especially in the winter

  12. Member fr8dog's Avatar
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    #12
    Yes. Even with the old Super 60 flasher and LCR days. The 2D and DI just make the pictures easier to interpret.

  13. Member
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    #13
    My first depth finder was a portable Eagle unit I used in my canoes. Absolutely I used it to find fish. First Ranger boat had an Eagle wide eye. Got better at finding with that. First unit I actually bought seperate was a Lowrance 4 inch Elite. That was an upgrade to the Eagle. Next was a 9 inch hook. As I improved equipment I found more fish. Getting ready to install a 9 inch hook reveal with side imaging tomorrow while saving for the ffs.

  14. Member
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    May 2012
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    Louisiana
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    #14
    I use Di 90% of the time and Si 10% and locate all of my fish this way. Sometimes I use both at the same time.

    ________
    $8

  15. Member
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    Jul 2014
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    Oklahoma City
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    #15
    Thousands of Stripers.

  16. Member
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    Trevor wisconsin
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    #16
    YES
    2023 Phoenix 819 pro
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  17. Member
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    West Texas
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    #17
    Quote Originally Posted by PsuHntr View Post
    I have caught thousands of fish just off sonar alone
    Yep, deep spotted bass on spoons, dropshot and Damiki rigs. Multiple fish doing this every trip; sometimes every fish I catch is one I have seen on sonar. About to enter that time of year here.

  18. Member
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    Hampden
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    #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Okie74133 View Post
    My comments pertain only to 2D sonar, not FFS since that's a whole different animal. The way I fish, I'm casting at or near the bank. Rocks, weed beds, timber, laydowns, riprap, whatever. It's just the way I've always fished. I'm casting visually and then working the bait back a ways. I use basic 2D color sonar. I can honestly say I've never caught a fish I saw on the screen. I'll see fish under the boat as I'm going to where I'll be fishing, but once I get there it's not like I'm going to roll over the areas I'll be fishing to see if fish are there. I could call my fishfinder a "depth and temperature finder" and it would be a more accurate description for how I use it. I realize you can locate hump's, ledges, brush piles, etc. but I've never successfully caught fish off those places because I've found them using my sonar. I catch lots of fish, but it's always with my fishfinder looking straight down into water I'm not fishing as I cast towards my visual targets. Am I alone in this?
    That about sums it up for me too except I don't always catch fish and that's OK. It makes me appreciate the good days even more. I mostly like to look at the squiggley lines screen at the end of the day to see where I've been. LOL
    Some people are so judgemental. You can tell just by looking at 'em.--Some random meme

  19. Official Lip Ripper' haftafish22's Avatar
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    #19
    Yes! Thousands

  20. Member
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    #20
    95% of the time I fish like you do, junk fish if you will. Once in a while I may use it to find a weed bed or a rock pile in deeper water, but I’m not looking for fish on the sonar. Once I find my structure I fish it whether I “mark” fish there or not.
    2008 Skeeter 21I. Yamaha 250 Series II.
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