Side imaging fish finders

[Quigley2000]

Hi,
I was wondering how useful side imaging fish finders are for AB lakes? In particular how useful are they for trophy sized pike? I’d imagine they’d show up pretty well, so they’d be a lot easier to find but considering they ambush I was wondering if they’d be concealed by weeds so it wouldn’t matter. If it matters, the model I’m looking at is a Helix 7.
Thanks,
Q


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[raw outdoors]

They work very well if your settings are correct and the fish are not hiding in weeds. Your seed needs to be just right also to match the finder settings. I have a helix 10 gn2 mega. The bigger the screen the better

[SamSteele]

First picture is of a rock pile to the far right of the boat (50 feet). There are some scattered fish closer to the boat. Second picture is of a school of fish, again to the right. Only you can say if that is worth it to you.

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201130/79507d81509b3752668befd127c23c73.jpg
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20201130/d996a60798671b5380a6dfa50b2e88fd.jpg


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[58thecat]

ok got it at first I was trying to figure out your shadow...then I clued in. I am so going to get a hummingbird myself with down and side imaging this year...kinda like heated grips on a quad...gamechanger. :sHa_shakeshout:

[Drewski Canuck]

What is the distance to the side that you can see the structure on a side scan? I have been hunting for an off shore hump that I have crossed a number of times while pulling the kids on a tube, that is very tight, but goes from 40 fow to 10 fow, way out from shore.

Drewski

[SamSteele]

What is the distance to the side that you can see the structure on a side scan? I have been hunting for an off shore hump that I have crossed a number of times while pulling the kids on a tube, that is very tight, but goes from 40 fow to 10 fow, way out from shore.

Drewski


Realistically, 100 feet to either side is probably where a lot of definition starts to fall off. When I am fishing I usually have it set to 60 as a narrower sweep seems to help you have better definition. I have helped the RCMP locate a couple vehicles that went through the ice in 80 FOW in northern Sask and for those depths I set it at 160 just to try and cover the most water. A really soft bottom absorbs the sonar a bit, making the returns pretty weak at the outer edges.

As an aside, I found the truck in about 20 min, got the GPS coordinates for it, texted them to the RCMP and a diver dropped exactly on top of it the next day.


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[TROLLER]

ok got it at first I was trying to figure out your shadow...then I clued in. I am so going to get a hummingbird myself with down and side imaging this year...kinda like heated grips on a quad...gamechanger. :sHa_shakeshout:

The game changer is the Garmin Pan Optic big bucks but holy cow once you have seen it in action you are hooked.

[SamSteele]

The game changer is the Garmin Pan Optic big bucks but holy cow once you have seen it in action you are hooked.


I think you mean Livescope. Big bucks for sure.

Humminbird is coming out with their version in the spring. Transducer will be close to $3k CAD but it will run on the new Helix units.


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