Quote:
Originally Posted by RavYak
I have to disagree with you.
2d sonar does not give you more information. A flasher uses the exact same technology and shows you the same thing just in a different format that is more applicable to stationary vertical fishing. Regular sonar view is useful in a boat because you are covering ground and you want to see where the depth changes, where weeds start etc and the only way to easily be able to do that is by viewing a graph that shows history. When sitting in a single spot a weed or rock just looks like false bottom.
Regular sonar units only have 2 advantages imo. One is that showing history can tell you how interested a fish is in your lure. For example you can see if it chased you up a ways or if it spooked when you jigged etc. Using a dedicated flasher you have to remember what happened which to me is fairly easy so I don't worry about seeing history although there are some times it can help you figure out just what the fish want. The second and main advantage imo is if it has extra features such as GPS or panoptix.
Dedicated flashers on the other hand have a number of advantages. They give you a whole screen dedicated to showing real time data which makes it far easier to see when a fish is on screen(literally any mark that wasn't on your screen a moment ago is a fish or a bug etc) and makes it easier to also see when the fish is about to bite or when you should give your lure a twitch etc.
Flashers use narrower cone angles which are advantageous if fishing in deep water or near sharp drop offs or weeds etc. Flasher regular beams are around 20 degrees cone angle and narrow beams usually 8-10 degrees whereas regular fish finders narrow beams are usually 20 degrees.
The other advantage is interference rejection. Most flashers have better ways of dealing with interference and clutter on screen then regular fish finders. The narrower beam angles help pick up less interference as well if there are other people fishing nearby.
I think most people that prefer regular sonar over a flasher do so just because they don't know how to use a flashers to its full advantage. They like the sonar view because that is what they are used to seeing in a boat and they already know how to interpret it. If you learn how to use a flasher well it is more powerful though.
|
This is purely your opinion, in my experience my Lowrance unit can have 4 different types of flashers running around it with 0 interference, meanwhile I walk over to buddies hole and he's yelling at me to move away because he can't figure out how to clear up the interference on his Marcum or Vexilar...
As for target identification 2D sonar is just as good at seeing individual marks and tracking multiple fish at the same depth is easier too, with a flasher dial you simply have a big green/yellow/red blob sitting at 10 feet, with my sonar I can see 3 different marks swimming up and down chasing my lure, and with the history as you say I can scroll back and observe behavior. Or my neck gets stiff from staring at the unit, I can get up stretch look around, then peek at the history quickly to see if fish swam by. WIth a flasher dial you blink or sneeze and that mark passes your cone you will never know he was there.
I can also adjust my cone angle on my Lowrance, narrowing it for deep water and widening it for shallow water.
Penetrating weeds I find is a lot easier with my lowrance too, for example I was marking perch in thick weeds, and was able to mark my lure too. Buddie dropped his Marcum in there and it was nothing but a jumbled mess no matter if he set it to "shallow water" or what ever limited options he had. Meanwhile I have the luxury of setting a special "weeds" setting that lets me jig right in the middle of a salad patch while perfectly marking my lure.
Maybe try using 2D sonar exclusively for a season and better formulate your opinion, because I'm calling BS on 90% of what you said.