5bites

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It's not vital to you. It's not part of your game. That's cool. That does not make it cheesy or a gimmick though. Saturday I have a Grand Lake Anglers for Christ tournament with my wife. Her first tournament ever. There is some water in the bushes but from what I hear to get one over 3 is a struggle. That's not going to stop me from trying but I'm not going to live and die in the willows and this is coming from a guy that loves to willow fish more than anyone on this site. Don't argue with me on that statement lol. I do believe I will end up out to 25' with a worm or football jig. It's a 3 fish limit and will take 11-12lbs to win. If it was a 5 fish limit and I had 12.7lbs I probably wouldn't even weigh them. Maybe loz doesn't have the quality grand does this time of year. I know little about it.

This is exactly right. I am learning this year though (albeit slowly) that di is handier than I first thought. It has just been another page in the way to the page I'm looking for. Now I'm seeing that it's more useful for for finding fish themselves due to it's really good target separation. I know of at least one guide on table rock that applies it while vertical fishing which I thought was interesting. So I'm not disagreeing with you but I'm learning that it's more useful than I thought before.

I totally agree and see what you are saying. What I'm getting across is that electronic maps have a remarkable amount of detail that paper just doesn't have. Also the ability to highlight areas etc makes finding specific depths for fishing and navigating safely handy. My original post should have said paper map not paper graph. Speaking of paper graphs, I assume boat mechanics that fished around oversized farm ponds thought they were useless in their day too while others thought they were invaluable.

If a paper graph is good then an electronic map with 1' contours is much much much better.

Who said I was claiming to be a guru at any type of fishing? I'm not blind to the benefits of offshore fishing. It wins at times. Beating the bank does too. So does dock fishing. One thing does not dominate all year long. Do you believe that? You're welcome to come to grand Saturday and beat the locals with your methods too you know. It goes both ways. It's hilarious that you say something doesn't work yet you don't apply yourself so how would you actually know?

Lighten up? I'm referring to you saying wrench was spot on. I assumed that means you agreed with everything he said was all. Just looking for clarification.

Exactly. If you want to look offshore it makes more sense to see a bigger clearer picture at once rather than idling smaller paths. Not to mention seeing more bait and fish and how they are relating to the cover or structure. Or identifying cover easier. Finding piles has become much easier. Not to mention foundations and how they layout. Plus the ability to mark waypoints without actually idling over the target is very handy. On second thought why don't everyone apply wrenches way of thinking and spread the word.

So si is a cheesy gimmick? Or because you personally don't use it you think it's useless?

For one don't feel sorry for me. The less line I have out the happier I am. I'm just not ignorant enough to say that there aren't fish past my boat. Two who said it had to be deep to be useful? Three if you use a regular graph or flasher, at all, then you are just as guilty as I am for using a side imaging graph. I can cover water faster with si is all. Its the same thing only I see a better picture and more of it. I have caught fish off of stuff that I found and turned right around and fished. I have caught fish out of stuff that I fished months later because it was what I considered out of season but I made a waypoint to hit later. That most tournaments won in 10' or less is a load of crap. Maybe in certain seasons or lakes but as has been mentioned not table rock. Also grand in the summer is an off shore lake. Yes there are shallow fish to be had but the money is made off shore. I'm sorry your narrow mindedness has kept you with less than 20' of line on your reel. I'll send you a new spool if you'll buy a graph and start fishing ledges. There are good fish out there. Even on loz.

Personally on the rods I've built I've never found a need to add many if any more guides than normal when using micros. Some line touch is fine. Duckets are junk because their blanks look like candy canes. That and they just look like cheap crap but that's a personal preference thing.

This is true. The one hitch is bigger is always better with side imaging. If the rebates weren't in play I'd say get an 859 up front and a 999 at the wheel. A bigger screen is better at the bow but an 859 is plenty sufficient and can be linked to the side imaging transducer of the rear graph if you'd like. Now if side imaging wasn't around I'd want the bigger graph up front for sure.

I'm going to disagree and leave it at that. According to the above statement fish don't get a cast off the bank.

This is my exact combo

This sounds a lot like what I was trying to say.

There is some truth here but I disagree. How many of these guys that you install these units for actually try to learn and exploit the benefits of them? That right there is the difference. I can honestly say I have caught more fish because I have side imaging. I can also say I have a long ways to go. It's just a tool to speed up what used to take a lot longer to break down structure. It also makes it less intimidating for me personally because it makes it make more sense. I can wrap my mind around it better. So because I have it I am able to fish where I wouldn't have had confidence to do so before and quicker. So if you are saying it's no better than a flasher you couldn't be more wrong. If you are saying most don't benefit from it because they don't use it then yea I agree.

I don't know what your budget is but I highly recommend looking into the 999. Call universalmania.com or bbgelectronics.com for the best price. Also I believe humminbird is still running the $200 mail in rebate promotion. Basically you can get a new 999 in the neighborhood of $1100 when its all said and done.

The helix 5 may be a tad small to have at your feet looking down at it. The 7 may be good though if you are content knowing you can never link it. If you do think you might want to link units in the future you can find used 898's and 998's in that price range. The 3d thing is neat but imo I think it's more of a novelty or gimmick. More of something to convince people they need it rather than an actual useful tool. I may be totally wrong though. I was thinking I might look into garmin in the future but they just lost a lawsuit to humminbird so I don't know what that going to mean. I'd say at a minimum it will mean higher prices.

And if you teach him some stuff while he guides you his rate gets cheaper. So when you jump in the boat with him immediately start in on what you would do differently and show him how you do stuff. He will appreciate this greatly.

Imo it's all necessary. It's an invaluable tool that can turn slow days into treasure hunts. Brand is purely personal preference as they all make good units. I run humminbird because the good out weighed the the bad for me personally. There are features on other brands I wish they had though. Another must is lakemaster mapping. I'm pretty sure that means you are stuck with a humminbird though because I don't think they're compatible with other brands. The map cards alone will change your game. If you have any specific questions just ask. My preferences may not be the same as others. That doesn't make either one of us wrong though.

I need to find a private launch and get permission to use it. Make that a launch with a private dock.

Good stuff there!

Good job guys! Sounds like a blast.

You know I hadn't noticed that but it does give it kind of an as seen on tv feel doesn't it? Lol

If you are referring to the micro wave setup it's a gimmick.