Trav Please

[ness]

You're fighting a losing battle there, Trav: technology will advance, price will come down, more people will buy it, repeat. Add to that competitive fishing for money, and well -- you get the picture.

I guess it's all about what 'floats your boat'. Some folks are driven to catch the most fish, have the best stuff, etc. Some folks just enjoy being outdoors and catching a fish or two with their trusty 303. And most folks are somewhere in between.

I suppose I don't really care what the others are up to, as long as they don't mess it up for me.

[Fly_Guy]

Another cheap alternative to a high dollar fish finder is a pair of binoculars. That way you can tell which boats are catching fish. Best fish finder out there

I have one of those handy wristwatch-style/castable depth finders - it's dead useful for bank fishing. I would highly recommend them.

[Mitch f]

I agree with Trav to a point, with the exception of the new japanese jerkbaits that have perfect action right out of the box (no more buying 5 husky jerks or Rogues until you find a good one), I'm tending to spend less and less on my lures and rely more on imparting the correct action instead buying the latest "hot" bait. In my business, technology has taken away what used to be considered an art form. The kids out of college are superior to me with the use of computers, things that used to take us days to accomplish can now be done in hours.

But like Chris Farris said, these new electronics are a "game changer". It takes much less time to get to know a lake and find one little piece of structure down 30 feet deep that you may never find with poor electronics. But good old fashion boat handling ability and fishing know how more than levels the playing field. But if you can put in the time and learn the electronics inside and out, there's no way it cant make you a better and more complete fisherman.

A little off the subject but one of the things that really makes me go postal is some guy burning down the lake at 70 mph in his 21 ft Champion through a dense fog just because he has a good GPS system.

[exiledguide]

I agree with Trav if I was being paid to fish I am sure I would have the best electronics available. My question after seeing Mike Webb's class at BPS last January, how many guides can afford the cost and still keep their fees low enough too stay in buisness. I also wonder what kind of electronics KVD or other tournament winners use when they fish. There seems to be a lot of folks today who seem to buy into the idea that buying certain products makes you a better fisherman. I was probably the first person to own the "Green Box" and The Bird Trap flashers amongst my friends and one of the first to take an electronic fishfinder graph to Ontario so I'm not against electronics however I was smart enough to know I was going to need to keep my day job because I didn't have the ability to compete with the Rick Cunn's of the world. I now go pretty low end when it comes to electronics and I still fish with with the old Double Deep Wee R,Little N, original Warts, Jitterbugs & Rouges altough I prefer the Super Rogues.

[Trav]

I also wonder what kind of electronics KVD or other tournament winners use when they fish. There seems to be a lot of folks today who seem to buy into the idea that buying certain products makes you a better fisherman.

KVD don't pay for his toys. He fishes for free. It is called endorsements.

[BolivarBasser]

Trav, He said he wonders what he USES, not what he buys. I am fairly certain KVD uses one of the SI/DI units available, and doesn't he wear a Humminbird logo? So maybe an 1197?

To be honest, he probably has a custom built machine with features that none of us even have access to, just like golfers and other athletes have equipment specially made for them.

[Flysmallie]

KVD don't pay for his toys. He fishes for free. It is called endorsements.

Yeah I think it's pretty easy to figure out that these guys have what they want. But I think what he is asking is how do they use it. Just because he has the latest and greatest doesn't mean that he's going to use all the features. He may just be looking at depth and temperature.