Side imaging in shallow water? 2024

BigEbass reply :

While fishing a small lake sunday (which I caught my first 5+ lber, then right after that caught my second :)) - I got to thinking about the side imaging a bit - The water is really shallow in this little lake - 1-7 feet - mostly 3-5 feet in depth. The water was murky so you cannot see the bottom really...so my question is how would SI do in that shallow of water? Would it show good detail and how far laterally would it show detail at say 2 or 4 feet.

Thanks (PS - you can see my fish in my photo )

ProCraft Joe reply :

I'm not sure about Side Scan, but my HB 997SI won't really work well that shallow. You also have to be moving 2-3 mph to get a clear pic. I don't think you can get the full 480' each side that shallow either.

BigEbass reply :

Well, If I could see even say 30-60 feet left and right it would be a great advantage...?

Wayne P. reply :

Look at the shallow water images posted on the Yahoo Groups Side Imaging site.

One of them is at less than 2' looking at grass.

I Love BassResource reply :

Yeah, I've had my HDS in less than 3ft of water and could see from shore to shore in a cove. I'm still amazed, pull in scan it, mark anything of interest and move on or fish it.

BigEbass reply :

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Yeah, I've had my HDS in less than 3ft of water and could see from shore to shore in a cove. I'm still amazed, pull in scan it, mark anything of interest and move on or fish it.

Sweet!! Thats what I wanted to hear - I will check out the yahoo site too. I cannot wait to get one!

Triton_Mike reply :

1197SI. Depth 1.9ft

1197SI 2.4ft deep

and yes that is all fish

doninlouisiana reply :

Mike,

I have a SI unit as well just curious what type fish were those in the shallow images? Nice shots by the way!

Don

BigEbass reply :

I am sold man - going to buy my SI unit some time this week and try it out this weekend on Lay Lake!! ;D

Triton_Mike reply :

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Mike,
I have a SI unit as well just curious what type fish were those in the shallow images? Nice shots by the way!

Don

Hi Don, I'm pretty certain those are gizzards that I was pushing with the boat. .

BigEbass reply :

Bought the 998 yesterday, not even hooked up yet

Those are gizzard shad in this shallow shot? wow - I had not seen such an image before - it really can pick up baitfish if that is what those are?!

BigEbass reply :

God I cant wait to try it out soon!!!!

RobbyZ5001 reply :

All I have to say is WOW! I won't be able to afford something like that, but it looks amazing!

BigEbass reply :

I think its gotta help me in a number of ways - find more structure, find more fish - another BR member put it best I think - he said something along the lines of he fears people will find the spot on spot quicker when it may have taken years before to find these! THey have also found a bunch of stolen and sunken vehicles near launches since fishman have started using these things more often - its funny.

But if it doesnt pan out, it will sure look dandy on my little bass boat

Bassn Blvd reply :

Big E, any update on the new si?

gatorblazer reply :

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Well, If I could see even say 30-60 feet left and right it would be a great advantage...?

That shallow, Im not sure that you need it or want it. In less than 5' of water I always turn my transducers off. I am convinced that fish can hear/sense sonar pings. If I am trying to be stealthy, make quiet movements, gently flipping my bait in with little to no splash, why would I have something ticking away under my boat? Same with my bilge, I make sure that its not going to turn on when I am in a quiet situation. If you must know your depth and bottom type, dip your rod tip in and feel for it. I can only see the side scan being useful in scouting trips just to map whats there, but would turn it off when actually fishing.

BigEbass reply :

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Well, If I could see even say 30-60 feet left and right it would be a great advantage...?

That shallow, Im not sure that you need it or want it. In less than 5' of water I always turn my transducers off. I am convinced that fish can hear/sense sonar pings. If I am trying to be stealthy, make quiet movements, gently flipping my bait in with little to no splash, why would I have something ticking away under my boat? Same with my bilge, I make sure that its not going to turn on when I am in a quiet situation. If you must know your depth and bottom type, dip your rod tip in and feel for it. I can only see the side scan being useful in scouting trips just to map whats there, but would turn it off when actually fishing.

Why not scout the 2-5' water though too then? There are large flats for example that will likely have some isolated cover that will hold fish more so - or patches of weeds, or a weedline I can identify and work - I agree though that it will not be necessary WHILE fishing for sure as much - for me the unit is purely to find the spots and the spot on spot and to then fish it - to shorten my learning curve to learn structure/cover details of a lake more easily to my advantage - knowing structure/cover details in 2-5' could I would think give a definate edge - now if its very clear water, then that would be silly yea, but in most of my home waters, you cannot see then bottom in more the 2 feet of water mostly.

I will have to do more research about the ping sound issue - we catch plenty of bass down here all the time and my neighbor leaves the sonar on the whole time - perhaps it attracts the bass

BigEbass reply :

My suspicion is that bass are not all that smart and they are constantly exposed to boat noise, and I think that much of the routine boat noise will have little effect in most cases - but that is just my anectdotal suspicion - having said that, I am sure in certain situations it would absolutely have an effect - the spots up here in smith lake are freakin spooky man sometimes for example.....so who knows, I know I dont

BigEbass reply :

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Big E, any update on the new si?

Umm, man, this has been so tough for me!! I have successfully installed the thing with the help of my more handy/experienced neighbor....now ask me if I have gotten on the water yet......NO....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhhhhhh ahhhhhhhh - its like getting a bicycle at 8 years old on christmas then parents telling you - "oh you will have to wait 2 weeks sweety to ride that bike, but just enjoy looking at it" - it sucks!! I have read the entire manual back and forth (by the way, the manual for helping guide intallation for idiots like me IMO sucks).

So no update yet guys sorry - but I promise you are not as sorry as I am right now - and get this - I have to go out of town this weekend to see family - no fishing this weekend - I likely will not get to use it till NEXT weekend - this sucks :'( :'( :'(

gatorblazer reply :

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My suspicion is that bass are not all that smart and they are constantly exposed to boat noise, and I think that much of the routine boat noise will have little effect in most cases - but that is just my anectdotal suspicion - having said that, I am sure in certain situations it would absolutely have an effect - the spots up here in smith lake are freakin spooky man sometimes for example.....so who knows, I know I dont

On the coosa, bed fish are spooky too. My point is why would you risk any noise if you know they are going to be spooky.

I definatly would use the SI for practice and spot locating. Once you find something, mark it as a waypoint and tell no one. When its time to fish it in competition, turn off the sonar and just use the GPS to guide you to that spot.

BigEbass reply :

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My suspicion is that bass are not all that smart and they are constantly exposed to boat noise, and I think that much of the routine boat noise will have little effect in most cases - but that is just my anectdotal suspicion - having said that, I am sure in certain situations it would absolutely have an effect - the spots up here in smith lake are freakin spooky man sometimes for example.....so who knows, I know I dont

On the coosa, bed fish are spooky too. My point is why would you risk any noise if you know they are going to be spooky.

I definatly would use the SI for practice and spot locating. Once you find something, mark it as a waypoint and tell no one. When its time to fish it in competition, turn off the sonar and just use the GPS to guide you to that spot.

Well, I am not discounting what you are saying and I will certainly keep it in mind. Anyway, if I am actively fishing and not finding/marking structure, I will not be looking at a screen and it will be powered down to save battery life, so it is a bit of a mut point in my case I think - however - I have left it on by accident tons of times fishing shallow even and still caught fish. I will keep that in mind and continue to observe for effects while fishing.

But my sort of more general thought about the assumption is that, why is it absolute that a bass would be spooked in general by noises we make? Are they laying down there saying, oh god, I heard that engine turn on, "theres a human run" - perhaps? - but I suspect not all sounds are deleterious to bass fishing and perhaps some may even be beneficial - I have never tried it, but I have heard of folks make a commotion or something like that to trigger shad or bass to hit the shad, thus turn on the bite - I have also read in Bill Siemantel's book that engine noise on some lakes may even be somewhate of a norm for many fish and running over a point may stir up things and improve fishing.

This may seem counter-intuitive I suppose, but I enjoy thinking outside of the box when I can - your assumptions in many situations may be "spot" on - I do take extra care and stealth when dealing with thats spooky spots, but I also keep an open mind - I have also only been fishing for 2 years and I may find with time and experience your assumption to be absolutely true - Ill keep an eye for such a trend - so far I have not found it deleterious to my fishing - although I suppose it could have had an effect from time and time - prior to this I had not thought much about this sound so I it was not on my radar

THanks for the heads up!

This gives me an idea though - I wonder if we could use various sound devices and see what happens - perhaps there is some fish attracting noise??? I am gonna make millions ;D ;D

gatorblazer reply :

Biosonics makes that exact device and KVD and Skeet swear by them. As to sounds spooking fish, anything that they are not used to would spook them. In a farm pond, a gas motor is going to be a foreign sound. If your in a shallow area that is not pressured much, a transducer might trigger that spookieness. I try to be as cautious as possible as I do not know what will spook them. Its no different for deer hunting near a highway vs somewhere where deer do not hear cars.

We are pretty close to each other so we might need to fish together some

Dogface reply :

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I definatly would use the SI for practice and spot locating. Once you find something, mark it as a waypoint and tell no one. When its time to fish it in competition, turn off the sonar and just use the GPS to guide you to that spot.

That would be great IF the GPS was accurate but in most instances it is not that accurate. The sonar or in this case the SI will pinpoint the acutal structure. A GPS can be off by many feet.

BigEbass reply :

I PM'ed you man, cool to see someone this close to me - internet is a small place - we should definately get to fishin some time - I actually only have one fishin buddy - my neighbor 69 years old - hes the man - mentored me to date - although now I am looking to switch over and committ to big bait tactics - been heavily researching it and talking to folks on-line - gonna give it a whirle for a year or two - I want to catch my first dd bass or maybe 10 of em, who knows

heh heh, so the noise from KVD's sounder is not foreign to those same spooky bass? Definately on a farm pond I can see the rationale about staying absolutely quite - but on public waters I think it may be less important and perhaps. I also believe to a degree bass will hang around the boat - I see it as structure of sorts - I have caught so many LM's and spots right at the boat - how many times have you caught one or more likely missed one right there at the very end of the retrieve - I know I have - I miss less of those know cause I now know that the bass boat is another prime strike zone - and my neighbors sonar during these times is on almost all the time - he just leaves it on. But as with any rule of fising, there are likely specific areas that apply Im sure

Triton_Mike reply :

There are lots of usages for shallow water SI. Finding bream beds. Crappie stakes, Flats for red fish etc etc. Bass spooking from pinging I have always kept that in the back of my mind. But when I can sit in one spot and catch 20 to 30fish on a spoon vertical fishing???? I'm not sure I can validate the claim of it spooking fish. OF course in a shallow water situation and fishing slow and methodically ie flipping and pitching close range might make more sense but if your a power guy that covers water and needs information SI shallow will help you see hidden brush, logs or even fish that you might miss.

My theory has always been better to have information than none at all.

Here is a shallow water bream bed that you can see the actual bream in the beds (white dashes) just to give one example of many.

BigEbass reply :

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There are lots of usages for shallow water SI. Finding bream beds. Crappie stakes, Flats for red fish etc etc. Bass spooking from pinging I have always kept that in the back of my mind. But when I can sit in one spot and catch 20 to 30fish on a spoon vertical fishing???? I'm not sure I can validate the claim of it spooking fish. OF course in a shallow water situation and fishing slow and methodically ie flipping and pitching close range might make more sense but if your a power guy that covers water and needs information SI shallow will help you see hidden brush, logs or even fish that you might miss.
My theory has always been better to have information than none at all.

Here is a shallow water bream bed that you can see the actual bream in the beds (white dashes) just to give one example of many.

That was my thoughts exactly - cannot wait to get out there and try it out darn it - gotta wait another week!!!

But I too have seen other photos of beds - they show up like a bunch of white pimples all over, what an awesome way to find beds, even in murkier water

verticle fishing ping noise vs. shallow water.....I will venture a guess that it would not make a big diff. The intensity at say 20-30 feet I would guess (and I am not totally sure?) would be the same or more for those fish you are fishing vertically - in fact that signal in the case of verticle is even more direct right? So the noise would be even better perceived then bouncing around in the shallows....just another thought on that topic.....Maybe that ping noise helped you catch all those fish in verticle fishing

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Side imaging in shallow water? 2024

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