Side Imaging on the Trolling Motor (Pic heavy)....

I figured I'd try and confuse some people on Side Imaging/Down Imaging since there is some learning interest in the technology.

There is some confusion about the need to be moving 3 to 6 mph to get a clear picture on SI and DI. I wanted to share some pics. For deciphering fish you really don't need to be moving at all. Now deciphering cover/structure/ you do need to be moving 3 to 6mph to get a "clear" picture. These pics are of fish (white dashes/lines) using the 3 way screen on a 997SI that is mounted on my trolling motor. Take note of the speed in the bottom left hand corner.. Some of the pics you will see my spoon going up and down.

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Having said that I am finding the DI to be very useful in deeper water situations. Primarily because the DI (wide beam) has a wider coverage AREA than the dual 200/83 beam. Preferably, I like to get as much INFORMATION as possible. Granted you can't see your spoon with DI but I am using this 3 way screen alot when spoon fishing. I can find out exactly what side of the boat the fish are on that are just out of range of sonar beams AND I can see what is out on the perimeter of the DI beams using the SI and also what depth the fish are holding at. Granted you can't get an accurate depth perception using SI as much as you can with DI and Sonar as a spoon in the vicinity of fish is better than a spoon nowhere near a fish.

I have found it to be Very very useful if your a spoon head or a dropshot guy in deep water situations. As soon as information comes up on the screen a short pitch in the general direction of the fish has gotten me many many many hookups. This is one of MANY applications where SI on the T motor can be useful.

Also Take a good look at pic #4. I can see the fish on DI but not sonar. This is a prime example of the advantages of the 3 way screen and taking advantage of the wider beam of DI. Also if you are having trouble deciphering fish on your sonar due to not knowing the basics of how to tune your sonar, DI pics up fish almost automatic and there's no question about what you are seeing on your screen. Hope this is helpful to some and explains the usages of the technology. If I can help anyone let me know.

Mike

WoW!!! Great shots.

I'm guessing #4 is your spoon, other than that, I have no idea what I'm looking at.

Wow - the fish are loaded up from 7-10 foot of water. What kind of spoon - flutter? That's a great illustration of sonar use and what it can show you.

LJ

Thanks for the pics. The technology is amazing. Did it really improve your ability to catch and locate fish?

Mike, I'd really like to get you on my boat for an hour. I have the Lowrance HDS10 with SS an DI. I LOVE the DI but haven't been able to make heads or tails with SS.

Any interest in playing with an HDS?

I don't understand the side imaging at all. Is the gold color the bottom and the black is the water? I can tell what is going on, on the down imaging.

riprap said:

I don't understand the side imaging at all. Is the gold color the bottom and the black is the water? I can tell what is going on, on the down imaging.

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rip rap, SI is very easy to understand..

Here is a video link to help you. If you have any other questions let me know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP0YwweZVOs&feature=related

Fletch_W said:

I'm guessing #4 is your spoon, other than that, I have no idea what I'm looking at.

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Fletch you are correct #4 is my spoon. In the Side Imaging portion to the right those white dashes are fish off to the right side of my boat. They are visible on Side Imaging and DI but not on sonar because the beam width of DI is wider than straight up sonar.

Lanier Jim said:

Wow - the fish are loaded up from 7-10 foot of water. What kind of spoon - flutter? That's a great illustration of sonar use and what it can show you.

LJ

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Jim I make my own spoons. I don't use flutter spoons tho. Mine are close to the Flex it type.

Judge said:

Thanks for the pics. The technology is amazing. Did it really improve your ability to catch and locate fish?

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Judge, I've been using Side Imaging since Humminbird came out with it over 6 years ago. Awesome technology. Granted finding the fish and catching them are two different things but it sure makes it easier knowing they are there and finding structure/cover that you never knew existed.

Big Texun said:

Mike, I'd really like to get you on my boat for an hour. I have the Lowrance HDS10 with SS an DI. I LOVE the DI but haven't been able to make heads or tails with SS.

Any interest in playing with an HDS?

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Lets set something up bud.. What is your schedule looking like???

Let me know if i can answer any specific questions. Glad to be of help to anyone that needs clarification on how things work.

Triton Mike said:

Lets set something up bud.. What is your schedule looking like???

Let me know if i can answer any specific questions. Glad to be of help to anyone that needs clarification on how things work.

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Beggars can't be choosey... I can do it just about any time that works for you. Just let me know a day in advance.

Specific questions?

1. Range: I notice that you are usually running a range of 122 feet. Do you get better clarity if you reduce it to say 60 feet?

2. What contrast setting do you normally run? On the Lowrance, this is measured in percentage... Bill Carson told me that 50 - 55% is about what he runs.

3. How important is speed? I've been told that clarity improves when you are moving over 1 mph... however, I noticed on many of your shots above, you are essentially sitting still (.1, .2 mph).

Again, I love the downscan... I just haven't gotten much out of the side imaging. Logic tells me that it ought to be an even more powerful tool than the downscan.

Whenever you have an hour to spare, let me know and I'll drag my boat down to Allatoona.

Thanks!

Big Texun said:

Beggars can't be choosey... I can do it just about any time that works for you. Just let me know a day in advance.

Specific questions?

1. Range: I notice that you are usually running a range of 122 feet. Do you get better clarity if you reduce it to say 60 feet?

2. What contrast setting do you normally run? On the Lowrance, this is measured in percentage... Bill Carson told me that 50 - 55% is about what he runs.

3. How important is speed? I've been told that clarity improves when you are moving over 1 mph... however, I noticed on many of your shots above, you are essentially sitting still (.1, .2 mph).

Again, I love the downscan... I just haven't gotten much out of the side imaging. Logic tells me that it ought to be an even more powerful tool than the downscan.

Whenever you have an hour to spare, let me know and I'll drag my boat down to Allatoona.

Thanks!

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1. Tex, 125 to 140 range on SI is where I keep it at most of the time. It's kinda like your headlights on your truck. You can see a deer 100 yds off but it's hard to make out what you are seeing unless your closer. I very seldom change from that 125 setting. There are situations but not many. One situation might be if I am searching for a big object in open water to fish. If you move your beams in closer like 60ft you do get a little bit of clarity BUT you lose alot of real estate coverage. So 125 to 140 is my happy medium. For Stripers in open water you can prolly go a little wider in trolling situations..

2. On bird there is a SI enhance feature, We have sensitivity, contrast and sharpness. Sensitivity can vary. The farther you have your beams out the higher the sensitivity. Kinda like low beams and bright beams headlights. To see farther out you move to your bright beams (increase sensitivity). Keep in mind you can cover a football fields lenght with one sweep with SI if need to be. Contrast I keep at 10 or 11. Sharpness which is a very cool feature I keep it on low. Sharpness really crispens up the picture.

3. Keep this in mind.. The footprint of DI and SI is a thin straight line. The footprint of a sonar is a circle. So if you are sitting still (.2mph) a fish goes through the straight line of SI or DI you get a white blimp on your screen. Now what happens if a tree or a brushpile goes through that straight line?? You get a constant blob at .2mph. Thats what I meant when I said you can get good shots on DI and SI of FISH but with structure or cover you need 3 to 5mph speed because the fish are moving the 3 to 5mph through your beam while structure is stationary. SI and DI are taking I guess 100's of pictures a minute. so it's like a cartoon you have to shuffle the pictures to be able to decipher what you are seeing as it pertains to structure and cover. If you don't shuffle your just looking at one very thin slice of data that you can't decipher much from

4. If you like DS and find it useful. SI is 10 times more useful.. with DS or DI your limited to whats below the boat. With SI your not limited anywhere. You can see directly below the boat and up to 360ft to the right and left of your boat (a football fields lenght). SI is all about being more efficient and eliminating water quickly.

I will leave you with this image. . Striper guys would go ballistic over this image. Notice the depth and notice the beam lenght then look at all the gizzard shad .

Triton Mike said:

I will leave you with this image. . Striper guys would go ballistic over this image. Notice the depth and notice the beam lenght then look at all the gizzard shad .

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So, I'm thinking that you were on top of a very shallow hump or point, shooting out into deeper water on both sides?

The Lowrance does not have sensitivity adjustments... just a surface clarity rejection that can be toggled off or on. Beyond that, the only knobs we can adjust are contrast, color pallet, and range.

SI 10 times more useful than DI? Heck, I'd be happier'n a pig in slop if it was just 1 times as good.

Honestly, I am beginning to conclude that Humminbird wins the SI battle while, Lowrance has the edge in sonar and DI. Hope I'm wrong.

I'd really like to let you give my unit a "laying on of hands". Just tell me when!

Big Texun said:

So, I'm thinking that you were on top of a very shallow hump or point, shooting out into deeper water on both sides?

The Lowrance does not have sensitivity adjustments... just a surface clarity rejection that can be toggled off or on. Beyond that, the only knobs we can adjust are contrast, color pallet, and range.

SI 10 times more useful than DI? Heck, I'd be happier'n a pig in slop if it was just 1 times as good.

Honestly, I am beginning to conclude that Humminbird wins the SI battle while, Lowrance has the edge in sonar and DI. Hope I'm wrong.

I'd really like to let you give my unit a "laying on of hands". Just tell me when!

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Texun, Incorrect. Thats a very shallow flat during toona draw down and it's got a slight channel on the left of the boat (darker part). It's not much deeper maybe another foot or two deeper. On the right it's fairly flat.

2 years ago I'd agree with you on Lowrance being a good bit better on sonar. Bird now has a great sonar system now with the switchfire mode that they have. You can see a small 1/2 oz spoon over 200ft deep. I could see it deeper but I bottomed out on the timber and I was almost out of line and the sensitivity wasn't even maxed out. LOL





Also Humminbird shows brush and trees very very close to what DI shows on the screen. Here I photoshopped the DI image of the tree and overlayed it on the Sonar part to show the correlation of the two. HDS does have a cool overlay feature that I like. Both units are great units. Hard to go wrong with either one.

Triton Mike said:

Texun, Incorrect. Thats a very shallow flat during toona draw down and it's got a slight channel on the left of the boat (darker part). It's not much deeper maybe another foot or two deeper. On the right it's fairly flat.

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Well then, that is truly amazing. I'm guessing you took it on the flat on the Etowah, just North of the mouth of Little River? I had no idea the " cone angle" would get that close to the surface!!!!

Triton Mike said:

2 years ago I'd agree with you on Lowrance being a good bit better on sonar. Bird now has a great sonar system now with the switchfire mode that they have. You can see a small 1/2 oz spoon over 200ft deep. I could see it deeper but I bottomed out on the timber and I was almost out of line and the sensitivity wasn't even maxed out. LOL

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Cool pics. Had to be up at Carters for that one!

Hey, I'm not gonna argue which unit has the best sonar; I've never seen a bird like yours in flight.

I'm still hoping to get my SI working right... quite honestly, once you've passed a certain level with sonar, improving it further really doesn't make a tangible difference (IMHO). A good SI most certainly would.

So, when are you gonna come aboard?

PS: In the meantime, if you catch a big spot at 200 feet, I'd sure like to see it. Also, if you need to borrow a pole that has enough line to get all the way to the bottom, no problem. Real fish can strip more line than that and routinely do... gotta be ready.

Big Texun said:

PS: In the meantime, if you catch a big spot at 200 feet, I'd sure like to see it. Also, if you need to borrow a pole that has enough line to get all the way to the bottom, no problem. Real fish can strip more line than that and routinely do... gotta be ready.

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bassboy1 said:

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Shaddup Dawson!! Don't you have a boat to clean or weld back together

Triton Mike said:

Shaddup Dawson!! Don't you have a boat to clean or weld back together

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Yes, as a matter of fact he does. My boat

And FYI, I went with the HB 898 mounted on the trolling motor so this thread has been interesting for me.

Saw your boat yesterday Chris, all I can say is wow! That thing is nice. It will be even better once Dawson gets done, but you already knew that.

Triton Mike said:

Shaddup Dawson!! Don't you have a boat to clean or weld back together

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Not sure that you have all that much room to talk about cleaning a boat.

I have an HDS unit now and am looking at making the switch to the BIRD soon. These pics and this thread has made up my mind.

Yea the shad image was sick