Fish Finder Suggestions

[Mfoley312]

Hiya!
quick question to get y'all's opinions/experiences.

I currently have a lowrance elite 5 ti on my console, no bow mounted unit.
There's an awesome deal on the lowrance elite 9 ti going on next week and want to pull the trigger. My question lies in where it would be best to mount this:
1. Elite 9 on console, move elite 5 to bow with a raised mount
2. Elite 5 on console, put elite 9 on bow.
There's benefits for both:
Bigger unit on console will allow me to run my charts/gps along with my sideimaging and sonar all at once with more room to see everything.
Bigger unit on bow would be farther away from me so naturally, a bigger screen is easier to see, althought I'd probably only be running 1 screen (i.e sonar only)

Just trying to weigh my pro/con list with y'all's experiences.

Thanks!

 

[racerone]

I look for water birds / seagulls and such.-------Where they are diving is where the fish are driving minnows to the surface.-----Works for me.

 

[dingbat]

The unit in question has some not so easy to overlook short comings, but that’s not your question.

You can get away with split screen on a 9” display as long as your running conventional sonar and map. Split screen side scan is pretty useless from a distance. I run maps And sonar on dedicated 9” displays

 

[DeepCMark58A]

I look for water birds / seagulls and such.-------Where they are diving is where the fish are driving minnows to the surface.-----Works for me.

Some people like to use technology to have a better chance at success, some people want to go fishing some people prefer to go catching.

 

[dingbat]

Some people like to use technology to have a better chance at success, some people want to go fishing some people prefer to go catching.

I prefer to go “catching” using all means at my
disposal.....experience, birds and electronics.

Bar none, birds, gannets in particular in my case, are the best fish locators there are. Spring and Fall I find far more fish with “radar” than sonar.

I put electronic way down the list as a means to locate fish find. Electronics can’t “find fish” if I don’t put them in a position to “see” the fish in the first place.

 

[racerone]

On a political note electronic have made " commercial fishing " way more effective than nature can keep up.-----Huge factory ships plundering the oceans and seas.-------100 years from now hungry people will say ----" what did we do "-----Such things as snowmobiles also have made ice fishing easy in remote locations.------No spawning stock left in the spring.------Nature can not match human folly !!

 

[JimS123]

The best electronics in the world, along with the biggest flock of birds won't mean a thing if the fish ain't bitin' cause they don't like your purple thingamajiggie.

 

[dingbat]

The best electronics in the world, along with the biggest flock of birds won't mean a thing if the fish ain't bitin' cause they don't like your purple thingamajiggie.

The birds are feeding off bait pushed to the surface by a school of actively feeding fish below.

How can you not catch?

At that point, the fish will hit anything that moves...even bare hooks.

 

[JimS123]

The birds are feeding off bait pushed to the surface by a school of actively feeding fish below.

How can you not catch?

At that point, the fish will hit anything that moves...even bare hooks.

Ever hear of Kevin Vandam? I was fishing in a particular spot and not catching anything and just started to leave when I saw him come by. I dropped my anchor a 100 yards away and just watched as he stopped in my old spot. He literally caught a bass on every cast. Then, all of a sudden the cameraman sat down and they zoomed away. I went back to the same spot and still caught nothing.

I read in the Sunday paper that he won the BassMasters that weekend.

I couldn't see his bait, but I was using a purple thingamajiggie. That's why I concluded what I did. Next time I'll try bare hooks.

 

[fishrdan]

Nature can not match human folly !!

Go Go Godzilla!!!

History shows again and again
How nature points out the folly of men


More to the point of the thread. I don't use electronics that much, many times fishing the whole trip without them. Busted the ducer off my jon boat a year ago, don't miss it. I only run them if fishing big water, running around trying to locate any sign of life. I have an older Humminbird DI unit, and find it useless as I'm normally fishing in choppy water where DI doesn't work. DI works OK in calm water (and I would assume the same with SI), but I don't go fishing with blue-bird skies...

I have 2 - 5" units in my boat, works OK for me, and I can see what's needed, but I'm not running split screen, and not far away from the screens.

 

[racerone]

I have been out fishing in a 14' aluminum in Ontario.----No fish finder electronics.-----Live minnows.----Fill the stringer with wallye.----Have to release the big ones.-----One place ( Alberta ) in a 12' tinny that the 8 year old grandson owns ----No live bait allowed.----Barbs have to be cut off the hooks.----No electronics---Few fish caught and no keepers.----Mountains in the distance -----Priceless.

 

[dingbat]

Ever hear of Kevin Vandam? I was fishing in a particular spot and not catching anything and just started to leave when I saw him come by. I dropped my anchor a 100 yards away and just watched as he stopped in my old spot. He literally caught a bass on every cast. Then, all of a sudden the cameraman sat down and they zoomed away. I went back to the same spot and still caught nothing.

I read in the Sunday paper that he won the BassMasters that weekend.

I couldn't see his bait, but I was using a purple thingamajiggie. That's why I concluded what I did. Next time I'll try bare hooks.

Vandam if a bass guy if I remember correctly.

It happens. He picked up on something you didn’t. I’ve had it happen to me. I’ve done it to others many more times.

Observation and intuition are your best tools.
Put yourself in a fish’s position. Know when and why the fish show up at a particular area or spot. Put in enough time in on the water you'll see a pattern develop.

Not out there the 5- 6 days a week like I was. Takes me a couple days to get it dialed back in anymore.