TOPIC:

I am sure several of you are using the side view down view sonar and my question is===is it worth it, does it really put more fish in the boat or is it just another gadget the marketing thinks we need?
Thanks for any input ahead of time.

Depends what you're primarily fishing. Bass, walleye, perch, gills and crappie it seems to help me..... I could see Lakers maybe too but I don't have much experience jigging for them on the rock walls....... mostly used for structure not spotting fish, don't get me wrong it can help spot them but I use it mostly for finding suspended weed beds, structures on the side view for timber or whatnot holding for crappie, gills, bass.

It's not a miracle worker but it's nice for when you think you are marking something on the bottom and can flip screens to get a more clear view exactly what you're looking at

Jums is right. To find salmon, its worthless. For perch fishing, it can be very useful at times.

I have used it to find the divets or trenches that hold Perch when you can't find them on tough days.

just got back from Arkansas and was fishing Crappie most of the time. I only have Down Imaging but side imaging would have been great for really getting a whole view of the brush (from what I have seen). Since I dont own or have used a Side Imaging I am only going from what I have seen demos and other posts on it.

Are you able to see bait balls off the sides of the boat with the side imaging? Would be nice to see if there was bait 100+' off to one side, that way you could circle back and go over it. I'm replacing my fish finder this year, and was thinking I'd get side imaging for that purpose.

You can see bait on side scan yes.

I too have one and for finding new structure it's pretty neat as far as seeing fish on it I've only seen bait balls one thing to keep in mind is if you do get one hummingbird upgrades their units every year and I believe you could go online and get the new updates uploaded to your unit Kinda helps out ALOT!!

How many times have you caught fish off to the side of the boat and did not see anything on your sonar? I would think you would see bait and fish if you had the unit dialed in right. I am hoping so has I have bought a side view Garmin unit. I know Hondacat could weigh in on this topic. We talked about it when choosing a unit for my boat he is putting together. With out side view and chirp you can get a very good unit for little money. Lots of clearance deals out there.

I dont usually use side scan on the big lake, although I play with it some when perch are hard to find. It does not really offer any advantage while trolling. The fish can see and / or feel your bait if you are close enough to see them with side scan.

These fish will go a long way to come take your bait, no need to be right on top of them