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Post by rocfish on Mar 5, 2013 13:52:46 GMT -5
Hi everyone. I am seriously considering the Lowrance touch 7 with structurescan which (from my understanding) includes sidescan. I do a bit of baitfishing for stripers and was wondering just how using the sidescan feature helps you locate schools. And how can you tell the image your seeing is stripers and not carp or bass? These units are pretty expensive and I'm trying to be realistic on benefits vs. cost. Is side scan really worth the considerable increase in cost? Thanks so much for any advice you can provide!
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Post by wishforfish on Mar 5, 2013 17:05:52 GMT -5
Hi rocfish, I do not own it but have seen it in use while striper fishing on SML and I believe it is HUGE. I am considering an upgrade this year myself because of what I saw and then caught. I am not trained enough to distinguish species but you can definately tell where they are. My experience is when used in conjunction with the regular sonar function you will have a pretty good idea of what is in the cone and subsequently to the side of the boat. I did not see it used to catch bait but that is a big reason I am thinking about it...it should make it SO much easier to see where the bait is relative to the boat when they are not on top giving away their location.
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BentRod
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Post by BentRod on Mar 5, 2013 18:07:01 GMT -5
Read through the Electronics section. There's a lot of info on the StructureScan. Here's just one of many examples of its value. Mward and I caught bait in a creek one evening about 430 and we had 2 hrs to fish til dusk. We decided we'd head to a spot we heard had fish vs wasting any time looking elsewhere. Well we idled outta the back of the cove and just before Mward put it on plane, we saw this... Look at the depth we were in..15ft give or take..we saw nothing on the sonar as that school was right on the bank. We both said let's fish in here! We idled another two or three hundred yards past them and put bait out and pulled down through there. As soon as we got there, rods starting bending! This was the result... We ended up catching 6 or so fish before we had to stop, which wasn't a bad short trip. The LSS was the sole reason we found those fish and then preceded to catch them. It's the real deal. I use it a lot for finding bait this time of year. It's very easy to find schools of gizzards with the sidescan and get yourself on top of the school quickly. I'm not sure how useful it will be in very shallow water finding bait, but it is possible it may be effective. I'll try to take some pictures of gizzards on the sidescan. I have this shot of a million gizzards on the sidescan but they were more or less under my boat. It will mark them 75-100ft off to your sides as well. Here's a few shots of stripers on the sidescan. I have more, but I can't find them all. Few off to my right This is one Todd sent me..its in like 2ft of water. It's a game changer. I wouldn't be without it now.
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Post by striperseeker on Mar 5, 2013 19:30:31 GMT -5
Wow Bentrod, these are wonderful screen shots. Thanks for posting.
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Post by k5 on Mar 5, 2013 22:15:52 GMT -5
Great shots lots of stripers,thanks.k5
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Post by rocfish on Mar 6, 2013 11:46:41 GMT -5
Thanks Bentrod. My biggest concern is that I would be chasing what I think is stripers when they are actually carp or bass. But I guess you learn to evaluate the image, time of year, place your fishing, open water etc to determine the species?
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Post by mwardncsu on Mar 6, 2013 12:14:48 GMT -5
My biggest concern is that I would be chasing what I think is stripers when they are actually carp or bass. But I guess you learn to evaluate the image, time of year, place your fishing, open water etc to determine the species? HA - that reminds me of two springs ago when Bentrod and I had a couple of Wounded Warriors aboard in late May (Thur before Memorial Day if I recall) and it was slow fishing - we were running all over the lower end of the lake looking for fish and came up just below Boardwalk and saw fish busting so we high-tailed it over there - to find out it was a massive school of carp spawning.... ;D
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BentRod
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Post by BentRod on Mar 6, 2013 12:25:18 GMT -5
I've not seen any fish species that displays as clear and crisp as the Striper does on it. It's certainly not going to hurt you. Youre going to find more fish faster than you ever could with just Sonar. You'll learn to interpret what you're looking at it. Most of the bigger schools I'm marking on my sidescan allow me to position my boat directly over them to confirm on my sonar anyways. If they're scattered, shallow, and on the bank like a couple above, you've got to just fish em. Put a big shad on a board and one will come up on it even if he doesn't eat it. You can see fish shallow that you could never see before. It's the easiest technology I've used for finding fish. Seriously. It's all but plug n play.
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BentRod
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Post by BentRod on Mar 6, 2013 12:30:19 GMT -5
My biggest concern is that I would be chasing what I think is stripers when they are actually carp or bass. But I guess you learn to evaluate the image, time of year, place your fishing, open water etc to determine the species? HA - that reminds me of two springs ago when Bentrod and I had a couple of Wounded Warriors aboard in late May (Thur before Memorial Day if I recall) and it was slow fishing - we were running all over the lower end of the lake looking for fish and came up just below Boardwalk and saw fish busting so we high-tailed it over there - to find out it was a massive school of carp spawning.... ;D I was just a passenger. You were operating the boat that "high-tailed" it over there!
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Post by mwardncsu on Mar 6, 2013 12:38:43 GMT -5
Though if I recall correctly, and I am sure I do, you were the ones that spotted those "stripers breaking over there" . Of course, we both got fooled one Sat AM that same spring with the "fish breaking over by the mountain" which turned out just to be some white-capping At least we were not some of those they have been fooled by folks swimming in a triathlon at the State Park in the past....
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BentRod
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Post by BentRod on Mar 6, 2013 13:02:31 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure by the time I raised my arm and began to open my mouth, you had already laid the hammer down on that 250 before I could even say, "Look at those carp spawning over there!"
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2013 14:51:04 GMT -5
Sorry BentRod, but I'll have to side with mward on this one. I'll admit, I have been fooled (just for a second) by those dang carp also. anyone else care to admit it? ;D
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Post by wishforfish on Mar 6, 2013 20:58:15 GMT -5
Yes, I admit that 391V was fooled by them also...
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Post by striperjohn on Mar 7, 2013 7:34:51 GMT -5
Add me to that list, they (Carp) were breaking on the flat across from Carters island near the State Park. I thought it was deep water until I'm running in 110feet and then suddenly 6 feet! Buddy with me spotted a carp right away and I slowly ;D turned around and left.
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BentRod
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Post by BentRod on Mar 7, 2013 8:36:32 GMT -5
Ha you must have been right behind us Striperjohn! That's where we ran into them too. Are You talking about that long shoal out into the channel? It's nuts how its 5-6ft way out there and most people don't even know it. I'm surprised nobody's been killed there in a summer drought since its not marked. I bet it was darn near sticking out of the water late last fall.
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