Side Imaging Fish Finders

[Captain J]

Perhaps a little contraversial.

I've just finished fitting a side imaging fish finder from Humminbird.

I'm curious to know as to whether anyone else uses fish finders for spearfishing.

I've used traditional sonar before for fishing but it was always a bit hit and miss. The side imaging units claims to be able to give a clear picture 250ft each side of the boat.

I think it'll be an amazing tool for finding inshore structures. Boat should be back in the water next weekend. I'm going to pass by the Palace and West Piers and do some screen captures. Should be very interesting to see the results. - especially for those who are regulars at the piers.

[dave]

I have been looking into getting one. I would be very interested to hear how you get on with it. I spoke to a couple of hydrographic surveyors who were a bit dubious as to how well it will work in real conditions, but if it works as well as Humminbird claim it will be an amazing bit of kit
cheers
dave
Spearguns by Spearo uk ltd finest supplier of speargun, monofins, speargun and freediving equipment

[Old Man Dave]

I had the older version the Humminbird Dimension 3 on my boat for 10 years. It scanned at 45 degrees to each side of the boat and therefore showed a distance equal to the depth of water each side. So in 30 foot it showed the seabed 30 foot either side of the boat as you travelled along. Think it was rated 700+ watts rms or something like that and was a mono display not colour. The 250 foot scan is probably the scan width in 125 foot of water. I looked for wrecks and reefs and occasionally it was useful. However when it broke I replaced it with a dual frequency colour sounder rather than another 3D sonar. Overall I'd say they don't work well enough to justify the expense. That said mine was an older model so maybe the newer ones are better. It's mainly computing power that determines performance and that's come a long way in the lst 10 years.

Let us know hoe you get on.

Dave

PS what I'd really like to try is one of the FLES (forward looking echo sounder). They look as though they really reach out a fair distance. Remember the 3D shows you what you've already passed over. Think they're called Interphase or something.

[Captain J]

First impressions of the 797 c2.

Simply amazing!

The detail is stunning. Watching the unit produce acccurate images of the sea bottom up to 70 metres is something else.

Going around familiar ground such as the Palace Pier really does give show the technology that the Humminbird offers. The two fallen pillars on the west side of the Palacde Pier show up in good detail, as do all of the supporting bases, barge wreck etc.

This is going to be very valuable indeed. Especially when looking for new locations and sunken treasure!!

The only downside is the price. At £900-£1000 its a bit pricy. However it is also a GPS plotter with the ability to quickly create fixed GPS readings for yournew finds.

The fish finder itself is also very good. Its a dual beam job that gives very nice clean signatures for the fish.

I need to buy a memory card and then I can upload some pics of the imagary.

[Captain J]

Forgot to add. Test conditions were not ideal.

June 15th, Sea state: Sunday afernoon; Force 2-3, bumpy

Boat speed: 4-6knots.

[Captain J]

Some recent pictures

One picture show the barge next to the Palace Pier.

The other shows the Palace Pier structure on the West facing side.

[Captain J]

Went out in the boat last night looking for the anchor rocks about a 1 mile off the end of the Palace Pier. Its a popular fishing spot and is apparently good for scuba diving/marine life.

Looks like I may have found it.

Anyone know the spot? This image was taken at half tide, so I guess at a low tide it might be a good spot.

There is no way I would have found it without the side imaging!