How many of you use sonar fish finders?

[Luis Dominguez]

Which sonars would you recommend for lakefishing on shore? Cheap and good, if that exists. And how many of you still have enough success to not have to use one? Preferably bass catching

 

[Camo]

Obviously by the response, not many of us! You must be writing about the brands that transmit a signal from a bobber casted to an area where fish might congregate. I'm not impressed with the outcome or the out lay. Cheep or good, once the transmitter is cast, it's looking down. A car topper boat or raft might be a better way to go. Sonar is nice to have when hunting for underwater structure. May I suggest looking into under water TV ? I use both...From a boat. The new technology for underwater HDTV is unbelievable!

 

[Luis Dominguez]

No Title

 

[Luis Dominguez]

Thanks for a reply! I'm asking about something like the one above, would I need a boat for it or can I check while on shore? It just doesn't say much info on as to how to use it

 

[DrTheopolis]

That's a "downview" sonar. Quite useful on a boat, worthless from the bank.

I'm not much of a bass guy, but I would think your time would be better spent exploring the bank, and feeling the bottom with your lure.

 

[Luis Dominguez]

You just answered the question I've been searching for, thank you.
And I try to feel the bottom but I'm new to bass fishing so when I try doing that, I end up getting caught on rocks or grass and lose my lure haha

 

[TimberTodd]

Come August/September visit where you like to fish and make note of the exposed structure due to low water conditions. My dad would take pictures of the steelhead holes he fished and study the ledges, drop-offs and tailouts.

 

[Berg03]

Todd nailed it. Most bodies of water will be low during the early fall. You can usually walk the banks and see exactly what you are fishing during the spring.
Also if you are getting hung up on rocks and grass you probably are in the right area, just fishing the wrong lures. Just find out how deep you think it is then grab the right lure for that job. If you have 10ft of water and it has giant boulders on the bottom throw a crankbait that dives 6-8 feet. If you touch a boulder every once and a while that will give you some reaction strikes. There is a lure to fish any occasion of structure, thats why us bass fisherman have thousands of dollars in lures.

 

[Luis Dominguez]

Thanks guys! I just started fishing trout back in late September and just now (In the winter) thought about trying for bass. So I've read a lot of stuff on bass but there's still questions that most cited didn't answer like, do you guys memories how feep a crankbait lure goes down? Because the packaging says 6-8 ft, etc. but when you take it out of the packaging, how do you remember all of them and how deep all of them go?

 

[Berg03]

some people use a fine point sharpy and write it on the bill, then use clear fingernail polish over it to make it stay. Otherwise once you use them enough you learnt he size of the bill is how deep it goes. Rapala has them written on them "DT6" is depth of 6ft DT16 is depth of 16

 

[Luis Dominguez]

some people use a fine point sharpy and write it on the bill, then use clear fingernail polish over it to make it stay. Otherwise once you use them enough you learnt he size of the bill is how deep it goes. Rapala has them written on them "DT6" is depth of 6ft DT16 is depth of 16

Thanks, I've seen people writing on them with sharpie but never figured out how they made it stay lol

 

[andyb]

I usually don't use sonar if fishing from bank. But if I still have to use one then I prefer deeper smart pro+. It's portable and can be used with my iphone. Here's the full review.

 

[igquick]

For bass fishing, the ibobber is killer!