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| Boating Accessories Sounders, Fixings, Safety Gear and More |
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| Boating Accessories Sounders, Fixings, Safety Gear and More |
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#1
18-10-2005, 03:54 AM
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Dual Beam
Could someone tell me is it a big advantage having a dual beam sounder?
Obviously it is better than just single beam, but is it worth the extra $$ I fish mainly in the swan/canning. I am looking to spend $400-$500 any ideas? 
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#2
11-02-2006, 11:13 AM
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Hi Boys
This went unanswered last year. Hoping someone will answer it now. I kinda have a similar question, is dual beam really necessary for the rivers? I think it costs nearly $100 extra. Also Lowrance X125 came highly recommended to me by professional breamers interstate. I want a fish finder mainly just for the depth but fish finder would be handy. Just don't want to go to the extreme as not fishing comps. Its 480 x 480 pixels, which is suppose to be excellent I think, but not necessary.. Really want to stick to Lowrance though; can you recommend a Lowrance sounder? Cheers ...... Carol (I am female, so help me!  ... but speak basic language please) 
Last edited by Lone Ranger; 12-02-2006 at 07:18 AM.
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#3
12-02-2006, 08:56 AM
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Carol
I have the x125 and it is a great unit. As with any sounder you need to take the time find out how to maximise it's capabilities.
__________________
cheers Craig ______________________________
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#4
12-02-2006, 12:10 PM
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This is my "LIMITED" understanding of it. And keeping it very simple.
Dual beams transducers have a narrow and a wide beam. Both project downward in an arc. The further the beam travels from the transducer the larger the area it covers. Think of it like a torch you can focus. The narrow "spot " beam travles further without getting too week. the spread beam will light up a larger area , but not as intensley. So a narrow beam transducer is better for deeper water, in shallow water the bottom area its covering is tiny. A wide beam is better for shallow water, more bottom coverage, but would be week and jumbled over deep water. I know my transducer is a single narrow beam, and I personally feel I'm missing a lot of info for breaming. I don't know if you get single beam transducers that do wide only, if you can great, bit if not I'd suggest a dual beam. I could be dead wrong, but thats how I think it works, wish I'd well enought to attend the hummingbird night a while back.
__________________
Not associated with any brand or retailer, except by the liberal use of my credit card.........hehehe Just look for the big pink Elegant.
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#5
12-02-2006, 01:05 PM
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Good advice there Carol!
Pretty good basic explanations too.
Even with dual beam (which in a rivers situation you really don't need) you do still cover only a very small area under your boat because basically the river is not deep enough to allow the beam to spead far enough. Bream are a pretty spooky species so - the chances of getting a narrow beam sounder in shallow water right over the top of a fish you want to cast too is pretty remote. The transducers are often mounted to the back (transom) of the boat so they tell you about fish you've already passed over (and spooked in some cases, so are no longer there to cast too!). They are good for telling you how deep it is... Now - a LOT of your bream will be hiding in/under structure on the sides of the river. When I was guiding for trout for 8 or so years in the Donnely River from canoes and river punts and such, I personally found that the side beam transducer (a second transducer unit you buy to go with the standard down beam one supplied standard) was MUCH more effective at locating bream in say the Blackwood on structure than the down beam transducer. The side beam transducer (in the case of the humminbird I had) would scan a beam of 15 degrees just below surface out to 120 feet...which at that distance covered a fairly wide Arc of the bottom away from the boat as well... When you think about how some rivers have relatively straight banks then slope out toward the middle once you get below waterline....a 15 degree arc sideways from just below waterline actually picks up a LOT of the bottom away from the boat as well as the banks themselves... You can see submerged trees etc in reasonable detail - once you learn to recognise the sounder return picture...and of course you can differentiate fish... By FAR the best results I used to get were from my canoes (you see Starlo & Buschy in one - the camo green n brown one they are in, in the Enngel fridge advert) where I made up a bracket to take BOTH transducers (down scan and side scan) that went over the FRONT of the canoe... It let me see fish BEFORE I got to them so I could cast to them BEFORE I'd spooked em. When I mounted the transducers on the back of my river punt once I got rid of the canoes - my catches dropped off a LOT - it was like flying blind in comparison to having them up front. The two different 'beams' of a dual beam are actually different frequency sound waves...that travel thru water better (for really deep offshore) or worse (for shallow water). On "sophisticated" colour sounders used by pros - the frequency is selectable to an extent depending on the unit and you get more controls over the strength of the signal sent out by the transducer, and the sensitivity of the reciever to the return sound wave! (i.e it is adjustable, not 'pre set" by the factory as in the cheaper units). Often the pre sets from the factory for the cheaper units are for inshore ocean work where depths can be MUCH more than you will encounter in the rivers so the results from such cheaper units are somewhat 'limited' by the factory pre sets. (Gain & sensitivity) Anyway - get what you can afford, get a side scan transducer if you can and try and figure a way to mount them up front (where the blades of your electric wont mess with the soundwaves either going out or comming back) and you'll soon learn how to find and catch fish with it. Any unit is better than none,particularly in tannin stained waters down south where spotting fish even with polaroids can take years to master properly! Cheers!
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#6
12-02-2006, 09:34 PM
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What are the chances of getting two transducers for the same unit, mounting one to the transom for moving around and the other to the leccy when fishing. I guess it would be easy to do if you had two"quick release brackets" and swapped them over when you want to fish up front. Save buying two sounders I guess.
That's what I want for the punt anyway. I've heard good things about the X125 as well. What are they going for atm?
__________________
PB: Never big enough 
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#8
13-02-2006, 12:12 AM
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Probably a good idea Stu
The Humminbird I used to have, had a lil black box both transducers plugged into - and a toggle switch - you could just toggle betwixt downscan or side.
Can't see why a normal down transducer wouldn't look sideways if you mounted it on some kinda backet that could be Moved so it swivelled sideways... At the end of the day - looking sideways covers a LOT more fish holding water in a river IMHO. Once when using the boat in Geo bay - things were very quiet, so I just went for a cruise with side scan on...until I'd see the occasional fish - out to 120 feet either side, - when I did - I would "circle" the spot keeping the fish in the veiw of the side scan transducer till I figured out by eye roughly where the "centre of the circle was" - then drive the boat across the centre, and switch to down scan and get a good look at the fish for 'size & depth' etc - mark the gps spot and then repeatedly troll a little metal slice thru that spot. It worked pretty well for targetting the little pods of a few bonito - just trolling a straight line wasn't producing but the "get them wagons in a circle" approach turned the day round.. Couldn't have done it without side scan....One of the pro lobster guys suggested the technique and on that day it worked. Tried it a few other times for no result - once in a lake - when it ended up all the sonar returns were long necked turtles (lake Jasper!). Cheers!
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#9
13-02-2006, 01:12 AM
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Hey Stu i have a Matrix 37 mounted with the standard transducer on the rear and fitted up fwd on my Minn Kota i have anougther braket and that is fitted to a side scanning transducer on the leccy so i just move the head fwd and back. Saved me having to buy 2 sounders
 And yeah a dual beam gives you more coverage and i kinda think that makes good sense really in shallow systems...
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#10
13-02-2006, 02:49 AM
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Sounds like I better come up and see you Rod. You come highly recommended.
Do you recommend a Matrix ( I was looking at a 37 in fact) as opposed to a X125? Lowerance are coming out with newies soon aren't they? Cheers
__________________
PB: Never big enough
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#11
13-02-2006, 03:12 AM
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Hey Stu i know verry little about Lowrance units. The 37 i love it.
As you are aware with sounders it does really come down to understanding what you've got as far as tools and then how to use them. That was the idea of Bubba's sounder night was to high light this to people.
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#12
13-02-2006, 03:16 AM
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Yes indeed Rod. Unfortunately I had to miss the sounder night.
Childbirth tends to take precedence  BTW dumpy I hope you don't mind your thread hijacked and I hope you got the answer you were after
__________________
PB: Never big enough
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#15
19-02-2006, 05:39 AM
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I do try to help, guys!
Sometimes - my experience may be different to that of others. it doesn't mean one os right and the other wrong or vice versa - it just means we have the additional information to assimilate and either use or reject based upon our own experience.
Is anyone in breaming using a 3d bathyscape viewer? I did see one somehweres in my travels about the net (can't locate it just now but gimme time!). A lot of the technology I've seen and used in some of the most sophisticated electronics technology afloat (lobster boats), will inevitably find it's way into the recreational market. Take a look for example at the french Max Sea Pro 3 d bathyscape viewer!. http://comen.maxsea.fr/MaxSea/Produc...g/default.aspx Already there are versions of this technology out in the USA for recreational use and some of the screen shots I've seen are remarkable for their detail.. I would confidently predict that within 12 months the leading bream tournament guys would likely be utilising such technology (and if they aren't - they probably won't stay at the top for long!)  Some of these units will end up being PC based, and will data log the riverbed below you and to the sides etc each time you pass, building up an accurate 3D image with data shot from all different angles, to the point where there will be no hole nook or cranny for a bream to hide - that you can't see on your screen. It won't come with one pass tho - it will be something that the more times you fish a spot and the more data you save - the better will become your 3D view of whats under you. In many cases it can look an awful lot like live video feed to the helm (in clear water) only the #d bathyscape will be able to do it in our tannin stained water! Anyway, I'm not 100% sure it's a good idea for me to be pointing you all at this new technology just yet, even tho it is already available in very basic form in recreational units in the USA already. I guess those looking for that competitive edge will do the hard yards to find it just like I did! Cheers!
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