Wide side transducers

knobby · #1 17-11-2008, 07:57 AM

How effective are these, in particular for tracking schools of tuna and salmon(and bream of course

). any info appreciatedCheersToby

Yardi · #2 17-11-2008, 04:43 PM

Toby,
The Humminbird Side imaging units are fantastic, I have the 797 and it has blown me away with the amount of detail you can pick up.
It will definately do what you are asking and more especially in relation to finding structure for Bream.
Give Ryan a call at The Mandurah Marine Centre,95815377 he has just come back from doing a course on them on the East Coast. He will be able to give you a full wrap up of the capabillities of these units and if you do decide to buy one I am sure he will look after you.

Cheers
Yardi

knobby · #3 17-11-2008, 07:06 PM

Cheers, I'll suss him out.

splashy · #4 18-11-2008, 01:31 AM

Are you talking about Wide Side? Or Side Imaging?
The Wide Side are just a normal sounder that goes horizontally, as well as a virtical beam.
The Side Imaging is truly awesome.

Shane · #5 18-11-2008, 01:49 AM

I have side scanning, I dont really use it alot, it may just be my ignorance in how to setup the unit or not enough time in the boat but I rarely get a good scan of the contour of the banks and anything over 6-8 knots and it isnt worth it.

But I do think the side imaging looks the bomb

Mandurah Marine · #6 18-11-2008, 02:46 AM

Shane,
show us a pic of the xducer installation from aft & side on level with the ground and square on.

Side imaging - Have been selling them for a while now and thought I knew it's capabilities well until Shaun Clancy & Tim Morgan took me on a 2 day on and off water course. I arrived back in Perth 3am. By 10am after a quick nap I had Matrix 12 off and 797 installed on my boat!! The structure I can now see in just my canals is nothing short of amazing. I managed to drop my Minnkota 28lb transom mount over the side that afternoon - found it and stuck a waypoint on it with the side imaging.

Put simply theres no looking back for me now.

Knobby - want tuna? use SI to cover up to 75m each side of boat. 150m coverage! I'll try to get hold of some of the images Shaun & Tim showed us - you can actually tell in a couple of shots in particular what fish it is by it's shape. Another shot where the fish are in the water column you can count the fish due to the shadows they cast onto the bottom. Like I say, it was nothing short of amazing to see the full potential of these units and simpler to use than conventional sounder - although I mostly use it in split screen mode with dual beam/side imaging.