Live Sonar Benefits for Saltwater Anglers

Dwell sonar has launched an angling revolution, and prefer it or not, there’s no going again. Amongst freshwater bass, crappie and walleye fishermen, dwell ­sonar (aka forward-facing ­sonar or FFS) has turn into required tools. 

The reason being easy. 

From weekend warriors to event execs, sweet-­water anglers with out dwell sonar ­hardly ever stand an opportunity towards those that make use of these techniques from Humminbird, Garmin and Lowrance that show movement photos of fish and bait in actual time—imagery startlingly much like medical ultrasounds.  

 But, acceptance of this expertise has not progressed as shortly amongst saltwater anglers. That is mirrored in retail gross sales. To provide you an concept, ­solely about 10 % of Garmin’s LiveScope live-sonar ­techniques are offered to saltwater anglers, says David Dunn, senior ­director of marine and RV gross sales for Garmin. 

Nevertheless, issues are altering. “We’re beginning to see a groundswell of gross sales amongst saltwater boating anglers,” Dunn says of LiveScope. The development will ­probably speed up. As extra saltwater anglers flip to dwell sonar, others will leap in, lest they miss out on the identical degree of success, mirroring the identical phenomenon that has occurred within the freshwater market. 

Catalyst for Change

Driving using dwell sonar within the salt is a parallel development. It’s the rising variety of superior GPS-guided, long-shaft trolling motors in use by saltwater anglers. As in recent water, lots of the saltwater motors—however not all—present a handy place to mount and successfully goal the distinctive live-sonar transducer. 

In reality, Garmin has ­specifically engineered its Drive Kraken pivot-­mount trolling motors to simply accept LiveScope by providing the flexibility to route the transducer cable contained in the shaft so it doesn’t intervene when deploying and retrieving the motor. When mounted on a trolling-motor shaft, the transducer will be aimed in numerous instructions to scan and monitor faculties of redfish in a channel, snook alongside a jetty, or pilchards on the flats. As soon as anglers discover fish, they will watch dwell photographs of their behaviors, actions and reactions.

For anglers with out trolling-­motor fashions, there are “­sonar poles.” These embrace fashions such because the BreakAway Transducer Pole, Humminbird Mega Dwell Hand Management and RailBlaza Dwell Pole. These ­additionally allow you to independently goal dwell sonar whereas utilizing the trolling motor individually to steer or ­make use of in anchor mode.  

Learn Subsequent: Ahead-Dealing with Sonar Ways for Saltwater

Mo’ Energy

One other salty catalyst lies within the creation of more-powerful FFS techniques that may penetrate the denser nature of marine waters, which lower live-sonar vary by 25 to 30 % versus recent water. A powerhouse instance is Garmin’s LiveScope XR system. Its bigger transducer and ­decrease ­frequency can increase out to distances or depths of 350 ft in salt water to see fish in actual time greater than a soccer area away from the boat.

One saltwater angler who has pushed all-in with dwell sonar is Capt. Eric Davis. He guides backcountry and offshore charters out of Vero Seaside, Florida. “I’m not certain why most ­different anglers aren’t utilizing it, however I sort of prefer it that manner,” Davis says half-jokingly. “It provides me an enormous benefit. I completely imagine in it, however I’m additionally sort of tight-lipped about it.

“On some days, my information buddies with out dwell sonar who’re fishing close by will even shout over at me and ask, ‘Are you able to inform me what’s down there?’”

Davis, who serves as a professional information and area tester for Garmin, has two boats—a Hell’s Bay 16-foot flats skiff for backcountry fishing, and a 25-foot Sea Hawk center-console for fishing deeper waters. Regardless of which boat, he makes use of two live-sonar techniques—a LiveScope Plus on a trolling motor, and a LiveScope XR on a easy 4-foot PVC pipe that he sticks over the facet. The latter is related to a Garmin transportable ice-fishing bundle with a self-contained show and battery. This lets him carry it aboard both boat.

Scouting a Spot

“I largely use the XR to scan round to search out out if fish are on my spot and the place they’re positioned earlier than I even get near the realm,” he explains, indicating that the transducer on the PVC pipe is oriented in ahead mode more often than not. (All FFS transducers will be manually and shortly modified in orientation from an angled vertical scan to a vertical down scan to an angled horizontal scan.)

The XR lets Davis keep a good way from his spots, which vary from reefs in 20 ft of water to wrecks at depths of 200 ft. “LiveScope XR lets me find the fish with out driving over the college and spooking them,” he factors out. “Not solely can I see the fish earlier than I get to the spot, however I may establish the species.”

Based mostly on expertise with seeing shapes on the LiveScope show, Davis can clearly discern goal fish resembling cobia, grouper, kingfish, snook and tarpon, in addition to less-desirable species like barracuda, goliath grouper, rays, sharks and, oddly sufficient, turtles. He additionally positive factors a good suggestion of the scale of every species. 

This informs Davis when deciding whether or not or to not fish any specific spot. If, for example, he sees a giant goliath or sharks on the show, he’ll probably drive away and take a look at one other spot relatively than keep and lose a bunch of fish to depredation.

Fast Examine

You may assume the talent to ID fish takes years to develop, however Davis says that it’s a fast examine.  “About three days, and I had it,” he says with a chuckle. “It’s a very brief studying curve.” 

As soon as he decides to fish a spot, the information typically turns to the higher-frequency LiveScope Plus on the trolling motor. The marginally larger definition of this technique (versus the XR) provides him an concept of how the fish are behaving and responding to baits, permitting him to ­regulate the presentation with a purpose to set off bites.

Davis acknowledges among the controversy related to dwell sonar, however shakes it off as he displays on different advances over the previous 30 years he has served as a information. “I keep in mind related reactions from anglers when braided line hit the market, when Minn Kota launched Spot-Lock, and when chemically sharped hooks got here out,” he explains. “Some mentioned it was an unfair benefit, however quickly everybody was utilizing these applied sciences.”  

The identical factor is going on now with dwell sonar, says Davis. “As soon as saltwater anglers notice the benefits, they received’t wish to fish with out it,” he opines. “It takes out the guesswork.”