Tournament saltwater bass angler dives into the forward-facing sonar deep end

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BY MIKE STEVENS 

SAN CLEMENTE— Ahead going through sonar (FFS) has been fairly the thrill time period over the previous couple years, and most of that chatter is popping out of the event bass fishing neighborhood with nary a peep from the West Coast saltwater scene. That was till Western Outside Information heard event saltwater bass angler Bobby Martinez was testing these waters and reached out to get a learn on what he thinks of all of it.

‘I beginning tinkering with it about six months in the past with a buddy, and I wasn’t actually offered on it proper out of the gate as a result of there’s little or no data on utilizing them in saltwater out right here,” mentioned Martinez. “I only in the near past put it on my boat, and over the primary three or so journeys, I received to see some fairly cool stuff.”

Martinez is working a 12-inch Garmin 1242xsv on his Boston Whaler, and because it seems his curiosity within the expertise was sparked by the waves it’s making (for higher or worse) in freshwater.

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“I’d been wastching Bassmaster and seeing how that has taken over these tournaments, and I used to be curious if it will assist in saltwater,” he mentioned. “On account of how now we have a lot baitfish within the ocean, I believed we’re most likely going to see meter marks all day that doubtlessly wouldn’t assist us, but it surely’s really fairly superb for SoCal saltwater.”

Increasing on the baitfish factor, Martinez instructed WON within the final Saltwater Bass Sequence (SBS) event that he gained (Lengthy Seashore), he shot all the best way to Marina Del Rey the place he’s extra assured concentrating on bass. Whereas finding colleges of bait has at all times been necessary in catching any gamefish, FFS allowed him to take it a step additional.

“I used to be in a position to see in actual time what the fish (referring to bait colleges) have been doing in actual time,” mentioned Martinez. “I can see the traits of the fish and never waste time on any space or construction that doesn’t look productive. I can inform which fish are lively and keen to chew, and I’m able to keep 50 to 70 ft away from the rocks I’m fishing and take a stealthy strategy and choose them off. It takes the guesswork out of it. I Can see followers, or I can see when the fish spook and disappear in actual time.”

Over the course of the interview, “guesswork” and “actual time” have been two recurring phrases that repeatedly got here up. As Martinez was studying the ins and outs of his personal system, there have been some very cool surprises that surfaced throughout that course of.

“I haven’t discovered the best way to actually see noticed bay bass as a result of they’re normally down tight to the rocks, however I’m in a position to scan a complete row of pilings and see which of them had bait on them,” he mentioned. “In an evening event, I pitched on one which had bait and caught one, and because it got here up I noticed a follower (on FFS) and I instructed my associate to throw in there and he caught the opposite one. Throughout that event, I simply stored scanning round to see which pilings had bait on them and hit these ones with out losing any time.”

Martinez additionally mentioned he’s in a position to scan all the best way beneath docked boats to see if anyone is house, and talked about a time he was fishing in San Diego Bay close to a business fishing boat with crates of reside sheephead hanging within the water. Out of sheer curiosity, he beamed the crates along with his FFS an may see the reside fish transferring within the wood bins.

Martinez instructed WON his plunge into FFS wasn’t freed from challenges, however as soon as he powered by means of it was easy crusing.

“The principle problem was mounting the unit on a Boston Whaler,” he mentioned. “That was an enormous problem, however all the pieces else is very easy and straight ahead. At first, I used to be scared to leap into it, particularly for the worth, but it surely’s tremendous simple as soon as it’s arrange. There are good movies for establishing all of the parameters of the fish finder.”

He went on to emphasize the significance of getting the precise transducer for readability and element. Martinez runs a Garmin Livescope Plus LVS34 which, for him, was fairly a bit higher than the LVS32. He’s additionally a rockfish man, and he positively has plans to see how FFS might help him in that area.

“I’m going to want a special transducer to shoot deeper for rockfish,” mentioned Martinez. “I haven’t fished too deep with this one, perhaps all the way down to 125 ft, so on the shallow stuff beneath 200, I’m fairly positive I can do a quantity on them.”

He’s additionally wanting ahead to utilizing it for kelp paddy fish this summer time, but it surely’s fairly clear that at this early stage, Bobby Martinez is all in on FFS and fired as much as see what else it may well do.

“I’ve caught fish that aren’t even on the spot I’m that I’d have by no means caught earlier than,” he mentioned. “Each time I’m going out it simply blows my thoughts.”

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