Im wondering how many people on here rely on electronics to find fish more than fishing visible structure, I fish out of a jonboat more than the bigger boat we have and it doesn't have electronics so I find myself pounding visible structure around the clock.

The only time I'm fishing non-visible cover is when I go to spots I already have memorized in the lake I'm familiar with.

Use all your senses and tools available.

Tom

Carolina Rigs will help find structure & cover!

As WRB mentioned I use every available source to gather information.

I use my electronics to find fish and then I fish for them.

 

Before I started using sonar, I used my fishing equipment to find the fish.

 

I am a lot more efficient with catching using electronics.

Use all your senses and tools available.

Tom

I agree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Actually, a GPS contour map is a form of vision that allows the angler to scrutinize bottom contours long before he ever sees the lake.

Sonar is another form of vision, one used in the field to confirm the accuracy of the GPS chart and to pinpoint coordinates.

Our eyesight is needed to read the charts, read the sonar and to evaluate the cover, water clarity, shoreline topography and so on.

GPS, sonar and eyesight are not versus, but work together in concert; I can't imagine being without any one of them.

 

Roger

I fished out of a 2 man for a lot of years and managed to find quite a bit of offshore structure with the help of a C-rig, heavy football jig, or deep diving crankbait. I wouldn't want to fish without a depthfinder with any regularity now that I have one, even a cheap one is better than none at all. 

I don't use my depth finder to find fish, mainly because many of the lakes I fish are shallow.  The transducer's cone angle isn't wide enough to reflect  enough of the bottom.  I use it to find structure and cover and rely on my limited knowledge to determine if either or both might be holding fish.  There are times on my home waters that I rarely look at my electronics and other times when I have one eye glued to them looking for something I may have missed. I never fish a spot on a new body of water without checking out the area with my electronics, even if it's only to check the surrounding depth. 

If I am fishing ledges I am waiting "til I see em" to fish

if I am fishing shallow then I am looking at a map and looking around at the area.

RoLo taught me how to read a map.  So I know where to start looking.

 

Wayne P taught me how to read my electronics.  So I know what I'm looking at.

 

Now most of my fishing is done offshore, away from anything visible.