Well, just like the title states, how much has electronics changed your fishing?

 

I'm currently fishing out of a kayak, without any electronics.

 

Long story short, the wife isn't looking to buy a boat this year. 

 

She did however mention getting some electronics to put on the kayak now that could maybe transfer over to a boat.

 

I'm just wondering how much electronics would change my fishing?

 

I'm sure in the long run it would help tremendously. I'm also thinking it could hinder it in the short term. I have a feeling I would be too focused on looking at the screen and just learning how to run the dang thing.

 

Anyways, in your own experience, how did adding electronics change your fishing?

 

Thanks!

 

 

 Not much for black bass. Helps a lot with staging white bass in winter 

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

 Not much for bass. 

 

Care to share why you think this?

 

I wasn't expecting this answer.

I still just go fishing like I always have. I have found some good spots with electronics , one of them downright magical  for a couple winters, but it hasn’t “changed the way I fish”

 

You can waste a whole lot of time trying to catch marked fish when you could have been just fishing along like always. I took the depth finder off the front of my boat, still keep one at console. My canoe and kayaks are bare bones 

Me too.  I just have the garden variety of fish finder.  Side scan even.   For black bass I think the FF just gives me a hint.  Depth, temp, etc.  I cast way out beyond the scope of my electronics anyways.  
 

I do surprisingly fine.  I do like seeing huge clouds of bait fish.  I know predators are around usually 

I’m with @TnRiver46 on this, hasn’t really changed how I fish much.  
I’m in Florida and our lakes are VERY different than the rest of the nation. 
Our normal depth finder is a 7’ rod.  If it touches bottom, it’s deep.

Most of our fishing is 6’ or less, in most cases.
Now I fish the St. John’s river a lot and it has depths to 25’ is some areas and I will use livescope at times in it but most of the time it’s not even turned on.

I have & use my rigs installed electronics.

They are not the latest & greatest.

More like slightly out dated, especially by todays standards.

List includes HELIX CHIRP MEGA SI GPS G4N, HELIX CHIRP MEGA DI GPS G4N, the original AS 360.

In my fishing, the precision GPS and Lakemaster mapping is By Far the most used aspects of this deal.

As for How much has electronics changed my fishing?

It's helped me eliminate water, and the bigger the water, the more there is to eliminate.

It has also helped to point me in the right direction so I could locate

a few incredible areas that have produced some real trophies for me.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/256230-lund-1875-pro-v-bass-electronic-replacement-~/

A-Jay

I don't even turn them on a lot of the time.  I really only use them during transitions or winter.  When bass are shallow what's the point eh?

I transitioned from bass boat to kayak. I had the electronics on the boat so it was too much to take a step back without Livescope and 360 Imaging. These things are invaluable if you fish new water which is about all I’ve done for two years now. 

Started using electronics when the 1st Lowrance Fish Lo K Tor came out in 1960 or 65 years and counting. Sonar is my eyes under water and don’t like fishing blind!

Tom

Sonar has taken away the excuses I used to have not catching bass...

First boat that I got a flasher on was a 14' Mirrocraft in the early 70's with a Ray Jefferson flasher, could't afford the Lowrance. 

Caught the saltwater bug, got a 17' Boston Whaler Montauk and got the top of line unit, Lowrance X-15 paper chart recorder.  Man that was messy with the dust, and changing the paper but boy did that thing open up what's under the water!!

Move up to a 23' cuddy cabin that was docked in the water, and I think the Lowrance was a X-16, still using paper.

Had that until the early 90's, accident then derailed any boating for quite a few years.

Been in a kayak now for since 2004, just using Lowrance 2d sonar with mapping.

I'd be lost without it, not that I use it for "seeing" fish, though that does happen when fishing deep water in the salt or fresh, mostly just for depth, channel edges, flats, drop offs etc.

Even on water I've fished for years ya never know what you might come upon, exactly what WRB said, eyes under the water. 

My 15" Solix along with 360 Imaging has tripled my catch rate. Having the ability to make and return to a waypoint consistently in wide open water is priceless. 

Depends a lot on where you fish. In some places I fish -- especially shallow weedy lakes/ponds or shallow rivers, I don't find it very useful.  But anywhere that has a lot of depth changes, I find it really useful to see drop-offs, offshore humps and bars, thermoclines, deep weedlines, submerged objects, bait balls, and such. Even just knowing depth itself is useful.  

I’ve never fished as an adult without at least basic sonar and GPS. We always had that in the family fishing boat growing up. I’ve never known anything else. I’m simply not old enough.

 

These items are tools, but they also serve a basic safety purpose. I need to know that it’s deep enough for my boat and lower unit before I throttle down. And I need to know where I’m going, so I don’t run into an unmarked reef. Not every hazard is marked by buoys.

 

Water temperature is a critical element during certain times of the year. Other times, it makes almost no difference.

I did the opposite to frydog- went from kayak (same as his) to a boat.  I was in the kayak for 4 years and moved to the boat this spring, knowing what I liked and how I fish.

 

I think the answer depends on how you fish.  A recent trip out, there was a gent in a kayak with no electronics, nothing special, just a couple rods and a crate.  It was creeping down the bank in 1-2’ of water and throwing a wacky senko no more than 4’ from the shore.  When I talked to him around 8 am he had caught 11 and was having a good time. There would be no benefit of electronics for him in that scenario.  If you fish by going down the bank or floating with the current and casting to cover then there isn’t a lot of point.

 

Do you have a paddle, peddle, or motor?  If a paddle, I’d say the benefit for you will be limited.  A fish finder relies on the boat moving to build the image so unless you can paddle at 2 mph while watching your fish finder and marking things on the way you’re going to struggle.  A peddle or motor alleviates that concern.

 

Electronics are great for finding structure in water 10’ or more, especially side scan.  If you are fishing rocky lakes and off shore then I would say it is going to help you out a good bit.  Though, that’s tougher stuff in a kayak unless you have a spotlock motor or are good with an anchor.  

 

For me personally, i used it in the kayak for the things above (i had a motor and spotlock) and it was useful.  Without it, I would have just pounded the bank and never tried anything offshore at all.  Moving to the boat is only better in that regard- spotlock and big motor being the reasons.

 

I also have FFS which is another conversation.  I don’t think that’s what you’re asking so I won’t dive into that.

Well, I spent all day Saturday on a spot less than 75' long, because I saw a gill bed complex there on sidescan. Would I have found that spot anyway? Maybe, I was fishing main lake points in the wind, and that's where it was. 

 

I used to find a lot of submerged timber or brushpiles that you had to know were there or see on your electronics, and they tend to get a lot less pressure than anything visible. 

 

Mapping always helps too. 

 

If you are going to do sidescan, I'd rather have a used helix 9 than a new helix 7. Much more useful if you do end up with a boat.

 

If you are paddling, don't try to get something you can use on a big boat. Go for "it has a map and can tell me how deep I am" - like inexpensive 5" 

 

8 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

Do you have a paddle, peddle, or motor?  If a paddle, I’d say the benefit for you will be limited.  A fish finder relies on the boat moving to build the image so unless you can paddle at 2 mph while watching your fish finder and marking things on the way you’re going to struggle.  A peddle or motor alleviates that concern.

 

Just for the record, I paddle only and have no trouble building useful, reliable maps of areas I fish at low speed. I just leave Garmin quickdraw on as I go, whether fishing a spot, moving, or whatever.  Not going to map the whole lake, but I don't really need to.  

Used a green box and then a Humminbird Super Sixty Flasher but when the Paper graph came out it really connected what I was seeing to understanding how the bottom of the lake was.  I fish mostly impoundments so there is a creek channel, brush piles, humps, points, etc.  The paper graph allowed me to see the contours and how the fish related to them clearly.  Not a big electronics user but have a graph now and it is very useful but would be confident fishing without it.

15 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

 

 

I'm just wondering how much electronics would change my fishing?

 

I'm sure in the long run it would help tremendously. I'm also thinking it could hinder it in the short term. I have a feeling I would be too focused on looking at the screen and just learning how to run the dang thing.

 

Ask yourself when you are casting to a target, do I know how deep the water is there and, is there something that would attract the fish there ?

These questions could be answered by using a very simple unit and going over there and scanning the bottom.

 

Next time you try the same spot, it would be easier for you to choose the type of lure and the time necessary to get to the bottom  (or not) and even the type of action to give to your lure.

15 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

 

 

 

Electronics give you information about what's under the water.  If an angler is curious about what's down there and knows how to use the information then it completely changes the game.  If the angler is not interested in what's down there and prefers "the mystery of fishing" then having electronics is like a golden retriever with a Netflix subscription.

Electronics very much changed how I fish. First non-bank fishing was out of a john boat, canoe or belly-boat. All we could do was throw to visible structure -- weed beds, trees, rip-rap, etc.

 

Got my first boat, and found a Bottom Line Fishin Buddy...gave me depth and water temp. Pretty cool!

 

Upgraded to Garmin Echomap and really LOVED side imaging. Opened new worlds! Was able to find off-shore brush piles, structure, etc. Ability mark spots is great.

 

Biggest game changer for me...spot-lock on my trolling motor(!)

17 hours ago, HawkeyeSmallie said:

Well, just like the title states, how much has electronics changed your fishing?

 

I'm currently fishing out of a kayak, without any electronics.

 

Long story short, the wife isn't looking to buy a boat this year. 

 

She did however mention getting some electronics to put on the kayak now that could maybe transfer over to a boat.

 

I'm just wondering how much electronics would change my fishing?

 

I'm sure in the long run it would help tremendously. I'm also thinking it could hinder it in the short term. I have a feeling I would be too focused on looking at the screen and just learning how to run the dang thing.

 

Anyways, in your own experience, how did adding electronics change your fishing?

 

Thanks!

 

 

I had a FeelFree Lure kayak with a motor and fish finder. I mostly used it to know water temp in cooler months. I sold it and used the money for a simpler kayak and some other things. It's really unnecessary for the kind of fishing I do. I suppose it could help me find crappie. 

3 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

 

Just for the record, I paddle only and have no trouble building useful, reliable maps of areas I fish at low speed. I just leave Garmin quickdraw on as I go, whether fishing a spot, moving, or whatever.  Not going to map the whole lake, but I don't really need to.  

 

fair point on mapping.  If you're building a map with quickdraw or autochart then speed is immaterial.  It is taking a constant reading of the bottom depth and building the map in the unit.  I was referring more to side and down imaging requiring a relatively constant speed of travel.

The biggest benefit for me is the mapping abilities and the ability to see bottom composition changes on down and side imaging. Sometimes the lake map shows a point but that point isn't exactly what it showed, might have a gravel line extending past the actual contour changes, etc. I don't use any forward sonar or livescope. I can see their place but most of my fisheries I wouldn't use it.