BUZZBAIT [G EAR]
THE DOWN-LOW ON DOWNSCAN SONAR BY PAUL LEBOWITZ
N
ew downscan sonar units are taking the guesswork out of reading a fishfinder.
They depict structure in photo-realistic clar- ity, without the sometimes-arcane blobs and squiggles produced by traditional 2D sonar. The fidelity—what you see is what you get—is often stunning. “You’re looking at a picture-like view of
the water. Coral looks like coral. Rocks, you can tell the size. Brush piles, you can count the limbs and clearly distinguish fish from structure,” Lowrance Product Manager Lucas Steward says. And count individual fish, as well as distin-
guish their sizes. A school of bait doesn’t show up as a single blob, but as 100 fish in a tight group. “It’s eye-opening and shocking. People ask us what fish look like. They aren’t arches any more. Sometimes they have fins. It’s obvi- ous. If it’s not attached to the bottom or looks like a piece of structure, it’s a fish,” Steward explains. These underwater eyes have a few limita-
tions. Because downscan sonar “sees” in a fan shape rather than the circle of traditional 2D sonar, detail drops as the water gets deepens. At 100 feet or more, fish show up but they appear small on the screen. At 200 feet, the bottom structure no longer looks realistic. “If you’re tracking a jig and want to watch fish come up and eat it, traditional sonar is better because it is wider,” Steward says.
UNDERWATER EYES DON’T MISS A THING
Downscan sonars produced by Hummin-
bird and Lowrance, popular brands for kayak anglers, offer a second, lower frequency (455 kHz rather than the default 800) that provides better depth performance, but at lower resolu- tion. The choice between downscan and tra- ditional sonar boils down to where you spend most of your time fishing, skinny water or the inky deeps. High-end models designed for boaters offer both in the same unit, but they aren’t sized or priced for kayak use. The next issue poses that never-ending
challenge, how and where to mount the puck. Downscan sonar’s shotgun shell transducer can shoot through a kayak hull, but it loses significant sensitivity. “Traditional sonar also loses sensitivity, but it isn’t obvious because it doesn’t show as much detail,” Steward points out. One solution is to mount the transducer on an arm that hangs over the side—the Mad Frog Gear Liberator does the job. For a cleaner installation, a scupper mount is the way to go. Lowrance has a good one that fits most kayaks called, unimaginably, the Kayak Scupper Hole Transducer Mounting System. No tools or ad- hesive are required. Lowrance tabs its downscan sonar units
with the DSI designator; Humminbird calls its modern marvels Down Imaging or DI. Prices start around $300 for grayscale displays, and climb with added features such as a brilliant color display or integrated GPS chart-plotting.
PHOTOS: 1] A PAIR OF SMALLMOUTH. IN THE SHALLOW WATER YOU CAN NEARLY COUNT THE FINS, EVEN AT THE LOWER RESOLUTION OF 455 KHZ. 2] A BAIT BALL (AT TOP) UNDER ATTACK BY PREDATORY GAMEFISH, THE LARGER SLASHES CAUGHT MID-ACTION. 3] A CHRISTMAS TREE, CAPTURED IN ITS MANY-BRANCHED GLORY BY DOWNSCAN SONAR. 4] A SIDE-BY-SIDE
COMPARISON, DOWNSCAN ON THE LEFT, OF SMALLMOUTH HANGING BENEATH A BAIT BALL. PHOTOS: COURTESY LOWRANCE
B Y T H E N UM BE R S One Million 4]
Kayakers Casting BY PAUL LEBOWITZ
» People surveyed for the Outdoor Industry
Association Special Report on Fishing and Boating 2011: 38,742
» Estimated number of U.S. anglers,
in millions: 45.4
» Number of anglers who fish exclusively
in freshwater, in millions: 29.8
16 …KAYAK ANGLER SPRING 2012
» Number of kids ages six to 17 who fish,
in millions: 10.2
» Number of anglers who fly fish, in millions: 5.5
» Average number of outings per angler,
in days: 20.4
» Number of U.S. boat owners, in millions:
19.9
» Percentage of males age 16+ who’ve
operated a kayak or canoe during their lifetime: 100
2] 1]
3]
» Percentage who’ve used a kayak or canoe
in the past year, narrowly the second most popular boat type: 20.9
» Percentage who’ve used a deck / pontoon
boat in the past year, the most popular: 22.6
» Percentage of anglers who’ve fished from
a kayak: 2.3
» Extrapolated number of kayak anglers in
the U.S.: 1,040,000
PHOTO: JOCK BRADLEY
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