New Hummingbirds Good?

[lawman]

I fish Leech Lake 80 or so days a year. Am thinking of buying a HBird 898 or 998. Is the down and side imaging feature worth it or just a gimmick? The demo at the store is awesome but would like to hear from someone who uses one of these units. Are they difficult to us? My Lowrance is smarter than I am.

[MN Mike]

I have a Humminbird 798 side imaging unit, there is NO WAY I would go fishing again without some type of side imaging on my boat. It has heavily influenced where I ice fish in the winter as well.

Side Imaging is no gimmick, it's an awesome tool!

Bigger screens will only make it better.

Mike

[reddog]

If you think the demo mode at the store is awesome.... youre gonna wet yourself when you see it in action on your own lake that you thought you knew.

[PerchJerker]

I fish Leech Lake 80 or so days a year. Am thinking of buying a HBird 898 or 998. Is the down and side imaging feature worth it or just a gimmick? The demo at the store is awesome but would like to hear from someone who uses one of these units. Are they difficult to us? My Lowrance is smarter than I am.

Definately not a gimmick, and I wouldn't say they are difficult to use, but there is definately a learning curve to knowing how to use them well. It's great when you're finding sunken boats or any of the other neat stuff that shows up in the simulators and the photos on-line ...... but that's not quite the same as using them on a natural minnesota lake.

But, I use my side scan a lot and wouldn't want to be without it, and I am using my down scan more and more all the time. Probably the biggest thing to realize is that side scan is great at finding spots but is a lot less useful when you are actually fishing (unless you're trolling). You need to be moving to get good, clear images that are easy to interpret.

Hope that helps a bit.

[delmuts]

The one problem i have with mine is; it is soooo easy to get mesmerized with what you're seeing!! You'll see things with side scan that you want to check out, then move on to see what's next. My biggest problem is i keep forgetting to put the way points in so i can go back to those spots!

[reddog]

[TruthWalleyes]

Down imaging is a gimmik IMO, Side Imaging is the REAL DEAL.

You'll never regret the purchase of an 898 or 998.

[reddog]

Down imaging is a gimmik IMO, Side Imaging is the REAL DEAL.

You'll never regret the purchase of an 898 or 998.

You shush now!

[eyebjim]

Won't hit the lake without it.

The side imaging is great for finding fishing spots, fish, rock sand transitions and other cool things on bottom.

Perchjerker, I find that it is helpful when actually fishing as well. When drifting with socks out I find i will see fish coming on the one side at a angle base on the speed of the boat then you can prepare for a bite then if you do not get the bite you see if go out the other side of the imaging. It is highly difficult to distinguish rocks from fish but it does help.

[harvey lee]

I had a hard time getting both my Bird units SI set up so it would read well.

I went on I believe Birds site and there was a video on how to set it all up so it reads better.

Helped me alot and now it is what I was expecting it to be.

My issues were all user error.

[reddog]

Here's a .04 mph screencapture of some walleyes from Saturday.

Paddlefish:

[PerchJerker]

I did not say that I can't see fish on side scan. I said that I did not find side scan nearly as useful when I was fishing as when I was driving around.

A big part of the reason that's different for some of us probably has to do with the waters or areas we fish .... a lot of my fishing is on weedlines and over scattered weeds, and a lot of those weeds are milfoil and curly leaf pondweed ...... very tall and very thick. The screen shots reddog has posted are over clean bottoms, with some fish that are a ways off the bottom. SI will give you much better fish identification over clean bottoms than over weeds. When I am fishing on clean bottoms, like sand breaks and mud flats and underwater reefs, I use my side scan while fishing much more than when I'm fishing weeds (but still not as much as when I'm driving around).

[reddog]

I did not say that I can't see fish on side scan. I said that I did not find side scan nearly as useful when I was fishing as when I was driving around.

A big part of the reason that's different for some of us probably has to do with the waters or areas we fish .... a lot of my fishing is on weedlines and over scattered weeds, and a lot of those weeds are milfoil and curly leaf pondweed ...... very tall and very thick. The screen shots reddog has posted are over clean bottoms, with some fish that are a ways off the bottom. SI will give you much better fish identification over clean bottoms than over weeds. When I am fishing on clean bottoms, like sand breaks and mud flats and underwater reefs, I use my side scan while fishing much more than when I'm fishing weeds (but still not as much as when I'm driving around).

Agreed.

My window for fishing runs from Dec to May, possibly mid June. I dont typically have to deal with weeds.

[TruthWalleyes]

Scattered Weeds ya say...

Weed edges

Can you say White Bass Bonanza!

Worthless Gimmik

[lawman]

These are amazing screen shots and very helpful. Thanks.

[jigginjerk]

Was in the same spot as you a year ago. Went with the HB 998 and haven't regreted it one second. Just don't get frustrated with the side imaging. It took half the summer to get it figured out and set right so I could understand it. As Harvey said check out the HB videos and spend time playing around with it. You will be extremely happy with it IMO.

[Stick in Mud]

Thanks for the screenshots, guys...I've been thinking of upgrading to SI, and your comments sure are helpful.

[reddog]

Thanks for the screenshots, guys...I've been thinking of upgrading to SI, and your comments sure are helpful.

I sent you a PM Mike..

[morepower02]

Side imaging is a great tool. Down image has a time and place also but the picture It takes is just a slice below the transducer. Have any if you guys checked out the Gen 2 hds Lowrance units yet? The ability to record a lake in side image while overlaying it on a lake map is awesome.

[hanson]

I'll give one thought on Down Imaging as I've got to experience an incredible application of it... that is fish in submerged trees.

This was on Lake Oahe during the FLW Walleye Tour when I was Chase Parson's co-angler. We were trolling over submerged trees and Chase had plotted his trolling run over specific areas of these trees he discovered while pre-fishing. Now these trees were basically an entire flat that was covered in trees. But for some reason, the walleyes were holding in particular areas and his down-imaging told him that. The fish showed up as big white dots in the maze of lines that were tree branches, etc. He said visualize a tomatoe plant growing on the bottom... the tomatoes are the fish and the lines and stuff are the tree. Sold! This was incredible!

[reddog]

I'll give one thought on Down Imaging as I've got to experience an incredible application of it... that is fish in submerged trees.

This was on Lake Oahe during the FLW Walleye Tour when I was Chase Parson's co-angler. We were trolling over submerged trees and Chase had plotted his trolling run over specific areas of these trees he discovered while pre-fishing. Now these trees were basically an entire flat that was covered in trees. But for some reason, the walleyes were holding in particular areas and his down-imaging told him that. The fish showed up as big white dots in the maze of lines that were tree branches, etc. He said visualize a tomatoe plant growing on the bottom... the tomatoes are the fish and the lines and stuff are the tree. Sold! This was incredible!

Agreed, That is one application that DI shines in.

Good analogy about the tomotoe plant.