Of all boat accessories that make fishing more
enjoyable, sonar is arguably the best. It wasn’t always that way. My first unit
was a Lowrance flasher, and I was excited to add it to my 1977 lime green
sparkly MonArk equipped with a 90 hp Chrysler outboard. Even before I mounted
the transducer, I was already counting all the millpond largemouths my flasher
would find me from the Delaware ponds and rivers I fished.
As I recall, a bracket not unlike modern versions
was simply screwed to the glass console, and the transducer was screwed to the
transom and plugged into the back of the flasher with a ¼ inch phone jack.
Power was the typical black ground and red positive that attached to the boat’s
fuse block under the dash. That is where “simple” ended.
For those not familiar with flashers, a light that
would flash every time a spot on the spinning disk reached the top position.
This represented the depth of zero. The flasher would send out a sonar signal,
and when the signal reflected back from the bottom, a second flash of light
would appear at a different spot on the spinning disk, and a scale marked
around the disk would represent the depth of the bottom. As a depth finder,
these were a huge improvement over poking your rod into the water to find
bottom, especially since most of the rods we used were only five foot long. It
also beat casting a Carolina Rig and counting how long it took to reach bottom,
as you couldn’t do this under power.
Flashers were touted to also show you underwater
weeds, trees, and fish; all of which were revealed by a third flashing light
between the zero light and the bottom light. This is where the trouble started,
and the enjoyment began to get questionable. If you think modern electronics
are complicated, you don’t understand the challenges of sonar interpretation in
the early tournament years. WesternBass.com, YouTube, and even the internet
didn’t exist to teach you about sonar, and how to interpret the display.
In truth, only those who really wanted a flasher to
show them fish and structure, and practiced with them on the water were able to
benefit from the technology. Most could
not make the leap of faith to believe the flashes of light represented fish,
let alone realize with practice they could distinguish trees, weeds, and fish.
At best flashers were only depth finders to many.
Many to this day are unbelievers. Despite living in
an electronic age rich with GPS, Broadband Sonar, StructureScan, and now
SpotLightScan, those who embrace the technology and practice with it will enjoy
their fishing more than the others. First it helps to believe these advanced
High Definition screens are formulating a picture for a reason. Once you trust
your HDS unit, you need to learn how to interpret it. Options include personal
instruction from experienced users, internet forums, videos, and more.
DownScan technology has made believers of more
anglers quicker than any other technology. Anyone who has ever looked
underwater and viewed trees, rocks, and weeds on the bottom of a lake could
recognize immediately the same images created on their DownScan screen. Both
DownScan and SideScan technology draws nearly exact pictures of objects underwater
from thin slices of sonar and advanced software that assemble highly detailed
data into images.
SideScan is a little more difficult in that your
view is out to the sides of the boat, so the picture does not relate directly
to your traditional down view. But for those who take the time to learn how to use
and view SideScan, for the first time you could search for and mark fish and
objects far out to the sides of your
boat, rather than immediately below it.
Which brings us to the latest trend in sonar imaging.
SpotLightScan refers to a new technology from Lowrance that allows the angler
to sweep a sonar signal 360 degrees around the boat with the use of a foot
control (cable-operated) electric motor. Picture holding a flashlight in the
dark, and sweeping the light around you to spot objects in the dark.
SpotLightScan does essentially the same thing, but the light is replaced by
sonar, and fish and other objects spotted with the scan are drawn on your
screen. They appear very much like your SideScan and DownScan images.
If you have used StructureScan before, much is the
same in that you still have DownScan, but your SideScan view is replaced with
SpotLightScan. With this display, your
boat position is in the center of the screen, and objects spotted are displayed
on the screen in relation to your boat position. If fish or rocks are out to
your left, they will show to the left of your boat on the screen.
Using the new 3.0 software upgrade for HDS Gen2
units (download for free from www.lowrance.com)
your display includes a measurement scale. This allows you to see how far away
the fish and objects are from your position.
Mounting the SpotLightScan is simple, and there are
several videos on You Tube that are excellent. Instructions are also provided,
and for those like me who actually read instructions, will find them useful. To
use this technology you must have an HDS Gen2 unit (Touch or Push Buttons) and
a NMEA 2000 network installed on your boat. Your electric motor must be a model
that is steered with cables, because there is a position sensor that attaches
under your pedal. As you raise or lower
your pedal to rotate the scan beam, this sensor sends its signal to your HDS
unit through the NMEA 2000 network so it can be properly oriented on your
screen. Once installed, accuracy is ensured by a simple calibration process
performed with your HDS software. If you have a Touch Screen unit, there are no
additional parts to buy. If you have the non-Touch HDS Gen2 unit, you will also
need to add a SonarHub which the SpotLightScan transducer plugs into.
One important setup key is the proper adjustment of
your electric motor cable. Most electric motor foot pedals have a cable tension
adjustment screw. This needs to be
properly adjusted to allow smooth steering of the electric motor, with no
slippage or slop in the movement.
There are no power or ground wires to connect with
SpotLightScan. A single transducer pod is attached to your electric motor. This
pod includes the SpotLightScan transducer, a DownScan Transducer, and a
traditional 2D Broadband sonar transducer. A single cable allows for a clean
install, and the cable splits at the end to attach to the StructureScan port
and 2D Sonar port of a Touch Screen unit (or to a SonarHub for the non-Touch
HDS Gen2 units).
Images from SpotLightScan can be displayed on
multiple HDS Gen2 units as long as they are connected with Ethernet cables.
Likewise, if you have StructureScan attached to a different HDS unit, it can
also be displayed on your bow HDS unit connected to the SpotLightScan. The
ability to share and display all transducers on all HDS Gen2 units is a great
feature of which experienced users take advantage.
Learning to operate the SpotLightScan transducer is
the biggest challenge, but in very short order you will progress from wondering
if you will get it, to wondering how you did without it. The key is in
understanding how the technology works; and more specifically how the
transducer works.
The transducer sends out a thin slice of sonar in
the shape of a fan. If you drew a 45 degree angle on a sheet of paper to
represent a fan, then turned the piece of paper on its edge so the angle is
pointing with the open end forward, and so the top angle line ends pointing at
the water’s surface, and the bottom end of the other leg of the angle is
pointing down to the bottom, you would have the concept of how the transducer
points. When you rotate your electric motor, this fan rotates with the motor,
sweeping the area in which the transducer points with the slice of sonar. As
the signal reflects back from objects, the distance and shape of the object is
depicted on the HDS screen relative to your boat position and distance.
If you are stuck in the 1970’s, and don’t trust
sonar to tell you the truth, then SpotLightScan will not make your fishing more
enjoyable or successful. On the other hand, if you are like me and want every
advantage possible to find and catch more fish, then you will want to take
advantage of this technology.
I now use it in conjunction with my Point-1 antenna
when approaching a waypoint I want to fish. I use SpotLightScan to find the
structure represented by my waypoint, and because I spot the rock pile without
having to run over it first, I am able to cast directly to it, or to the fish
if they are out to the side of the waypoint.
I also use it to scan a flat or ledge for schools of bait or fish, or to
spot new structure (I didn’t know existed) that might hold fish.
If you want to look under docks and spot fish or
brush piles, and be able to know where and how far to cast, you will want
SpotLightScan.
In my experience to date, I can’t say it always draws
perfect pictures that clearly illustrate the target it finds. I doubt the
technology is capable of this since the picture quality is affected by the
speed of your sweep, the distance to the target, and the size and type of
target. But it doesn’t take a leap of faith to realize it is showing you both
fish and targets once you learn to trust the technology. The clarity of the
picture of the bass doesn’t make it more or less worthy of your cast, what’s
important is spotting the bass so you can cast to it and catch it!
SpotLightScan draws the image because the object is
there; many times it is clearly a tree on its side, or a school of bait with
large fish to the left or right, and sometimes it is simply something different
than everything else around. Even these targets are worthy of a cast, and now
you know where and how far to make your cast!
It took me years to learn how to interpret my
flasher to tell me useful information beyond the bottom depth, and it never
could show me where to cast to connect with a school of bass, or to a rockpile, unless they happened to be directly under me.
Times have changed with technology; and for the better for those willing to
embrace it! Ciao! Marc Marcantonio
Marc’s sponsors include: Lowrance, QuickDrops dropshot weights, Yakima
Bait Co, Ranger, Evinrude, Pacific Boatland, Lucky Craft, Lamiglas, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Gamakatsu,
McCoy Fishing Line, Solar Bat, Stealth Charging, and TaySys
Software.
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