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[url "javascript: addTag('cool')"][cool][/url]Came across the Q&A in the recent CA Hunting & Fishing News where Chris Shaffer throws out questions to his guest Gary Dobyns. One of the questions was F&H "How important is a fish finder? When bass fishing can you get away with purchasing a $99.00 model?" GD "No, I don't think so. There's a lot of cheaper models and they don't have the power to give you good readings or enough pixels to really show you what's below the surface. The cheaper models at best can be used for depth. Most cheaper models are bogus units that show a million fish all the time. They are all false readings. If you want a unit that is going to show you where the bait is and what fish are really down there, then you are going to have to spend more money."
What is your take on his comments?
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Apparently he must be loaded with cash!!!!!! ')"][ ][/url][url "javascript: addTag(' ')"][ ][/url]
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Hi there Dryrod,
Why would I want to take a stretch Beamer with satallite, wet bar and hot tube to go to pick up a quart of milk?
Like real estate, it's location, location, location don't you think?
Yes, I'm a cheapskate but besides that.. I don't need an edge over 'competitors' as I don't make my living partly by having the best equipment.
My Buddy III works perfectly (especially the side-scan) for the lakes and ocean areas I fish. I had a fish-lo-k-tor in the old days and that still works. For a tuber, is it more important to be aware of fish moving in and out of his or her range or what every little detail looks like? I move a lot in my tube so I'm looking for 'movement' and general structure.
Plenty of $69 ~ $150 models around that should meet joe the anglers needs...... not wants.
Besides..... how many guys with the intermediate models can actually say they have mastered the FULL functions of their machine?
JapanRon
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[url "javascript: addTag(' ')"][ ][/url]Sort of like the guy buying a $3000 computer just for e-mails and a few games. Howver, it gives him bragging rights. Duh!
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[url "javascript: addTag('cool')"][cool][/url][#0000ff]Hey Dryrod, I think you know my position. I have no quarrel with a guy who makes his living fishing competitively, and who wants all the potential advantages, and who has sponsors paying for top-of-the-line equipment. However, I don't think that price alone is a guarantee of being able to find and catch fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I am sure that the folks involved in that Q&A situation were not float tubers. Needs and applications are different in a megabucks bass sled and an inflated hunkarubber. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It WOULD be nice to have all the high-end refinements while tubing, but most of the real differences are either not needed or are simply overkill. After all, how many tubers need the speed indicator function? How many of us can carry around a big 12 volt marine battery to power the juice-sucking high wattage sonars?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Another good point was already made, and that is that most owners of the ultra fancy gear do not even know how to operate and take advantage of all the bells and whistles on their craft. They still use it much as we do in tubing. If they can read depth, structure and fish echos they are good to go.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]As I have repeated over the years, I think several of the "low-end" units...like the Eagle Fish Easy and the newer Cuda series...are perfectly adequate for tubing. There are also some fine systems from Bottomline and Humminbird that get the job done nicely. You do not have to spend over about $150 to get sonar that works for float tubing. You can get by for less, and you can spend more. But why?[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I wouldn't think of going on the water without my electronic "eyes" any more. If I cannot follow a breakline, locate structure, determine at which level the fish are cruising, or find singles or multiples of fishies, I feel totally handicapped. There have been a couple of times that my sonar quit on me...either at launch, or later in the trip...and even though I managed to catch fish, it was largely because I was fishing in known waters and could fake it. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If I had to fish a lake for the first time, without sonar, I would probably quit in frustration if I was unable to catch something by casting along the banks..."chuck and chance it." That's the way I used to do it, and it took me far longer to figure out where the fish were and how to catch them. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]With sonar, I am usually in the game a lot more quickly. And, even the "lightweight" stuff usually provides me with all I need to find the fish and make the adjustments I need to get into them.[/#0000ff]
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LOL,, I agree ol'e buddy. I didnt buy my Bottom Line tourny 4100 because its the top of the line, but rather, because I picked it up cheep, 90 bucks. Whats more it should give me a wee bit more seperation of the bottom and fish while on the hard deck at the Gorge this winter. Like Ron, I'm a tight a--, but hey I catch fish and dont need the top dollar crap to do so. I dont need a new truck to haul my butt to the water (I'll drive em till their dust) and work on em myself. Nor do I need a new boat to slide my back side across the water. I surely dont know all the tricks but it seems to me that man was catching fish (and doing it quitie nicely at it) long before eletronics came into play.
Btw,, I could be wrong but that guy that made the statement that only the big money stuff will do the trick sounds like a used car or sporting goods salesmen to me..
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[url "javascript: addTag('cool')"][cool][/url][#0000ff]Hey Don, we have both known guys that run something down until they have it themselves. Then, anybody who doesn't have what they have is second rate. I'd be willing to bet that the guy who didn't believe in the low end stuff used to have to use it himself...until he could sweet talk the wife into letting him buy the pricier units. Then, once he had it, he has to keep justifying it.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Like you said, it is still possible to catch plenty of fish without sonar, but it does make the search easier. As we all know, finding them is only a small part of fishing. Catching them is something else. Anybody who uses sonar has had days when they get humbled by seeing more fish than they catch.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Being cheap has nothing to do with anything. Sure, a lot of us are working on a budget, but we still buy the best we can afford. I'm sorry, but when it comes to anything in fishing tackle, I find it hard to justify spending a couple hundred dollars more for something than for something cheaper that will get the job done too.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]There are some folks that just can't have any fun unless they are driving, casting or playing with the most expensive new toys.[/#0000ff]
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[#005000] As you may know I was just stating a position that someone took. Personally my Cuda 168EX has more information available that I care to use. If one stays glued to the monitor too long they just might miss a nibble on their bait.[/#005000] [url "javascript: addTag('  ')"][ ][/url]
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Thats a fact! What more, like you said, he probably hasnt figured out what all the bottoms and whistles are for, and, never will. Lets face it, some folks feel the more gadgets the unit has the better off they are in having it. The truth of the matter is, the more gadgets it has, the more frustrating a unit can be to learn to operate, and, theres more to go wrong with it faster.
Well like you I've become perhaps to dependent on sonar, but hey, we're getting old-er so allowances must be taken, HA!
Cheep! Who's cheep? lol, I said I'm a tight a-- witch basically means my butt squeeks when I step over a dime, or so I've been told. I admit I wont spend any more than I have to to get the job done, and done right. So if that makes me cheep to so be it, but,, I aint easy!
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Hi again Coldfooter,
Step over a dime?! I stoop for a penny, on my hands and knees for a nickel, and do a full running dive for dimes!
Tubedude or another member of the gang said it very well. Something like 'I love my fish finder, then I can see all the fish I ain't catchin'!
JapanRon
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Hi Ron. I've been known to pick up a penny from time to time. Yet, I wont even breathe on those that are tails up! Superstitious?, who me? Nawwww, its just that it dont take me long to look at the rear end of a penny.
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