07-25-2004, 11:29 AM
[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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[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#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]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#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]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#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]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#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]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#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]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#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]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#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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