Quote Originally Posted by TrollingOnWeiss View Post
I am seriously thinking about getting an HB 898 or the old HB 997. I've read the boards and I see all of the technical discussions on these units but I want to know....for those of you who have bought them....DID IT HELP YOU CATCH MORE FISH?

I don't want a fancy $1500 toy that takes pretty pictures. I want something that is going to help me put more fish in the boat. Could ya'll please share your experiences? Thanks!
Check this out..... This is what Ive got for info on this subject. I have been in quite a few catfish tournaments on the ohio river and the guys that seem to always in in the top five have the si birds. This is the part I don't understand. I once got to go out with a fella with side imaging hb on the river that wins lots of these trouneys I speek of and he told me he never tries to find fish with his side imaging, only structure because all catfish are very structure oriented. Especially in current!! The whole reason for boating with him that day was just to see what I thought about the Side imaging because I was thinkin bout gettin one. Heres the thing, we would mark structure that he thought would hold fish and then fish the piece of structure. We caught fish all dam day but never once did I see a fish on the side imaging!! Just the structure!! That immediately turned me off because I thought I would be able to see tons and tons of fish on the side imaging but that wasnt the case. With that being said, the guy did do a thing or 2 that was pretty savy. He would see structure on either side of the boat which he thought would hold fish.... scroll the curser over the structure and mark it as a way point.... Then he would drive over it with the 2d sonar. That worked, but I hate to have to do that every time I see a piece of structure.

Ive seen posts where some guys have gotten fish to show up with there si units but the handful of times ive been on boats equiped with the si units I don't see fish with it. Before anyone asks, yes I know what the white flecks are supposed to look like, I just never see them in the spots that we even fish and catch several from that spot. I think si in my opinion is for finding the sturcture. I wish It showed the fish better!