Thread: down scan usefulness poll

My scoring would pertain to how some "vertical presentations" are using the DI technology...

The DI info is generally "what was passed over" in opposition to methods that need info from the MFD unit of "what's coming up ahead"...or "what's straight under the xducer...or "what's out to the sides of the boat"...

Some using vertical presentations are incorporating a system of "passing over a marked waypoint" with DI to determine if there are fish holding on the structure/brush..

*If there are fish ...then a buoy would be tossed out and the boat repositioned to fish the structure with the 2d...
*If there are no fish...then continue on to the next marked waypoint...

Conversely....longlinin,cranking, and other faster type trolling main focus is "what's ahead of the boat"...wherein, the chart is the most important tool...and DI's narrow beam (from to back) does not give as much pre-warning as the 2d cone shaped beam...of structure "coming up" to give time to adjust the troll pattern from potential hangups or problems...

DI's beam angle seems a little short (sideways wise) to get any useful info from under a dock where a SI beam could potentially pick up suspended fish under the dock..

Once again, these are just my opinions of DI usefulness broken down into the different fishing methods...as each method requires a different type (or scenario) of sonar unit information needed...

Rickie