One of the biggest new advantages for bass fishermen is all the new innovations that have been made in electronics. No longer does an angler have to fish where the bass aren’t. He can see the bass and learn how they’re positioned on the structure and the water depth where they’re holding and then make a decision on what lures he wants to use. But certainly one of the advantages that tournament anglers have is that they get all the latest, newest and best electronics from all the electronics manufacturers in the nation.
I use all Humminbird electronics. My favorite new feature is the Humminbird 360 Image Trolling Motor system. In past days, an angler could only see the bottom and the bass under his boat. Next came the side scans that allowed an angler to view the bottom under his boat and also the bottom and the structure off to the side of the boat.
With the Humminbird 360, I can see the bottom and the structure all the way around the boat. This feature enables me to mark isolated targets that I may not have seen with just down scanning or side scanning. I even can see behind my boat and often pinpoint structure that I’ve missed using down scan and side scan. Also I can remain on a creek channel or a river ledge much better using the 360. Often, I locate structure and bass that other anglers may have missed with my 360.
I’m often asked, “How far do you scan all the way around your boat?” Generally, I try to scan about 150 feet all the way around my boat. But the 360 will reach out much further than that. The reason I set my Humminbird 360 on 150 feet to scan is because that’s a little past the distance I can cast. So, I’m constantly seeing the bottom and the structure in front of me, off to either side of me and the bottom to determine where I should make my next cast.
In the fall, finding the bait fish is often critical to locating bass. The bass may suspend off to the side of or just under a ball of bait fish in the fall, depending on what the bottom structure looks like. But when I’m just hunting bait fish, I use the Humminbird Mega Side Imaging that allows me to look 200 feet away from the boat. Then I’m able to see the bait fish and also how the bass are positioned in relation to that school of bait. I can actually tell you in what direction the bass are following a school of bait fish that are moving. I can tell which end of the bass is the fish’s head and which is its tail. So, I know which end of the fish to present the bait to, and this fact enables me to line up my casts more accurately.
Bass fishing’s new electronics drastically have changed not only the way I fish for bass but also many other anglers any time we’re searching for and fishing for bass holding on underwater structure. Today’s new electronics are the bass angler’s underwater eyes. The better the electronics are and the more definition and clarity the electronics’ makers have developed, allow bass anglers to see the structure and the bass much better. The more clearly we can see underwater, the more efficiently we can fish for bass.
