Sonar stands for SOund NAvigation and Ranging, so listen up! The concept of seeing underwater by bouncing sound waves off objects and detecting the return has been around since da Vinci. Today, anglers use advanced sonar for a real time view of fish and structure below, beside and in front of the kayak. If you have a fish finder, here are some interesting facts about sonar to bounce around next time you’re on the water.

Man looks at a side-imaging sonar in his fishing kayak Why Add Side-Imaging Sonar To Your Fishing Kayak?

8 Things You Didn’t Know About Sonar

  1. Leonardo da Vinci is arguably the father of sonar. In 1490, he inserted a tube into the water to listen for boats. His experiment is the first recorded use of an underwater listening device.
  2. A Canadian inventor and Thomas Edison protégé, Reginald Aubrey Fessenden was the first to successfully bounce detectable sound off objects and the ocean floor. His 1,200-pound oscillator was standard equipment on World War I submarines.
black and white photo of dolphins using sonar underwater
Feature photo: Pascal van de Vendel/Unsplash
  1. According to FilmSound.org, sound technicians working on the film The Hunt for Red October needed 500 attempts to create the perfect sonar ping.
  2. The first fish finder was built in 1948 by teenage brothers Kiyotaka and Kiyokata Furuno. After a fisherman confided he could find fish by looking for air bubbles, the brothers experimented with ways to use sound to detect a fish’s air bladder.
  1. Bats, dolphins and whales, hedgehogs, shrews and swiftlets use echolocation (natural sonar) to communicate, hunt and navigate.
A man on a fishing kayak using a fish finder from Garmin Guide To Kayak Fish Finders And Sonars
  1. Dolphins have a fish finder in their foreheads. By squeezing air through their nasal passages and aiming the signal with their melons, a fatty organ in their foreheads, dolphins can determine the distance, direction, speed and size of small fish up to 100 yards away.
  2. Scientists believe sonar will be an important component of space exploration to determine the depth and makeup of extraterrestrial seas.
  3. Navy sonar sends out sound waves up to 235 decibels retaining an intensity of 140 decibels for 300 miles. By comparison, the loudest rock bands only belt out a deafening 130 decibels.

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Cover of Kayak Angler Magazine Issue 50, Fall 2023This article was first published in the Fall 2023 issue of Kayak Angler Magazine. Subscribe to Kayak Angler Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.

Feature photo: Pascal van de Vendel/Unsplash

 

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