I was paddling across murky water looking for a school of big drum. “There they are,” Dave Narr shouted from his kayak. “Cast to your left!” I followed orders and launched a two-ounce bucktail into the cloudy water. As soon as the lure splashed down, my line came tight and I was on with a 40-pound redfish. As the drum dragged me out to sea, I turned to look at Dave. He wasn’t searching the horizon for the next school of fish, he was studying the screen of his side-imaging sonar.

Side-imaging sonar is an eye-opener

Side-imaging sonar may sound like something out of 1968 sci-fi adventure 2001: A Space Odyssey, but the most recent advancement in fish-finder technology truly allows anglers to see beneath the water 360 degrees around the boat.

“The transducer on a 360-degree imaging sonar is on a rotating pod sending signals in all directions,” explains Justin Freeman, product manager at Hummingbird. “It creates a composite picture of the bottom.”

Man looks at a side-imaging sonar in his fishing kayak
“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone…” –Johnny Nash. | Feature Photo: Roberto Westbrook

Digital revolution

Since the first side-scan sonar hit the markets in 2000, the images and overall performance have improved. “The biggest advancement was going from an analog to a digital signal, allowing us to use CHIRP sonar,” Freeman says.

CHIRP sonar sends two signals at different frequencies then analyzes the return for a monochrome photo-like image of the bottom.

[ Read more: Ultimate Guide To Fish Finders and Sonars ]

Side-imaging sonar can produce an image of the bottom up to 80 feet on either side of the boat. Freeman adds, “With the most advanced signal, the sonar goes from 455 to 800 megahertz up to 1,100 to 1,300 megahertz for three times the detail.”

How to add side-imaging sonar to your fishing kayak

Freeman suggests installing the sonar where it can get a clear view of the bottom from side to side. Turbulence under the kayak can affect the image, so he recommends installing the transducer in a location far from pedals, propellers and paddles.

For further instructions on installing side-imaging sonars in kayaks, I hit up Johnson Outdoors pro, Rob Choi. Not only does he paddle the same boat I use, but he’s figured out a quick way to install and remove the transducer.

[ See also: 4 Go-Anywhere Fish Finder And GPS Combos ]

“Before you get started, order Versimold,” he told me. “It’s a soft plastic which can be molded to any shape then cured into hard plastic.”

Many kayaks come with a large scupper to accommodate a transducer. A side-imaging transducer needs a clear image of the water to either side of the kayak, requiring it to hang below the kayak hull. Choi uses the moldable plastic to create a support for the transducer.

Once I had my plastic support molded, I installed the transducer and used zip ties and a short piece of one-inch PVC to hold the transducer puck in the scupper.

[ See the largest selection of boats and gear in the Kayak Angler Buyer’s Guide ]

I ran the power cables to a rechargeable closed-cell, 12 V, 10 A battery powering the unit all day. The battery cable passes out of a front hatch to the display unit so I didn’t have to drill any holes. I can remove the whole system in minutes.

Getting the most out of side-imaging sonar

Side-imaging works best when the kayak is moving. Once I found structure or a fish mark, I could switch to down-imaging to investigate.

Freeman suggested I adjust the filters on the signal. “Low noise will show less detail but also less interference,” he explains. Higher noise will mark smaller baitfish but also display more clutter.

Freeman warned me against reducing the surface noise: “A kayak is going to roll around and produce turbulence. Reducing the surface noise could affect shallow-water performance.” Once the side-imaging sonar is dialled in, the fish can’t hide.

This article was first published in the Spring 2018 issue of Kayak Angler Magazine. Subscribe to Kayak Angler Magazine’s print and digital editions, or browse the archives.

“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone…” –Johnny Nash. | Feature Photo: Roberto Westbrook

 

Previous articleWilderness Systems Tarpon 120 Fishing Kayak Review
Next articleBest Costa Sunglasses And Lenses For Kayak Fishing
Ric Burnley
Kayak Angler editor Ric Burnley has been kayak fishing since the dawn of the sport. In 2007, Burnley wrote The Complete Kayak Fisherman, with chapters on how-to make a PVC rod holder and glue a fish finder transducer to the hull. In 2013, he landed his dream job as editor of Kayak Angler magazine. Burnley is a regular contributor to Salt Water Sportsman, Sport Fishing, Outdoor Life, In the Bite and other print and online publications. Burnley lives in Virginia Beach with his wife, adult daughter, daughter’s boyfriend and daughter’s two cats. Experience In 2004, Ric Burnley stole his first milk crate from behind a 7-Eleven and fashioned it into a gear crate for his Ocean Kayak Prowler 15. Many years and many milk crates later, Burnley has witnessed the rise of kayak fishing from a bastardized fringe element to a legitimate industry with millions of devotees. The journey to becoming an angler started early in Burnley’s life. His father, Eric Burnley, is a renowned outdoor writer and former fishing guide, so the boy grew up in the cockpit of a charter boat and in the pages of national magazines. After college, Burnley lost easy access to his father’s boat, but not his passion for fishing. Once he had exhausted the limits of land-based angling, Burnley decided to try out a new thing called kayak fishing. About the same time, Burnley was looking for extra work to pay for his expensive addiction. His father, editor of the Mid-Atlantic Fisherman Magazine, offered him freelance assignments for the weekly publication. That led to a position as regional editor at Salt Water Sportsman, publication of The Complete Kayak Fisherman and editorship of Kayak Angler. Meanwhile, Burnley and his partner-in-crime, “Kayak Kevin” Whitley were exploring the boundaries of kayak fishing. With the bountiful Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean as their playground, the two anglers were the first to target big red drum, cobia, trophy striped bass, monster black drum, sheepshead and many other species. Once inshore species were exhausted, Burnley loaded his kayak onto motorboats and fished for bluefin tuna, blackfin tuna, king mackerel and amberjack. All the while, Burnley shared his experiences and knowledge with anglers through print, photos, video, radio, seminars and online. Almost 20 years later, Burnley continues to fish obsessively and share the stories. His recent projects for Kayak Angler cover the latest trends in forward-facing sonar and remote-controlled electric motors. Over the past two decades, kayak fishing and Ric Burnley have come a long way from PVC rod holders and stolen milkcrates. Education ● Radford University: BA English; Virginia Teacher’s License. Highlights ● Other Interests: Mountain biking, traveling, hiking, surfing and skateboarding ● Day Job: High School English teacher at an alternative school for at-risk students Fun Fact Ric’s name is a contraction of Eric. Ric is named after his father, Eric Sr. To differentiate between the two Erics, Mrs. Burnley removed her son’s E. To this day, she writes the boy’s name ‘Ric, with an apostrophe replacing the E.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

1 COMMENT

Leave a Reply