This is a two-part question in regards to sonar.

1. When using your sonar are you strictly looking at structure or fish? I have been in several local tournaments and some fishermen are just hunting out the fish on their sonar, while others are looking for structure. I realize that if you locate a desirable structure the fish should be there as well, however is there a time or condition during a tournament you would use one practice over an other. We where in a tournament a few weeks ago and the fishing was tuff, the boats who where run and gunning on marked fish had better success. We where fishing known structure that has produced in the past, using the same rigging and bait however we were out fished on day one. Day two we switched techniques and fished just marked fish and had much better success?

2. Is there better sonar for fishing shallower depths 10-20ft that will reveal the bottom huggers in tuff conditions? While drifting or back trolling slowly with out giving flat lines instead of arches.

Thanks, Flatland Fisherman

The first part of your question, you should answer for yourself, before the tournament (or day on the water) starts. If the fish are on structure, then hit the sweet spots. Make a logical route in your mind, going from one spot to an other, using the shortest lines & with no back-tracking or waisted time.

We used this method for years on Erie with success, before the zebra mussles, eliminated the daytime reef bite.

The better units will give you better target seperation for fish holding close to the bottom, but if you want to see fish setting on the bottom, you just about have to go with a top of the line color unit. A unit with a wider beam transducer will show you more bottom and more fish, but in looking at more bottom, you loose the detail.

Hope this helps, and good luck.