Humminbird 360 Imaging Changes the Rules of the Trolling Game Forever
OutdoorHub 12.06.12
Not since the introduction of planer boards have the rules of the trolling game changed this much. It’s a bold statement, but Humminbird’s 360 Imaging literally changes the course of trolling for every angler on the planet.
Now, for the first time ever, anglers have the ability to see a full 360 degrees around the boat, 150 feet in each direction. Not only is it easy to identify fish-holding structure, 360 Imaging reveals any fish and forage activity within an area up to 1.6 acres.
Yes, it’s finding needles in endless haystacks.
Not only that, it’s all in real time, meaning you can actually follow moving bait balls and the ravenous predators that pursue them. Roving fish reveal themselves as targets, like bogeys on a tactical radar screen. Thusly, boat bearing can be changed accordingly and trolled lures placed directly in the fish’s path.
Humminbird’s Bill Carson says, “I no longer have to watch the birds to stay on fish, such as stripers, salmon, bass or walleyes. 360 Imaging is like having sonar on your planer boards.”
Simply estimate the distance between your boards and the boat. Say each one is 75 feet off either side, giving you a 150-foot swath. Set 360 Imaging to scan 75 to 100 feet on either side of the boat and in front. Using the circular grids on the display, accurately gauge fish position relative to the trolled lures. No fish goes unseen or undetected.
Couple 360 Imaging with 2-D sonar on a separate sonar window to not only gauge fish position relative to the boat (i.e. at 2 o’clock, 4 o’clock, etc.), but also use 2-D sonar to reveal the depth of fish, so you can dial in the trolling depth of lures.
As you approach individual fish, you can slow and accelerate the boat speed, which changes lure action and triggers more bites. As the user gets more experience with 360 Imaging it actually becomes possible to predict when bites will occur. For Humminbird’s Bill Carson, it’s sometimes seconds, and he says other anglers will quickly gain this kind of intuition when they start fishing with 360 Imaging.
Friends, the days of trolling blind are over. With 360 Imaging trolling becomes spot and stalk hunting … like sight fishing in depths nearing Jules Verne proportions. Hence, what fishing writer Cory Schmidt calls “Sight Trolling.”
All this equates to eliminating dead water fast and keeping baits in the money zone. The result? More walleyes, more salmon, more stripers, insert-your-favorite-fish-here. If you can troll for ‘em, 360 Imaging will find ‘em. And help you keep your baits where they belong … in front of their faces and stuck in fleshy jaws!
