Fishing Articles and Information

Question: Is the Humminbird 565 well suited for small pond and reservoir fishing?

Is the Humminbird 565 well suited for small pond and reservoir fishing? Also, when it shows a fish, is that fish directly below the boat or behind it? I have been using a humminbird 100w and have not been pleased with it at all. When it shows a fish, I don't catch them.... think they are well behind the boat then.
What about the 565?
Jimmy

Answer:
Hi Jimmy,
"Is the Humminbird 565 well suited for small pond and reservoir fishing?"

The simplest answer would be YES. You are getting the best in underwater coverage with this fish finder.
It has a wide 60 degree dual beam and a precision 20 degree narrow beam.

The narrow beam will give you the bottom and structure definition and the wide beam will give you a wide coverage.

You have got 250 Watts (RMS) which is good to 800ft. and is powerful enough to cut thru "dense" water.

"Is that fish directly below the boat or behind it?"

The sound wave can travel from the surface to 240 ft. and back again in less that a 1\4 second.
Now as each echo returns it is displayed on your screen and the old echo is moved over, thus producing your scrolling effect (this is not a 3D presentation of area below the boat).

So, your fish will be in your fish finder's coverage area, which for all purposes is directly under the boat. There are a couple of factors that will influence your fish location.

One is boat speed, obviously if you are moving the fish will be indicated at one spot but by the time you react to it and even if it hasn't moved, you have.

The other is the original location the fish was first located on your sonar which could be near the outside or directly below you.

Remember, you must be thinking in 3D and not 2D, meaning your coverage is in a circle not in a straight line.

Now, I am assuming your transducer has been mounted properly and the angle is correct. The angle will change if the angle of the boat changes (the bow rises out of the water or the stern drops) and this will influence the fish arches displayed on the screen.

These arches are influenced by the transducer's beam angle. The distance to a fish will decrease as the fish moves into the beam and increase as it moves out again creating the arch.

So, basically, when the arch peaks the fish would be in the center of the beam.

"When it shows a fish, I don't catch them"

Remember that your fish finder is a tool used to locate fish and that it doesn't catch fish, YOU do.

It is possible that they may indeed be behind the boat. The easy way to find out is to turn your boat around and go back. The other is to continue on your way making note of the area (if your fish finder has GPS you can mark it as a waypoint) and return to it later.

Other things you can do to increase your success rate is to change your fishing techniques.

These include changing your baits and bait presentation (troll, drift, bottom bounce and jigging).

Wishing you the best of success,
Iain