Do you tilt your transducer when trying to mark fish?

[anthonyjj]

Hey all,
Was talking to a buddy who will stick his arm in the water and angle his transducer to the sides while looking for fish before he goes hole-hopping.

Do any of you do this and is it worth rolling up your sleeve and getting your arm wet?

Thanks in advance.

[hnd]

just swing it in the hole.  as it hits the side it will swing up.

[perchnut]

Ive heard of this, but havent tried it....will be watching this thread.....I was going to put an eye hook on the end of my scooper instead of using my arm......

[mrjohnny]

The bottom echo will smear out wider as you increase the angle, and side lobes may give you some ghost echoes, but you can definitely spot fish off to the sides using this idea.
The narrower your beam, the better this will work. You can draw little pictures, with up-side down ice cream cones, to visualize this.
The air bladder in a fish is fairly round, so it doesn't matter much which direction the sonar hits it from. Us side-scan users get fish echoes from nearly directly sideways all the time.

[eriksat1]

Do any of you do this and is it worth rolling up your sleeve and getting your arm wet?

No! Get a piece of 1/2" conduit and rig it to lower your ducer at a 45° or 90°  and search off to the sides that way. yes it works.

[Deal Ninja]

There is a product made specifically for this task.  It's called the Beam Bender.  Works well with two optional angles and has a directional clip you place on your cable so you know which direction your shooting.  Just a couple of little pieces of plastic, so it doesn't break the bank either and no wet hands or arms.

https://www.beambender.com/

DN

[slipperybob]

no I ain't gonna get my arm wet.   

[hardwater diehard]

just swing it in the hole.  as it hits the side it will swing up.

this ...and BeamBender makes a add tool for your transducer

https://www.facebook.com/Beam-Bender-566165533538473/

[Seamonkey84]

Or you can see what going on several feet to either side of your hole with panoptix 

[Dave R]

no I ain't gonna get my arm wet.   

X2

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

I do it often, just swinging the transducer side to side.  If nothing else, it tells you if something is relatively nearby.

[FISHFORPIKE]

Whatever the shortest distance is, in your beam, to an obstacle is all you'll get. No bottom huggers visible.  Really useful for suspended fish though.

Panoptics sonar works  very differently. Awesome technology.

[ByteN2it]

I have a couple of clamps I use to hold the transducer on my ice skimmer at a 90 degree angle and takeaway look around sideways, as long as the ice isn’t more than a foot thick it works & I use it to give me an idea how far & what direction to relocate if not marking anything where I’m at.

[hays47]

If you want to try something more effective. Get an older Humminbird that will operate with a quadbeam transducer. Usually models older then the XX9 series. I used a 788 until I went to Garmin and the panoptix.

The quadbeams are getting harder to find though.

[river_scum]

yeah here ya go.  save your arm. lol 
                                                       


that's electrical wire. just zip tie or rubber band it on. 

[Lobes]

I cut enough holes to check out the whole area.
I'm looking for active fish anyway. Not all fish marked are actively feeding.
Don't bother setting up the shanty until I find a busy crib. That's when the shack goes up and the camera goes down ...

                                   
Lobes

[Huntindave]

I cut enough holes to check out the whole area.
I'm looking for active fish anyway. Not all fish marked are actively feeding.
Don't bother setting up the shanty until I find a busy crib. That's when the shack goes up and the camera goes down ...

                                   
Lobes

So to answer the original question;  are you saying you do tilt your transducer or that you don't tilt the transducer?