A Geezer's thoughts on fishing electronics

[geezer1]

I remember when the Humminbird Super 60 came out. Man, what a unit! The ad showed it running in the bottom of a bucket full of water. No words were needed, just the picture. I just had to have one. A little while later, Lowrance came out with their paper graph. They had a clear plastic cover, so it wouldn't get wet. You'd see those guys flying across the water with paper streaming & covers flying out; what a sight it was. I couldn't be bothered with all that, so I stuck with my 'Bird Super 60. My buddies tell me that before the Super 60, we could tell how deep the water was by how far out of the water the dinosaur's head was stuck. They're probably exaggerating though, sometimes they do that. Anyway, that started my love affair with Humminbird. Through the years, I've upgraded & tried to stay "system smart". In fact, I'm planning to purchase a side imaging unit when I buy a new boat next year. My fishing buddies have them & I've been able to learn quite a bit from them. Along the way, I've also occasionally gone over to the dark side & purchased a Lowrance. I like their GPS units. Currently, I have a 5200c. Regarding depth sounders though, I have certain tenets. They must be Humminbird, they must have a high pixel count (640 x 320), they must be simply depth sounders (no incorporated GPS), they must be two of the same ilk (on console & bow) & they must not be color. I use my sounders for 3 primary reasons...to identify structure, to find baitfish, and to establish thermacline location. Nothing, in my opinion, shows baitballs & thermacline AT A GLANCE better than a grayscale Humminbird. I want the GPS to be separate & swivel mounted on the console. The antenna puck must be, as close as possible, over the console sounder's xducer. Makes it a lot easier to read that bend in the creek channel. That's how I'm currently set up. If I had to set up my next boat today, all would be Humminbird, two 728's (bow & console) & a 998c SI Combo swivel mounted on the console. The xducers for the 728's = console mounted, in hull; bow mounted, built into a MinnKota trolling motor. Any thoughts?