I started fishing professionally in 1997 on cedar creek. That was back when we thought the Eagle Fish Mark 320 was the real deal!!! Lol.

I'm blown away at how far electronics have come and how it has changed the game of fish finding. Just today I was sitting on the boat with my customers telling them cast 80ft to the right...40ft to the left and so on...

I started laughing thinking how crazy it was the this machine was allowing me to call my shots and customers were hooking up.

Makes ya wonder just where we will be in 20 years, we will probably be laughing at side imaging talking about how old and outdated of an idea it "was."

Today's screenshot!

It is awesome! I love my Helix!

I remember when we had to learn a lake by dropping an anchor and dragging a Carolina rig or crankbait and guess what was on the bottom. It took forever to learn an area. Now we can see it on a screen display 100 ft from our boat in just minutes.
It is fun to tell folks on the boat to get ready to set the hook or cast here and they say how do you know that, then they hookup seconds later. Heck the sonar writes it out for you right there in living color!

I have a 320 in gargage want to buy an antique?

Well Captain, think back to 1997 & remember how many days you limited out on CC. I venture to say that your catch rate has not changed much. The new electronics are certainly improving our catch rate on poor days. The Eagle 320 was great & got even better with the new color units Lowrance introduced next. Improvements have been on a steady rising curve ever since.
I purchased my first GPS in 1999 and it has changed my fishing technique forever.
You asked what is next? Maybe in 20 years we just stay on the bank & program the boat to go out to the honey hole & bring us the fish back filetted and ready to put in the skillet.

When I started in 1967 there were no electronics. We found structures by triangulation and had to stop and fish each one to see if fish were there. My 1st depth finder was the Ray Jefferson flasher, and it was great - you could see if fish were at a spot without stopping to fish it. IMO the biggest technology improvements since then are GPS, detailed sonar picture, iPilot and side-imaging.

My first sonar was a flasher. Tiz good to be around to experience the advances. Never been much of a site fisherman, docks, points, weed beds and bridges to name a few. SI amazes me every time its used. How would we " dead Stick" without at least 2D sonar ??

Side Image is the schizz. I still have a few of the old flashers and a paper graph on some retired Kingfisher boats out in the pasture. It has come a long way for sure.

Future generation of imaging screenshot will leave nothing to the imagination, you can dangle a bait right in the face of that world-record;

The Ray Jefferson game changer WAY way back


Yup started with the Lowrance flasher in pops boat (1973 16ft. VIP tri hull) added a Auqasonic paper graph..
Next boat had a Eagle 5000 whoop whoop then to the �game changer Lowrance X70� oh snap

Agree side imaging does change the game !!!

Interesting and good read. Agreed and I would add TFF and the internet and smart phone to the list also. And thumper and splashed too lol. I learned so much on here, met a bunch of good anglers from area lakes and rivers all over, fished with them many times and wonderful knowledge were exchanged that sometimes included fishing too lol

Yeah Michael, with side scan I would yell 10 o clock or 3 o clock... 50 yards oh sh!t lol

It is.amazing. I had a Lowrance LMS350 when I bought my Skeeter in 1994. When the original units died around 2003, I replaced them with Lowrance units that now had built in GPS and SD card slot. Then I sold my boat and went a few years before getting into the kayak fishing thing. Since I hadn't shopped for sonar since 2003, I was overwhelmed at all the down imaging and side imaging, along with the fact that color screens had become affordable. I now have side imaging on a kayak and it's the greatest thing because I don't waste human power getting to spots that have no fish.

The higher frequency mega units just blow me away with the detail, but I'm sure we will see even more imaging improvements going forward.

I grew up fishing with my Dad and always hated lake fishing. Sometimes you could catch them and sometimes you couldn't buy a bite and never knew why. Nowdays, with electronics, you can avoid fishing empty water. I can pull up to a bridge pylon and know right away if it has fish or is a waste of time. Stripers are very easy to mark and fish with current fish finders. Once I find them, drop live shad in the midst of them it's game on.

Fish don't have a chance!

Helps when your looking in the rite direction too huh...thank ya sir!!