I'm in the market for some new gear and I am kind of stuck between a shallow water anchor or a side imaging unit at the bow. currently I am set up with a 997 at the console and a 917 at the bow. just looking for advice on what you think would be a greater necessity.

thanks!

Why would you need side imaging at the bow?

Where do you spend most of your time fishing? Shallow or deep?

I'm not familiar with the 917, but me personally I would never need si up front just di and gps. Buying a unit with di instead of si will save alot of money too

I also have a 997 on the starboard gunnel. In order to use the SI at the bow, I would think you would have to be trolling very quickly in order to get the best view and even if that did work, I'm not sure why I would use it at the bow anyway. I idle with the big motor to use my 997 and, once I've found something I want to look at closer and fish, I get up front and use DI or regular Sonar and wouldn't really have a need to be trolling fast enough to use SI. I also have a Talon and that has been one of the best tools I have purchased for my boat and I use it for beaching, re-tying, sight fishing, and it is especially useful since I launch the boat by myself the majority of the time. I will always have some type of shallow water anchor on my boat.

until recently I did all of my time beating the bank but I'm wanting to be a well rounded fisherman.

brad the 917 is 2d with gps.

I am new into the world of having a good idea of what I need to be doing every time I go fishing. patters, locating fish, best bait presentation, ect.

I was mainly interested in the si at the bow to stay around a creek channel or drop off.

I appreciate the info guys. I watch all the YouTube vids I can to gain knowledge but its so much easier to be able to ask. Hahahaha.

I agree with not needing SI up front but if you fish shallow very often and fish a lot during the spond then I would definitely go with the shallow water anchor. I had a single 8' Talon and went to twin 12' Talons and they are awesome. Seems like the wind is always blowing right when you get to where you want to fish and with these it is not a problem. Fished yesterday and used them most of the day.

I have a SI on my bow, and to be honest it was a wasted purchase for me. SI Images are skewed and twisted. no need for SI on the front IMO.

Well I thought the same thing about SI on the bow, till I put it on the bow, Dang sure is nice.

I have 1199 at console and bow. Going to install the 360 at the bow next.

I am a SI fan at the bow! However if I had a choice of one or the other I would have SWA's installed immediately.

Brian

I have an 1199 at the bow, but wouldn't do it again. I wish I would have saved a few hundred dollars and just got the DI unit. IMO, a shallow water anchor would be be a better investment... Good luck!

I have SI at the bow and wouldn't spend the money either. I like the DI feature though

SWA

I would take SI at the bow especially for shallow water fishing.
I did use SI at the bow all the time until I got a 360.
An anchor pole does no good if you don't know where the fish are.
SI shows where the fish are and 360 does it even better.
I rarely use DI or 2D any more, I get the depth readout and a visual depth reference on the SI and 360 views.

I would get the Talon anchor. Makes a big difference in slowing down and fishing thoroughly. I opposed them for a number of years but now that I have them I'm not sure how I fished without them.