Mark Rose is the king of offshore bass fishing in the Mid-
south. he understands deep-water bass and how to rig up to
catch them. Rose begins by outfitting his boat with four large-
screen electronics units – two at the dash and two at the bow.
the oversized screens help him better interpret the data
his sonar delivers. he dedicates one console unit to naviga-
tion and traditional sonar, the other to side- and forward-
looking sonar. this is where most of the work is done.
Brandon hunter, a tournament pro, guide and electronics
guru in the Kentucky lake region, parallels Rose’s setup with four
big-screen lowrance depth finders on his boat. Both he and
Rose rely on mounts from Bass Boat technologies. at the dash,
they each use a side-by-side mount that keeps two large units
directly in front of the driver’s natural line of sight rather than off
to the side. this helps avoid fatigue and increases safety. up
front, Rose and hunter use a “stacked” bow mount with one unit
on top of the other for easy viewing of maps and sonar.
mounting head units
Seek advice on where to mount a transducer on your boat for best results.
“there’s no exact science to it,” he adds. “You don’t want
to have it too high because a boat has a pad on the hull, and
the pad is the only thing in the water [when moving at a fast
speed]. everything else is above the water. You have to get it
down there close to that pad.”
up front, Rose relies on a factory-mounted trolling motor
transducer for forward-looking sonar and stresses the
importance of this relatively new technology for relocating
bass once a school has been moved by catching several fish.
trolling motor Vibration and control
For a complete picture of what’s going on below, two units at the console
are better than one.
transducers
like all pros, Rose frequently utilizes side-looking sonar,
and is currently running a transducer that allows him to look
outward at previously unheard of speeds, even while running
on pad. however, the key to clear returns with any side-look-
ing sonar system is transducer mounting location.
“the trick is to mount the transducer as close as you can
to the bottom, and to avoid interference from prop wash and
turbulence created by the engine,” Rose says.
in recent years, side-looking transducers have been
mounted up high directly beneath the jack plate. Rose
mounts his new high-speed transducer on the flat area in
front of the transom and behind the pad (see photo at top
right), a few inches off center. that setup might not work with
every boat, so it’s best to consult a dealer or others with the
same rig and adjust as necessary.
maY-june 2017 I FlWFIshInG.com
Rose and scott dobson, a Great lakes ace with a recent
costa flW series win under his belt, know that trolling
motors are critical tools for staying on waypoints, particularly
in big water. Both make upgrades and adjustments to get the
most out of their motors.
Rose often uses the troll perfect device, an aftermarket
accessory that clamps to the trolling motor shaft to deaden
vibration and allow the user to adjust the steering tension on
a cable-steer trolling motor. dobson now utilizes the Minn
Kota ultrex electric-steer motor for its spot-lock and
autopilot features.
In open water, Costa FLW Series hammer Scott Dobson favors an electric-
steer motor guided by GPS technology to keep him on the fish.
37