COLUMN : NEWELL ’ S NOTES provisions for pro vision
Before you can unlock the secrets of modern electronics , you need to know how to properly rig them up
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a freelance writer and photographer , Rob Newell has been reporting on fishing tournaments for 20 years , finding the stories between fish and angler to be a stretched line of heroes , heartache , triumph , torture , inspiration and exasperation .
T he revolution of big screens and forward-facing sonar in bass boats has ushered in a new era of fishing technology that is here to stay . Professional anglers have made these new technologies look like fish-finding magic in a box .
Terms such as “ scoping ,” “ beaming ,” “ scanning ,” “ forward-facing ” and “ pro vision ” have all been used to describe this new ability to “ see ” underwater out in front of the boat . Nowadays , modern-day tournament bass boats usually come rigged for these new electronics . But what if you wanted to put this new forward-looking vision on an older boat or perhaps a smaller aluminum rig ?
I recently went down this road and learned that pairing this genre of high-powered electronics with older or smaller crafts requires the provisions of proper power , positioning and protection .
Modern units are not the LCR machines of yesteryear , where you simply tapped into a 12-volt wire , strapped a “ puck ” transducer to the trolling motor foot and were in the fish finding business . Consequently , when I recently upgraded electronics on a 12-year-old , 18-foot boat with a 90 HP , I made some mistakes that could have easily been prevented with some basic knowledge . After a few phone calls to the best electronics experts in the world , I learned a lot about the perquisites needed to join the modern era of electronics with an older boat .
20 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | DECEMBER-JANUARY 2022