(Editor's note: The following is the latest installment in a series of fishing tips presented by The Bass University. Check back each Friday for a new tip.)
Most pros and weekend anglers pick a brand of electronics and outfit their boat with it at bow and stern. Not Miles Burghoff. The FLW Tour pro, aptly nicknamed “Sonar,” uses multiple brands on his tournament rig to ensure that he can make the most of each of their features.
“I’m a big proponent of using the right tool for the right job,” he said. That means that his current rig has a Humminbird on the dash, in an isolated system, and it’s complemented by two Lowrances and a Garmin.
Since moving to Tennessee, he’s spent many hours graphing and considering what his electronics are best at, and that has contributed to a solid first year on the FLW Tour.
“Don’t overthink it,” he explained. Two-dimensional sonar has a wide beam and is the best at high speed, but typically lacks definition and target separation. Down imaging offers more detail and target separation. Meanwhile, forward-looking sonar, like Garmin’s LiveScope, provides a very narrow beam, but allows you to identify the exact cast you need to make to hit a specific piece of cover or even to target a fish you’ve identified. He has it mounted on his trolling motor and uses it to figure out his next cast – he’ll take his foot off the power button, pan the scope around until he finds the right cast, and then aim it precisely. Earlier this year at Lake Seminole, he found fish on a 25-foot deep ledge in Spring Creek, and the LiveScope technology enabled him to maximize his efficiency.
While all of these systems taken in concert provide a virtually unerring view of your surroundings, there are times when it’s possible to get too deep into your electronics: “It shows you too much,” he explained. “You cannot believe the biomass in areas you’re not getting bit in.” He noted that anglers sometimes spend so much time fishing for bass that won’t bite, or fiddling with their units to getting them adjusted, that they fail to use their time wisely. He’s learned that just because fish are there doesn’t mean they’ll bite, and the shape of the school sometimes indicates their catchability. “They start getting tighter when they want to eat but looser when they’re in a bad mood.”
Burghoff also cautioned anglers not to get too reliant on side-imaging. Of course, it is one of the greatest tools for finding and analyzing cover and structure, but “it’s not a tool that’s supposed to be used for everything.” Nevertheless, he called it an “indispensable” element of his overall system – a key tool but not a cure-all.
Spend time with your electronics, whatever brand or brands you prefer, and maybe someday you’ll be called “Sonar,” too.
If you want to learn more about Burghoff's multi-brand sonar tips, along with a secret from Pete Gluszek about when, why and how to drive over an active school, check out the full video, filmed at this year’s Bassmaster Classic in Knoxville, available only by subscribing to The Bass University TV.
