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Raymarine - showing fish over a fairly hard bottom with the red (hard) area being towards the top of the bottom if that makes sense 😂 looking to the left of this raised feature the red is right at the top and has a thin crust - this is rock hard ground. Will take more pics when I'm out next - showing weed etc, might already have some - will update this as I find/take more images 👍

I've never really been Terry Edmonds at casting, but I can still cast accurately enough and am finding I have to push myself to cast further more often and I still like to cast sometimes and with the use of 12ft wrapping sticks I can get it to land where I want it too, and sometimes I still just use a marker or lead to determine the bottom especially if I know the swim, sometimes I just use the boat and deeper because it's more stealthy or a good quick way of finding interesting spots without thrashing the water to a foam. I used to catch fish before I got a boat and like to think I still would. I've also caught some nice fish this year not always with the boat, so not quite sure what skills I may have lost? I've also been trying to fish different areas of the lake this year to build a better overall picture (i now have spots in atleast 10 swims) if anything I think I am getting better these days.

Do you think that because I've recently bought a baitboat with excellent sonar that somehow you're better at casting and feature finding than me? I'm as good as I've ever been in that regard yet now I have extra info available if I want it. The question is can they catch you more fish and the answer is a firm YES, there was no casting to the spot I caught from at Ashmire so it's a bonus fish, could have been more as I lost a few, and it shows stuff manual casting can never show. I.e undercut drop offs, fish, branches, sunken boats etc and the extra range, extra stealth, ability to go under overhangs.....

I heard we're getting the beast from the east again this winter

Off out tonight for an overnight sesh, I couldn’t decide where to go, so left it to fate - I flipped a coin! Lol! Fingers crossed that it pays off.

AT (Active Target) right? I didn't know that was available for bait boats tbh, will have to check it out, that's Lowrence isn't it? Used it on the rowing boats with a big transducer over the side, two screens, one each, trolling motor with spot lock, brilliant day out and amazing technology, you can tell the difference between pike and zander. So glad I've done those days with him it's been valuable, I could feel more confident taking on a bigger challenge maybe including boat work. Plus I'm not petrified at being over 70+feet of water anywhere near as much.👀 I kind of understand side scan now to, that took ages to get my head around but so interesting alongside the normal downward view.

I’m seriously considering getting AT 2 for my boat

Used it on the big ressies for pike, perch and zander when I go out with a pro, it's an eye opener! I actually prefer blind casting on my predator days as you waste so long targeting a single fish who isn't interested and turns away in the end. I think he would probably agree, however the fact that he knows exactly where the wrecks are and goes straight to them is an obvious edge.

Have a look at active target lol

This is the spot right under the tree at Ashmire, as you can see its quite firm and clean, ideal to present a bottom bait on tbh, a bit of pre baiting and again that would be glowing golden. I would and did just drop a rig on that, this one was the result 👍

You can definately get a rough picture of what's going on on the lake bed, even from the Deeper plus, this spot after a few casts I decided was a little silty but still quite firm, I haven't rechecked it recently but I've left a good bit of bait on it since and I suspect the top layer will now be a much brighter colour where its been cleaned off,

Sonar shows bottom hardness, so yes you can find silty spots that may hold bloodworm, also shows roots/branches near snags. Useful when combined with manual checks 😎👍

The deeper looks more than good enough to me and can use casting. We took my mates on Graffam Res Perching, worked OK but not enough battery life 👍

Talks have begun for another one possibly at linear 😲 I had a look at that one and a few others the raymarine does look good, can't help feeling that I would be better off upgrading the boat to get one rather than fitting one to the actor plus. A deeper chirp is an easier fix for the actor plus and could still be used if the boat stopped working. But I still can't decide if it is a load better than the pro plus 😂

Happy to go again, although Linear is a long way from me. Does depend on the weather for me. Fingers crossed for a mild winter!

Yes sorry Linear, there are a few bookable lakes now. Could be good

Where do you draw the line though? You cast towards trees, rig ends up in the tree and snapped off leaving a baited rig/possible leader/line dangling from the tree which other wildlife could get caught in. Using a boat or even casting towards an island, fishing tight enough to it could result in the fish swimming into the roots and becoming snagged. I see using a boat as another tool in my inventory, and as long as you're using it responsibly I don't really see an issue.