Catfishing pioneers and tournament pros John Jamison of Spring Hill, Kansas, and Phil King of Corinth, Mississippi, believe catfishing has become a divided nation. On one side are anglers who rely on sonar and GPS technology, and on the other are those who don’t.

“On most waters, anglers fish but a tiny fraction of all the available catfish spots,” Jamison says. “That’s because it’s easy to focus on the cover objects we see above water—logjams, trees, riprap, and bridges—which continue below the surface. In rivers, most guys also know how to read current. But most obvious spots soon become community holes. Over time, big cats no longer occupy these areas.”

Jamison says, unseen by most anglers is another world. “Used to be that only a few catmen rigged their boats with electronics. That’s changed. Most good anglers run some type of sonar, and an increasing number use GPS. Still, it’s easy to get in a comfort zone with your electronics—to use the units for basic depth-, structure-, and fish-finding information, and then just fall into a rut.”

Jamison says this is especially true of anglers using traditional two-dimensional down-looking sonar. Sunken trees get misinterpreted as schools of baitfish, fish are seen as rocks, or worse, beautiful cover objects simply get overlooked because they aren’t clearly defined on the sonar screen. Over time, anglers quit trying to mentally link what they’re seeing on screen with potentially great catfish spots.

“I’m not implying that 2-D sonar isn’t helpful,” he says. “It’s critical, particularly for quickly mapping an area, checking for the presence of structural elements and fish, and for holding a contour while drifting. But take all these advantages and add side-scanning and GPS, and your time on the water suddenly becomes twice as productive.”

Side-imaging provides a stunningly clear picture of the topography on either side of the boat, revealing cover objects and fish that dwell within fallen trees, next to rockpiles, and even beneath floating objects such as docks or barges.

“Side-imaging is vital,” Jamison says. “We see things other anglers can’t. It opens up the entire river or reservoir, rather than just the visible cover. We’re fishing untouched mid-river spots—channel breaks in 50 to 100 feet of water, sand dunes, unknown wood, and rockpiles. A few years ago, a ton of great spots weren’t be fished because there was no way to find them.”

Regarding the recent boom in catches of monster big-river blues, King says:  “Huge cats probably have always used these deep river structures. But lacking the sonar technology to find these spots, we didn’t fish them. That was the case with the deep Mississippi River ledge that produced my 103-pound blue.

“With side-imaging, we’re constantly discovering new spots. In this case, my Humminbird 997 traced out one huge boulder that created a current break in 49 feet of water on the side of a ledge. The image was as clear as a snapshot. Idling across the area with the unit set on split-screen mode, the 2-D sonar showed several large fish behind the boulder, out of the main current flow. We caught six blues there from 14 to 32 pounds.

“Then, as I held rod in hand, I felt this brute attack the bait and head down river. That was the 103. The next day this same spot produced a 58. Again, without this level of detail and precision, I never would have found this structural element.”

Side-Imaging

On all but the smallest waters, side-imaging immediately expands your understanding of catfish habitat. You see structure and cover in a detail that supersedes any two-dimensional sonar, so you discover cat-holding spots you’ve never fished before.

Side-imaging uses laser-thin sonar beams that take hundreds of thin slices as it moves past an object, compiling the slices into a highly detailed image. Unlike underwater video cameras, side-imaging works in any water-clarity condition. Moving at up to about 10 mph, the unit displays an area up to 240 feet to either side of the boat, depending on the setting.

Detail increases as the unit is adjusted to scan smaller areas closer to the boat. Depth is not a limiting factor, for it’s possible to scan in water from 2 to 150 feet or more. We can scan shallow areas for cover and catfish.

Jamison and King use side-imaging to find potential holding areas, but the units also show fish. Suspended fish create a shadow effect that indicates life, while cats lying in or near cover are more difficult to see. One way to examine cover for catfish is to freeze the image, then zoom in as far as possible. Larger fish appear as solitary oblong objects, white in color. Baitfish schools are unmistakably clear. Fish lying behind certain objects don’t always show. Just because you don’t see fish in cover doesn’t mean they aren’t there.

“If you zoom in close enough,” King says, “you usually can see fish inside dense cover, such as drowned trees. This takes some experience. Eventually, it might even be possible to distinguish different fish species, but not yet.”

“Side-imaging helps me find new spots,” Jamison offers. “Add GPS and mapping software, such as Navionics HotMaps, and things get really interesting. You don’t need all this technology, but once you see its capabilities, it’s hard to be without it—even for an old-school catman like me.”

Sonar, GPS, and other technologies aren’t necessary to have fun and catch fish. But it is the best way to stay ahead of the crowd when it comes to finding new spots. But what about anglers that only fish small streams? Does side-imaging work there? And what about scanning on lakes and reservoirs?