How to Use Side Imaging (Side Scan) Sonar -- Learn the science behind the sonar to catch more fish!

Side Imaging technology is amazing and it can help us locate more bass and fish because it enables us to scan to the left and right of our boats out to a couple hundred feet. It is also called side scan and operates much like other sonar technologies, just that the angle is different.
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See our other sonar vidoes:
Down Imaging:    • DOWN IMAGING -- DOWN SCAN -- CLEARVU:...  
Traditional Sonar:    • What You Don't Know About Traditional...  
Sonar Basics:    • How Fish Finders Work - The Basics of...  
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Side imaging technology uses high frequency sonar radio waves and those specific frequencies provide the data necessary to generate crystal clear images on our depth finders. It is so good that it looks like a picture is taken underwater. Unlike with traditional 2D sonar, with side imaging, we can make out the differences between fish, rocks, weeds, and tree limbs. You can even distinguish between species of fish and whether or not a fish is sitting above a brush pile. The best part though, you don't have to travel right over an object for you to see it on your sonar display.
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Just like all other sonar technologies, side imaging emits radio waves at a specified angle from the transducer. However, these waves are transmitted at a downward from the transducer, and their angle ensures those waves are being sent to the left and right of the boat. Just like down imaging though, side imaging is just presenting you a very small slice of the water column and is paper thin. This is unlike traditional sonar which creates a cone of coverage when it pings its signal. Therefore, when you see an object on your side imaging screen, that object is either directly to the left or right of the transducer.
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A unique facet of side imaging comes from the fact it often creates a sonar shadow. The sonar signal will often hit an object, say a tree or rock, and that signal is going to bounce back (echo) to the transducer. So behind the bright image of a rock or tree is a dark outline of the shape of that object. This is very similar to when the sun is low in the sky. The sunlight hits you, you block that sunlight, and therefore you see your shadow on the opposite of where the sun is. The interesting thing about sonar shadows is, they can be very helpful. That radio wave is only being blocked by the object and that signal continues to travel above it. That is why you often see little dots in that dark area. Those dots are fish that are suspended right above the object.