What Your Electronics Are NOT Telling You About Fish
- By: Joseph Simonds
- on
Heeellloooo Salt Strong Nation!
We get this question all the time: “What kind of electronics or fish finder should I buy for inshore fishing?”
And the truth is… most of the time, you don’t need one.
That shocks a lot of people. Heck, our Garmin on the Pathfinder is busted right now, and we hardly even notice because in shallow water (5 feet or less), fish finders just don’t tell you what you really need to know.
In this new podcast, Luke and I break down:
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Why sonar rarely helps in the shallows
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When a fish finder does make sense
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How Smart Fishing Spots replaces electronics inshore
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The tools that actually help you find the 90/10 zone
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And why structure, tide, and bait beat electronics every time
The Big Takeaway
Electronics are great for offshore or deep water. But if you’re targeting redfish, trout, snook, or flounder inshore… the key isn’t what your sonar shows.
It’s about knowing where fish actually feed: the oysters, seagrass, mangroves, and current flows.
That’s why we built Smart Fishing Spots to give you the layers, the strike scores, and even the catch logs that no fish finder can provide.
And the best part? As an Insider, you’re not just getting Smart Fishing Spots. You’re also getting:
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Big discounts on all Fish Strong gear and tackle
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Exclusive partner discounts on trolling motors, kayaks, coolers, lithium batteries & more
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Access to our 60,000+ member community (with local chapters and meetups)
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Monthly giveaways
Ready To Catch More Fish & Save Big?
👉 Join today for just 27 cents a day and unlock everything we showed in this video (and more)
Tight lines!
Joe Simonds
Salt Strong Cofounder
Related categories:
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish ever trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
STOP WASTING TIME ON THE WATER!
Do what the “SMART ANGLERS” are doing and join the Insider Club.
Here’s what you’ll receive today when you join:
- Weekly fishing reports and TRENDS revealing exactly where you should fish every trip
- Weekly “spot dissection” videos that walk you through all the best spots in your area
- Exclusive fishing tips from the PROS you can’t find anywhere else
- Everything you need to start catching fish more consistently (regardless if you fish out of a boat, kayak, or land).
helpful thanks
Thanks guys – you brought up some stuff that I had used in the past, but then as you’ve added more features, I’d forgotten about. What a great “problem” to have 😉
Luke,
On the Chesapeake, shallow water, side scan will find a lot of structure…beyond that I agree, not much use, but chart plotter a must to mark structure and spot to cast from
This is great information. Thanks. Do you do all this on your phone out on the water or do you use a tablet?
I sort of agree that fish finders are generally useless for inshore kayak fishing. There are only 2 benefits: a) learning where dropoffs or holes are, an b) if you need geographic directions and have gps and decent mapping (but you can use Google Earth on your phone instead.) In 4 years I can only remember seeing fish 3 or 4 times on the fish finder.
For the past 2 or 3 years I never take a fish finder unless I am in unknown areas. I frequently fish and know water depths, oyster locations and the geography. (I wish the Smarts Spots app was gps enabled without requiring the internet…)
Very cool video.
Great review of SFS. I really like the app and use it before every trip, but I agree with Jason’s comment, it is not available on the water. I fish Charlotte Harbor and 90% of the time I am unable to get the app while fishing.
My question is, should I change out my depth finder for a IPad on my kayak? I try to use my phone with the maps on the Salt Strong App but the screen is to small and the glare bad. I found it interesting that you said that you can follow yourself on the maps “live” with all the new features Salt Strong offers. Very cool.
Henry, that’s exactly what I do…I have a 12″ Lowrance unit that I use strictly for depth/downscan/sidescan and a 10″ android tablet with SFS and the Navionics Boating app that I use exclusively as a chartplotter for navigation…with Navionics, you can download their maps to your tablet so you don’t need any internet service when you’re on the water.
really great
As I spend most fishing time in shallows, I only use my finder as a depth gauge until I get to a spot. Then, shut it down. 😀