Im looking for some info on the Interphase fwd. scanning sonar. Does anyone have one and what do you think of it. I saw it in the boaters world catalog and it looks like it could be pretty usefull.

I own one of these units and I like it. It is essentially a "sidefinder" type scanner with a 90 degree sweep angle looking forward. This unit only displays the essential information (ie, relative target returns) and as such is not as entertaining as many other units which show a bunch of cute little fish swimming around (when in fact the actual return may not be a fish at all).

The forward scanning unit will also readily show the bottom and this can be confusing until you realize what you are looking at.

Interphase also makes a downward scanning system that scans from the surface to directly under the boat. If I was to do it over again I would buy one of those units and mount it to the side. Then you would have a combination of regular fishfinder (ie, 10 degrees down) plus a regular sidefinder (ie, 10 degrees to the side) plus all the other angles in between.

I have sidescan on my Humminbird that looks 45 degrees to each side, and I find that a lot more useful for trolling - you can move towards the contour that the fish are holding at and follow the school much easier. This is awesome for schooling fish like sockeye, and is really awesome springer fishing in shallow water where your downward looking sonar rarely sees a fish - I can see them as far away from the boat as the water is deep and make a move on them. I've used forward looking sonar also but by far prefer the sidescan.