what has your experience been with side-looking sonar, meaning narrow beams aimed out almost horizontally?

thanks in advance for any input.

john

The one I have on my "fishing buddy" has the same cone angle on sideview that it does on bottom view. It's not any narrower.

Yep, you can spot fish on side view, but you need to know the diameter of the cone at that distance as the fish can be at either the upper or lower edge.

I have a HB Paramount with side find and it works great for hunting down packs of fish. Depending on what model or brand you have will determine how deep down and how far to the side they look. Mine is down to 100ft and 60ft to each side of boat. So i just start out and cut a 120ft wide path down the lake and eventually run into a pack. Very usefull. Great for spot casting to risers. Also great for looking under docks, logs, lillys or just to scan the shoreline.