I’ve been using the Deeper pro+ for just over a year now.  Since then, it’s helped me understand the topography of the lakes and has certainly helped catch more fish!  I have heard a lot of negative comments about people using the Deeper, they believe it’s cheating.

Watching the for features on my phone

Casting out

Well, here are my thoughts on the matter.

I’ve used a marker float since I can’t remember when and have always spent hours flicking it around the lake and recording depths.  Also with permission from the clubs, I use to spend many days in the closed season mapping out lakes.  I still not got as much information as you can get from using the pro+3.

The downsides of using a marker float can include the following; unless you pop the maker float up every 1 or 2 feet, you can easily miss a feature like a 6-inch hump/indentation in the lake bed, you need to record the number of wraps at each point of interest, how can you accurately map out the lake bed?  It’s all down to you as to where you make this spot on your map.  I have found over the years that it was never that accurate.  In the case of understanding the complete topography of the whole lake, you would need to transfer your findings to a master copy.  This was a pain until Google Maps came along.

Then along came the Deeper which records all this information.  It’s so much more accurate.  The lake book feature on the website brings all your hard work to life, in the same way as it has been done in the past but much simpler and with much more options.

This is why I think it’s a step forward and not a cheating tool.  Unlike a marker float, the Deeper maps out the lake bed, depth and features all in one go.  There is no need to keep putting it out and disturbing the fish around a feature you’ve seen.  You don’t need to drag it through your swim and past feeding fish as it floats on the surface.  Once it’s recorded the information, you can play it back as many times as you like without the need to cast out again, therefore, creating less disturbance, which a plus in my book.  The lake book feature is perfect for mapping the whole lake and has the ability to measure the distance out to each feature.  It’s on Google maps so you can see the features and the horizon marker when you switch to satellite mode.

View of the swim on the lakebook

By mapping the lake with the Deeper, you can build up a better understanding of the water you fish.  You see the bigger picture a lot better than with a hand-drawn map.  I have not mentioned the fish icon feature yet, which can be turned on and off.  This also appears to be also a problem with some people.  It’s just an icon for a fish to help you distinguish what the sonar is picking up.  It only lets you know where the fish are.  It doesn’t show why there are there or what they are up to.  This is still down to you to work out, not much difference at all.

View of my swim live on the Deeper App

The amount of time it can save you is such a great help.  We are always rushing around everywhere these days and with the fast pace of life, it can only be a bonus and a brilliant time saver.  The most amazing thing I have discovered is that the information I thought I knew about the lakes I fish (and I even have an old hand-drawn map of the lake), is very wrong.  The most surprising one was the gravel bars are not bars, they are just cleaned areas of the lake bed at the same depth as the rest of the area.  There are a few humps which are indentations and some areas that we thought where up and down all over, are just flat.

One of my most memorable session and without the information that the deeper provided and I am sure that my results would not have been as good was back in February this year.

This felt like the perfect spot

I was looking for a feature which was prominent around the deep water.  The light orange (on the image) is 11ft 4, then up to 10ft and on the little point up to 9ft 5.  This was the feature I wanted.  I baited the area with a mixture of crushed hemp and chopped boilies the carp should move in over the next 24 hours.  I know they were out there – I just need them to hold up on this spot and then feed regularly here.  I was very mindful not to overdo it, I managed to achieve the perfect balance.  This paid off over the next 3 nights with 8 fish.  For the middle of February, I was very happy with my results.

A couple of nice twenty+  Commons

I doubt this would have been possible without the aid of the Deeper.  The disturbance of a lead/marker float for long periods of time (to understand the feature that I had found), would have surely pushed the carp away from the area and into another swim.

On another occasion,  when I was mapping a few spots for the coming season I found a group of carp in a swim.  After I had finished my mapping, I returned to check if they were still about and sure enough they were.  As luck would have it, I also brought my tackle down the lake (for this very reason!).

Now that’s a nice group of Carp

I got the rods all set up and flicked the Deeper out.  I located the spot and flicked a 1.5oz lead out and clipped up.  I baited up the rod with a pop-up and did the same with the other rod but put a Wafter on this one.  I used small bags on each rod, which were sprayed with Catalyst booster spray.

All set for some action

Within an hour I had my first take and before I even sorted this fish out, the other rod was off!  I had one fish in the retaining sling and one in the net!

Nice scaley Twenty

Happy with this nice 30+ Common

In regards to the cheating, I am not sure where you can draw the line.

This can only be classed as a technological advance in fishing, in the same way as we have moved onto carbon rods.  The money spent on development has helped in the advance of these, far beyond the original cane rods.  And with the introduction of buzzers and remote systems, would all this not be classed as cheating?

In my opinion, any tool which is going to help the modern carp angler catch a fish in this day and age, who clearly has a lot less time to fish these days, has to help – don’t you think?. I believe a lot of the negativity is born by the lack of understanding of the product.  If some time was taken to read and watch a few blogs/vlogs people may realize the Deeper is a great bit of kit.  For the money, it’s an amazing bit of kit, it will help you bank a lot more fish, it’s time-saving and will give you a greater understanding of the water you are fishing.  It’s so much more than a fish finder or feature locator.

You can combine all your recordings on the Lakebook online page, you can review the whole lake and get a greater understanding of your quarry.  With the Lakebook online feature, you get to understand the topography of the lake, the hiding spots, interception routes, and the underwater highways, at a quick glare.

The Deeper pro+ is sure to catch you more carp and save you an awful lot of time.

until next time

Richard

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