I’ve heard a lot of negative comments about people using the Deeper as they believe it’s cheating and it takes away the fun of the unknown of fishing.
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. I still do this but in conjunction with the Deeper. I have a few issues with markering.
1. 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.
2. Unless you recorded 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 found over the years that it was never that accurate.
3. 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. If you were lucky enough to know someone with an A3 printer, you could get a much better copy.
4. You would always need to carry this around with you and I’ve had the odd disaster with water/rain damaging it. However, with modern technology, this has been made easier.
5. With the number of maker floats I’ve lost over the year’s, the deeper with pay for itself in the long run.
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), take a read of my blog on this feature.
This is why I think the Deeper is a step forward and not a cheating tool.
1. 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.
2. You don’t need to drag it through your swim and past feeding fish as it floats on the surface.
3. Once it’s recorded the information, you can play it back as many times as you like without the need to put it out again. Therefore, creating less disturbance. Some people think this is a problem – you would be doing less time marker floating and its only on the surface. I see the real issue here is the amount of spombing which goes on these days.
4. The lake book feature (that I have mentioned) 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.
5. By mapping the lake with the Deeper, you will build up a better understanding of the water you fish. You can see the bigger picture a lot better than with a hand-drawn map.
6. I fish all through the Winter and with the night mode switch on, I could carry on mapping the lake and finding features.
7. I’ve not mentioned the fish icon feature which can be turned on and off, this also appears to be also a problem with some people. Well, it’s just an icon for a fish to help you distinguish what the sonar is picking up. It’s only let you know where the fish are, it does not tell why there are there or what they are up to. This is still down to you to work out, not much difference at all.
8. The amount of time it can save you is such a great help. We are always rushing around everywhere these days.
9. 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.
In regards to the cheating part. 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 the 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 realise the Deeper is a great bit of kit. For the money, it’s an amazing bit of technology, which will help you bank a lot more fish. It will save you time and give you a greater understanding of the water you are fishing.
Hope This Helps
Richard
10% discount code –DEEPER-H-9OCSF – on the Deeper Sonar website
UK Carp & Coarse Fishing 