Electronics, anchoring, power sources and more continue to entice anglers to try the latest and greatest.

Story and photography by Brian Hughes

I wrote not too long ago about the advancements in fishing electronics, meaning our graphs, our “fish finders.” They have come a long way in a short time.

There are other advancements in our industry, some of which work in tandem with those electronics, and  others that are completely unrelated. I though we might take a look at some of those.

Todays graphs are nothing short of amazing! You can now select from several options when using sonar. Gone are the days when a 2d sonar was the only option. Now you can select 2d, down imaging, side imaging, 360 degree, or live forward facing imaging. If you have enough screen space, you can even select them all!

Of course, the elephant in the room, this does NOT come cheap! A unit today can run from $700 to over $6,000, depending on size and processing options. The most popular screens are the 12 inch versions, running somewhere between $2,500 to $3,500 each. But there are 15 and 16 inch versions available, and 20 inch screens are surely in our future.

The reason these are so big, and so expensive is we’re asking them to do more than ever before. Splitting a screen allows us to look at our mapping, while simultaneously checking side imaging or some other function.

But graphing is not all we’re asking of these units. Now you can run your trolling motor, and your shallow water anchors with your graph. All of this takes not only processing but power. That brings us to the newest of trends in power — lithium batteries.

After a little bit of a stunted start, most manufacturers have worked out the bugs in the lithium system for anglers.  Now you can have lithium power for your trolling motor and your electronics.

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