Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to another sonar video. Today's video we're going to be talking about side imaging. Today's video will help you understand how side imaging works, what your screen is showing, the settings that I use, and most importantly how to find fish using side imaging. Let's first talk about the transducer. Now the transducer is located on the back of the boat at the transom. On the screen the transducer is actually located on the top center of the screen. Unlike 2D and down imaging so in our where the transducer is located on the top right corner, in order to create an image the transducer sends a signal straight down to the lake bottom, just like on down imaging. This will show as a black space on the screen between the two gold lines in my case because I'm using a gold color palette and this is the entire water column directly below the transducer. So just to clarify, this black space you see on side imaging is the exact same black space you see on your down imaging screen. The color, again the gold palette selection that I have, is the start of the lake bottom. Now this color section from where the line starts all the way to the end of your screen illustrates what is to the right and to the left of the boat along the lake bottom. How the transducer works is it'll send the signal straight down, no different than down imaging. But once it hits the bottom it will then send a signal to the right and to the left at a certain distance that you set on your screen. This will create an image of everything along both sides of the boat. Now we have an understanding of how the transducer works to develop an image. Let's cover the topic about distance. As I idle over some brush piles, I can see them appear on side imaging. On the screen you can see the numbers at the top or the bottom of the screen, which indicate feet away from center or zero. The center again is where the transducer is located. We have to do some quick math to calculate how close this brush pile is. It's a given estimate. It's not exact but it'll get you close enough. I'm going to take where this brush pile shows up on the screen. As you can see here and subtract the total depth that I see, which is the again that black space on the screen. This will get you that close estimate of how far away the brush pile is located as it starts to show up on your screen. Speaking of putting fish in the boat, what happens when you catch a really big fish and you find out your camera battery or your phone battery is low? In my case, I always keep a wireless power bank. That's why this video is sponsored by The Ridge. Now like I said, this is a wireless power bank. You can set your phone or any other wireless charging device. Right on top of it, it will start charging it. No cables necessary. So also got three different USB ports. It's got a regular USB, a USB-C, and a lightning port charger for any phone or camera device that's compatible with those plugins. For me, I also use it to charge up and power my GoPro. It gives me about two hours of runtime when I'm filming on the water. Plenty of time for you to catch a really nice fish, get some great footage, and also be sure your phone or camera still has enough battery juice to take that nice picture. Be sure to go to ridge.com, forge.lass.device, and use promo code Davis, that is DAVIS, all caps. You're going to get 15% off this charger. Huge thank you to Ridge for sponsoring this video. Let's get back to finding fish. I want to be very clear, just like in the down imaging and the 2D sonar, as that image scrolls back, it becomes historical data. And given the fact that your boat can change speeds and change directions between the time you decide to either cast that image as it's scrolling back, it's not an exact distance if you were to throw a weight point and it shows 100 feet or 50 feet to behind the boat or to the right of the boat. The best way to make sure that you're on top of that piece of cover, in this case, a brush pile, is actually to put a weight point down, go back over it, preferably with down imaging, and then throw out a buoy marker to make sure you are directly on top of it, gives you something to cast at, puts more crap in the boat. So let's just clarify the range settings. So if I were to set my range from 40 feet left and right, I don't actually get to see 40 feet left and right. I have to take my range, in this case the 40 feet, minus the total depth of the water. And that's actually what I'm seeing left and right of the lake bottom. So now that we have an understanding of distance, let's talk about historical data. If you remember from my 2D and down imaging videos, any image that appeared on the far right of the screen was directly underneath the transducer. Now, on side imaging, because the transducer is located on the top center of the screen, any image that appears at the top of either the right or left of the screen, as they populate up on the screen, they come from the top of the screen. As soon as they get to populate, as soon as they start to populate on the screen, they are either directly underneath the boat, if they're in the black space, or if they're in the gold space or the left of the boat, they're directly to the right or the left. As the images scroll from top to bottom, those images are now further behind the boat, if the boat is moving, that's a big caveat and it's important to understand. If the boat is not moving, the screen will still scroll from top to bottom, but the image will be elongated or blurry just like the 2D and down imaging videos that I previously made. Now you have an understanding of how the transducer works, what you're showing on the screen and your understanding of distance and historical data, let's talk about settings that I use for my side imaging. Alright, now I have some brush piles marked here on a deeper point that sticks out, and if you're ever looking for where you should be idling over with side imaging, down imaging 2D, so on our to find either brush piles or deeper weed edges, look where were the contours stack up fairly tight, and then try either the inside edge or the outside edge of this. I know I got tracks all over the place, but the contours sweep out and around like this, and there's brush piles actually right on top of this little point here, but if I didn't know anything about this lake, I would simply idle around where these contours are stacked tight, see how they kind of fade and get flatter, that means it's more of a gradual slope right through here, and it gets tighter again right on the point, and then it goes back to a gradual slope on that side. I would simply idle around this, we would side imaging or down imaging to see if I can find some brush piles, so that's how I would find them. Now, let's talk about side imaging. I'm over the top of a big rock pile right now, these are a bunch of boulders, there's actually a brush pile right here, but we're moving pretty slow. So first thing about side imaging, let's talk about just quick settings, contrast, you can set to, I found that actually lowering the contrast on side imaging is a little more helpful to find some definition for me, so I like it a little bit lower than 50, there's actually fish popping up right here on our screen. Let's do a little screenshot for you, so you actually see a little bit better with picture, but I like the contrast a little bit lower than 50, you can play around with it, the brightness again, same with the down imaging setup, I like the auto low function, I like it pretty bright, when you're fishing for smaller fish, like pan fish, I like that, this is like your game, for other sonar units this is your game, your brightness, I like it up a lot higher than what you normally would if you're looking for bass or walleye. Now, this is probably the one of the most important setups that I see a lot of people who try to use side imaging, this is what they mess up. When I'm using side imaging, right now you can see I have it on 40 feet left and right of the boat. I've seen guys at fish for walleye or bass, they probably go all the way out to maybe 70 feet or so and they'll feel pretty comfortable with that, you can actually see those schools of those bigger fish, and if I'm looking for pieces of cover like brush piles, I might go all the way out to 70 feet left and right, but if I'm actually trying to determine if a weed line or a brush pile actually has croppy on it, I'm going to bring this all the way back down to about 40 feet left and right. 40 to 50 feet left and right, that's where I think this is, is probably the best, and it doesn't matter what sonar unit you have, whether it's a Garmin, Hummanbird, Lorance, I like running 40 feet left and right, and here's why I got fish coming up right here, these are baitfish actually, I don't think those are croppy, this is rock pile drops off, there's a school of baitfish or some kind right there. Now, let's quick talk about frequency, because this is the Garmin 93SV UHD, so you see the frequency here, I have it on, this is 1.12 megahertz, it says 1120 kilohertz, now there's two options, typically on most sonar units there's three options, there's a 455 and 800 and a 1.0 mega, so if this is your boat, your cruise and straight to the camera here, the 455 is your widest angle of side imaging, okay, this is kind of like I talked about when it came to 2D sonar, your lowest frequency, typically on 2D sonars there's two of them, because most older models are dual beam, there's 83 kilohertz and 200 kilohertz, your 83 is your widest cone angle on your 2D sonar, your 200 is a narrow cone angle, same concept with your side imaging, your 455 is your widest angle for your side imaging, a lot of people run these new mega imaging units or ultra HD in terms of Garmin here, because of that, because of the higher frequency and because it's got a limited, or it takes in less data, it can give you a crisper picture, so the 455 let's say is right here here's your boat, it's going out like this, your 800 is 800 kilohertz is a little bit more narrow and then your mega imaging, your 1.12 or 1.2 it's a little more narrow, the mega imaging is a smaller, I guess, cone angle, it's not really a cone, but the smaller area that it's covering in terms of water, and it's trying to take in less data, therefore it can give you a crisper picture on your unit. So that is going to wrap it up for this side imaging video, hopefully you can use some of these tips and techniques, go out in the water and find a ton of croppy this summer, appreciate you watching, as always be sure to check out the Ridge Power Bank, you can go to the ridges.com forgelasdavis, use promo code Davis at check out for 15% off, I appreciate you watching, as always, if you've got any comments or questions post them in the comments section below, or you can message me on the Facebook or Instagram, good luck this summer, have fun catching fish.