Boat electronics can further aid the soft bait angler in successful fishing which can often be overlooked by many due to the most common type of technique (cast and retrieve) employed, and often the angler is fishing blind.

Sounders

Sounders or fish finders are an effective way of locating ideal types of terrain when scouting around for potential prey. The sonar images displayed also allow you to see both schools and individual fish which are moving within the vicinity of the boat.

If drifting over an area without the motor running and sounder on sometimes you will encounter a situation where fish are passing right under the boat on the bottom. In this instance it is worth dropping your soft bait straight down on top of the fish and most often a hook up will result.
I do this on the kayak while paddling along as the fish don’t know I am there so are willing to take the soft bait as it sinks down and the size of fish caught this way can surprise you.

global positioning system (gps)

Sounders are useful in most situations encountered and can often be the difference in successfully locating fish to catch for the pot on days when the fishing is hard going or slow. Global positioning device (GPS) or chart plotter can be of benefit to the soft bait angler as well because they have the ability to track your drift lines which are displayed on the screen.
This allows you to re-trace your drift line or make slight variations when positioning for the next drift.

sounder-gps combo

A good choice for the soft baiter is a combo chart plotter/sounder which has both sonar and GPS integrated allowing you to display the bottom as well as the drift line on the chart at the same time using the split screen mode. Another advantage depending on the type of chart software the unit is using is the ability to find new potential fishing spots and many reefs/structure etc are marked making it easy to find them.

The latest Humminbird 788cxi is one example of a unit that is particularly suitable for this job. The Humminbird also has a built in internal GPS antenna which makes installation easy and has all the capabilities of a top end system. The hi-resolution screen provides crystal clear images allowing you to see more of the underwater environment in fact it is so good that you can even watch your soft bait sink down to the bottom.
The unit allows Navonic’s chart cards and you can up-grade to the quad beam transducer giving even greater views of the sea environment. If you already have a sounder fitted to your vessel and want a GPS, then either a separate unit can be purchased or alternatively a handheld unit which in most cases is a much cheaper option.