We’re Spot-Locked in place (see "Charged Up on the Chesapeake," to learn how that little trick works) tossing jigs at the structure 40 or 50 feet off to starboard, catching schoolie stripers on Walleye Pete’s 27 Judge. I drop my rod into a rocket launcher and take a little break from cranking up fish (so as to not make the other guys onboard feel bad about fruitlessly flailing the water over and over again while I haul in fish after fish. Ahem). I walk over to the helm and look at the cement block the fish are clustered around, on the screen of the Humminbird Solix 12 MEGA Side-Imaging +. The weird thing is, not only can I see the cement block we’re casting to, I can even see the cable running off of it. Later that day we see schools of bait in open water, individual predators stalking them, and specks in the shallows laid up against a point. Cool stuff? Youbetcha. Check it out for yourself, on video.
The Solix utilizes an uber-wide spectrum of frequencies (ranging all the way from 50- to 1175-kHz) to provide spectacular side imaging out to 250 feet from side to side, down imaging to 125 feet, CHIRP, and traditional views. Dial down the frequency, and you can extend side range out to 800 feet and down imaging to 400 feet. Tap on the screen when you see something cool, and you can create a waypoint. Shift over to traditional sonar, and depth ranges down to a whopping 1200 feet as the unit pumps out 1000 watts of power. And yeah, this is a radar-compatible, NMEA2000 unit. Whew! Price: $3099.
There's a heck of a lot more to talk about regarding the Solix units. Things like the mapping options (which include the ability to draw your own charts as you fish, with the Autochart Live function) to both wired and wireless networking, to i-Pilot Link autopilot integration. But you can go to the Humminbird Solix page, and check out all the specifications and details for yourself. What we really wanted to do in this case was give you a flavor for how it was to actually fish with the Solix 12 aboard. And hopefully, now you have it - with flavors in the form of stripers, Spanish mackerel, bluefish, and specks.