Questions are marvelous things. Ask one - there's no telling what you'll
discover. 

That was the case with Lucas Steward, the Lowrance Product Manager I
dialed up when I needed to learn a thing or two about downscan sonar for a story
running in the upcoming spring issue. Lowrance calls its version DSI. In shallow
water this high-tech wonder shows the underwater world in stunning, realistic
clarity. 

Steward cordially walked me through the plusses and negatives (there are a
few, chiefly for deep water applications). And then, the surprise. He's logged
considerable seat time in fishing kayaks near the company's Tulsa, Oklahoma HQ. 

"I've been fishing a lot of little electric motor only lakes from the kayaks. I catch more bass fishing from the kayak. I absolutely had a ball this past year, on bigger lakes as well. I had a 7-2 this year on topwater, and four sixes," he says, one angler to another.  


It says something about the mainstream appeal of the sport, and reflects on
how major manufacturers view it. It's a chicken vs. egg deal. Did Steward start
kayak fishing to get the company the know-how needed to produce gear for the
segment? Or was it the other way around, with Lucas bringing kayak fishing love
to to the table when pitching new product such as the recently released Kayak
Scupper Hole Transducer Mounting System. This Steward design is the real deal, a near universal fit. 

The answer is somewhere in the middle. In addition to fishing up a storm from
his Hobie, Steward says he rolled out to the JAX Classic a few years ago to
scout kayak angler needs. He's also made the rounds at ICAST, the fishing
industry trade show, and consulted with kayak makers to investigate the
difficulties of mounting sonar on our little plastic fish hunters. 

"Some kayak anglers are afraid to stick a transducer on their boats. We built
the Scupper Mount to make it easy," he says. Mission accomplished. 

One more note while we're on the subject. Steward says there's no reason to
baby a transducer. Worrying about running one into rocks or stumps is no reason
to epoxy them inside a kayak hull. Transducers are built to absorb plenty of
abuse. Remember, bass pro and club circuit anglers mount them up front on
trolling motors, and regularly run them into the ground with the weight of fully
loaded bass boats behind 'em. 

"They're tough, epoxy filled and podded," Steward says. Fish 'em hard.