These data were derived from hydroacoustic data collected by uncrewed surface vehicles (USVs) and powered research vessels. The powered vessels overtook the USVs in Lakes Huron and Michigan to study fish avoidance of survey vessels during traditional acoustic surveys. The water column was divided into three depth groups (epilimnion, metalimnion, hypolimnion) for analysis. Each drone transect was binned into 30-sec intervals and measured hydroacoustic values were averaged in this region. To compare vessels and drones, parallel overtakes (overtakes where vessel and drone followed the same path) which were ~2 km long, were measured by both platforms and the differences between acoustic measures compared.