Bought a new boat, how should I deck it out?

[DeltaDude]

Not to be "Harsh"...Do you actually think that the diameter of range that your transducer covers is LESS than the few feet from your transducer mounting point to your downrigger weight?!

READ your depth sounder manual!...It will tell you the diameter of coverage at various depths dependent upon the setting.

Here is chart as a reference point...Mark


Sonar Beam Coverage Area

Below is a quick reference chart for the area covered by the specific cone angle listed. For example, if you are fishing in 10 feet of water and the cone angle on your transducer is 20 degrees, the area across the bottom is 3.5 feet.
20 degrees - 0.35 or roughly 1/3 of depth
24 degrees - 0.42 or roughly 2/5 of depth
30 degrees - 0.53 or roughly 1/2 of depth
40 degrees - 0.72 or roughly 3/4 of depth
50 degrees - 0.93 or roughly 9/10 of depth
60 degrees - 1.15 x depth
70 degrees - 1.4 x depth
73 degrees - 1.48 x depth
80 degrees - 1.68 x depth
90 degrees - 2 x depth
100 degrees - 2.38 x depth
110 degrees - 2.85 x depth

Not sure why you said 'not to sound harsh'

That is basically like saying "no offense" then insulting someone... I am sure you meant well, but still

I'm learning, and asking questions. I have never fished from a boat before, so the fact I am even hooking up fish already I am pretty proud of. Ask me anything about river fishing, fly fishing or spincast, I'll know it. I am in my early 20s, not many people my age 'that I have seen' fish. Almost impossible to get my friends to go and if they do I end up hooking up their lines more than I do fishing. Boating is a new thing for me and I want to learn the ins and outs. Not everything is available in the manual, and sadly I don't have the manual for it. I can find it online I am sure, however I figured i'd ask since I am not picking up the weight no matter the depth I am at.

However, as I said I am not picking up the weight period.

 

[DeltaDude]

Have to agree with sawtooth, it starts for me in late April and will end in the next couple of weeks. My job consumes my fall and I am getting to old to chase Elk anymore so what free time I have I chase upland birds with my 1923 Smith double or try to break a state record at Cascade. I do believe there are still records in that body of water and I have had too many 8-10# leaders broken by heavy fish to think differently.

Winter is reloading/rod/lure making and spending as much time working in SoCal/Phoenix/Hawaii as I can.

You fishing for lake trout or rainbows at cascade?

I was looking at taking a trip up there toward late august, but I am not sure what lures would work well for trolling on a downrigger for trout. Or where to even fish there, as people said certain parts are completely sandy and dead.

 

[callelk]

Not sure why you said 'not to sound harsh'


However, as I said I am not picking up the weight period.

My transducer is 8' from my boom end and with either 83 or 200 i see a solid line with a smaller one above it that represents the ball and the release that is tracking just above the ball. When I drop the shuttle hawk (or the ball for that matter) you can watch it as it descended (past tense) to the stop.

 

[callelk]

You fishing for lake trout or rainbows at cascade?

I was looking at taking a trip up there toward late august, but I am not sure what lures would work well for trolling on a downrigger for trout. Or where to even fish there, as people said certain parts are completely sandy and dead.

forget your downrigger unless your ok with loosing it. The lake in Aug, except by the dam is fairly shallow 6-30' in places and has abrupt changes.

I run a diver with a bungie and then 4-5' leader in front of a small (2 1/2 - 3 ") Rapala floater or bungie/flasher/leader spinner combo. I set my Davis fish seeker diver for 5' on one side, 10' on the other. There are mostly Rainbow's but I have had landlocked salmon break 10# leader.

 

[DeltaDude]

My transducer is 8' from my boom end and with either 83 or 200 i see a solid line with a smaller one above it that represents the ball and the release that is tracking just above the ball. When I drop the shuttle hawk (or the ball for that matter) you can watch it as it descended (past tense) to the stop.

Yeah I'm not seeing that... is my transducer angled wrong maybe? It reads the depth fine it seems.

 

[callelk]

Yeah I'm not seeing that... is my transducer angled wrong maybe? It reads the depth fine it seems.

Lets pull the bus over a moment:

What KHZ are you running? Be sure to shut-off switch fire and run 200 only (if you can, as I do not have your FF I can only guess that you can set it to a specific KHZ)

If 200KHZ, with a 28deg cone angle at 25' you should have an 8' cone (roughly) at 50' you should have a 25' cone. Unless you are running a 4-6' boom, you should see the ball at 20-30'. If not, drop it until you see it and verify the counter against the depth sounder. I adjust my counter to the sonar and subtract 2' (for the hypotenuse and the clip) and call it good.

Remember, the ball is the distance from the transducer as in an L where the top of the vertical leg is the transducer location and the end of the horzintal leg is the ball, this is not ball depth. That is to say, if the top of leg (transducer to boom end) is 8' and the Hypotenuse is 25' deep (shown on the sonar), the ball is really 23.6' down (if is is straight down and there is no drag, and the moon is just right, etc). No great shakes unless the fish are holding in a very narrow thermocline at 92' and your transducer is 24' from the boom end then this MAY matter.

Load your boat for fishing, drive it over to a sandy, sloping beach and get out and look at your transducer. Is it square to the world? Is it reading the correct depth? Using your minds eye, visualize it with you on board and will it still be square to the world? Adjust as necessary and add salt to taste and then call it good.

 

[DeltaDude]

I dont have an option to shut off switch fire, there are 2 options, max mode and clear mode, I have been running clear mode, it is supposed to pick up more solid objects rather than debris. I would think that it would return the cannon ball.


Haha... at this point I should just take you out on my boat since you live in idaho! My gas, your knowledge

 

[callelk]

I dont have an option to shut off switch fire, there are 2 options, max mode and clear mode, I have been running clear mode, it is supposed to pick up more solid objects rather than debris. I would think that it would return the cannon ball.


Haha... at this point I should just take you out on my boat since you live in idaho! My gas, your knowledge

In CA now, OR next week.

Run in max mode and check to see if you can adjust 83KHZ sensitivity (page 114 of your manual)? Set it to 8. If not, be sure your sensitivity settings are medium or low and not high. Your filters should not drown-out fish or debris (leaves, grasses, etc).

Gotta run to catch a flight......

 

[Bogey]

A quick break from all this FF talk (which can be confusing!) You're going to LOVE that new electric motor when you get it!!!!

 

[berryessakoke]

My transducer is 8' from my boom end and with either 83 or 200 i see a solid line with a smaller one above it that represents the ball and the release that is tracking just above the ball. When I drop the shuttle hawk (or the ball for that matter) you can watch it as it descended (past tense) to the stop.

...^^^^^^^...EXACTLY!!!...Mark

 

[DeltaDude]

...^^^^^^^...EXACTLY!!!...Mark

and like I said no matter what depth its at I dont pick it up. so...

 

[SuperD]

DD, you said that you are running on "clear mode", to me that means that you have reduced your sensitivity. This also raises the question in my mind whether or not you have a sensitivity setting that you can manually adjust. Try your other mode and see what you get. Even on the opposite side of the boat you should be able to register your weights.

 

[DeltaDude]

DD, you said that you are running on "clear mode", to me that means that you have reduced your sensitivity. This also raises the question in my mind whether or not you have a sensitivity setting that you can manually adjust. Try your other mode and see what you get. Even on the opposite side of the boat you should be able to register your weights.

First of all thanks for solving that other issue.

I have a fish sensitivity that scales 1-10, I have it at 7. I was going to go out this morning but sadly had a little issue with my downrigger... the spool got tangled up took about 4 hours to get it off since I couldnt get the line off to take it out

I'll try max mode and let you know how it works

 

[SuperD]

I'd appreciate it if you guys would both go to your corners and relax. These kinds of comments don't belong on the public side of the forum.

 

[callelk]

First of all thanks for solving that other issue.

I have a fish sensitivity that scales 1-10, I have it at 7. I was going to go out this morning but sadly had a little issue with my downrigger... the spool got tangled up took about 4 hours to get it off since I couldnt get the line off to take it out

I'll try max mode and let you know how it works

That does not sound like any fun at all!

Once you go out to deep water and away from others drop you DR ball to say 75' and then adjust you sensitivity until you see it. On 83KHZ my FF picks up the ball at 5' of so and there is a huge line as it descends. My Lowrance Elite is set at Auto and 4 and shows weeds and all sorts of garbage but I don't miss fish.

 

[callelk]

I had an old (late 80's) HB 3-D unit that had a problem with seeing weights if it was on fish id mode but as soon as I switched back to "arch" it showed both weights which was pretty cool. I understand that it is no longer an issue though.

 

[DeltaDude]

I ended up getting it to work, I had to change the sensitivity of the 83khz. To do so I had to go through settings and enable Advanced User, otherwise the options needed did not show up. However your guys suggestion on working it on max mode, instead of clear worked out great.

Went out and caught a koke, saw a couple of you out there, hope you had better luck!

 

[callelk]

I ended up getting it to work, I had to change the sensitivity of the 83khz. To do so I had to go through settings and enable Advanced User, otherwise the options needed did not show up. However your guys suggestion on working it on max mode, instead of clear worked out great.

Went out and caught a koke, saw a couple of you out there, hope you had better luck!

Glad you got your FF worked out. You may want to check your second fish....I did not get that good of look at it but think pike-minnow.

Went to macks as I said, made two passes and picked up two for dinner tonight and was back at the dock by 6. Thanks for the heads up on pop-gear/spinner...did not get the ball wet just longlined 120' or so...



One 16 or so, the other 18 and they both hit my Tiffany's Special like it owed them money!

 

[DeltaDude]

Glad you got your FF worked out. You may want to check your second fish....I did not get that good of look at it but think pike-minnow.

Went to macks as I said, made two passes and picked up two for dinner tonight and was back at the dock by 6. Thanks for the heads up on pop-gear/spinner...did not get the ball wet just longlined 120' or so...

View attachment 8164

One 16 or so, the other 18 and they both hit my Tiffany's Special like it owed them money!

Those are some nice kokes! Mine was only a 14, but any catch is good!

Yeah I looked at it, at first I thought it was a pike minnow but didn't have the second fin on the back, looked up some images of it... it was a walleye which is a bit concerning since I also looked up that they are not supposed to be in lucky peak as you said. I have a message in to fish and game about it. It also had some nasty teeth.

Yeah I looked at it, at first I thought it was a pike minnow it did have the second fin on the back, far as I have seen pike have 1. I have a message in to fish and game about it. It also had some nasty teeth.

Either way, glad to hear you landed a couple, offer is still there if you ever wanna try out my new boat

Its only new for so long! thumbsup

But other than that, what'd you think of the boat? Really need to get that trolling motor

You manage to find your way around all the wake boats? Got out there kind of late this morning around 10ish... so we were hitting 3-4foot waves from all of them... sadly it isn't an exaggeration xD