Fish Finders

[csmith86]

Looking to upgrade my fish finder and am completely ignorant on the subject. The one we have now is an old Lowrance 520-C so I have a list of questions to bug you experts with.

-Do I need water speed and land speed or just one or the other?
-Do I need side view and down view?
-What angle cone should I be looking at?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

On this note we took our boat on its maiden voyage yesterday and even with working all the bug out, managed two nice trout in the boat. Only looking forward to getting better.

Thanks again,
Clint

 

[SuperD]

Clint,

If you only fish lakes, you'll likely want land speed. Water speed comes into play if you fish current, i.e. rivers or other moving water.

What species do you fish? I fish primarily for suspended fish and haven't found a need for finding structure. If you fish for species that like structure, you'll want to learn DI & SI.

A multi frequency finder will allow you the best of all worlds regarding cone angle as you aren't stuck with just one.

P.S. - Welcome to the group.

 

[csmith86]

I will only be fishing lakes, so non moving water. I will primarily be targeting kokanee and trout trolling and perch and crappie some of the time. I have been doing some research and based on what you stated, I am looking at a Lowrance Hook2 7X with the triple shot. Any issues with this model you've heard of?

P.S. Thanks for the welcome. I am very excited to start catching some kokanee on my own!

 

[SuperD]

The Hook series is a simple entry level system. Have you gone to any stores with display models to play with one? The processors in these units tend to be on the slow side so map regeneration on the GPS side can be rather slow. If you were committed to a Lowrance, I'd try to steer you towards the Elite series.

 

[csmith86]

That is my next step to go to the store and try demo modes.
Thank you again for the advice! I really appreciate the help!

 

[SuperDaveMT]

If the lakes you typically fish are found on the maps that typically come with the depth finder/gps combos the lowrance is a pretty reasonably priced option. If you want side view and the ability to map the lakes you fish yourself, take a look and the garmin echomaps and the hummin'bird helix series'

 

[csmith86]

Ordered the Lowrance Elite Ti2 7. It will be here tomorrow and I will let you know how much I struggle! LOL
Thanks for all the help!
Clint

 

[Cybersnow]

Please let us know how easy it was to install and how it is working for you. I am looking to replace my fish finder but it will be June before I get to my fishing area and get my boat remotored.

 

[SuperDaveMT]

I decided to pull the trigger and upgrade my fish finder. Went with the Garmin Echomap Plus 93SV - a big upgrade from my current 5 inch screen. I'm looking forward to being able to map my local kokanee lake. We'll see how useful the side view and down view (clear view on the Garmin) is and how much of an upgrade CHIRP provides. I'll post a review once I can get out and test it, but my local lakes are under a foot of snow and 18 inches of ice right now.

 

[SuperD]

I decided to pull the trigger and upgrade my fish finder. Went with the Garmin Echomap Plus 93SV - a big upgrade from my current 5 inch screen. I'm looking forward to being able to map my local kokanee lake. We'll see how useful the side view and down view (clear view on the Garmin) is and how much of an upgrade CHIRP provides. I'll post a review once I can get out and test it, but my local lakes are under a foot of snow and 18 inches of ice right now.

Lol! You must feel like you have a giant screen TV in the boat now. That will be nice. I think you will find the mapping to be different than one might expect. The boat speed has to be relatively slow and it lays a contour line the same as your bread trail. So, rather than mapping the lake, you tend to map pockets of the lake where you fished.

 

[Cybersnow]

Congrats. I took a look at that model and it looked great. Just trying to figure out whether to pull my 35hp 2 stroke 1987 Merc and go with a new 4 stroke. That and a new fish finder. Like you, my lakes are frozen right now.

 

[SuperD]

Cybersnow, do you know what your boat's max HP rating is? 4 strokes are much heavier than the old 2 stroke so there is some balance in a repower consideration.

 

[Cybersnow]

Not really sure about max HP rating on the old boat. I have seen up to 40hp 2 strokers on the boat in videos, but apparently Tracker has not done a very good job of maintaining records on the older boats. I did make several calls and got a wiring diagram out of it, but it wasn't even for the right boat. The other options are to just have the 35 repaired (not sure what that would cost as it appears to be a fuel problem), or to put the boat up for sale and just buy another boat. I thought the 25hp 4 stroke would be big enough to push the boat around the little lakes that I want to fish and would be light enough to launch on unimproved ramps.

 

[mtncat1]

i would just stop by a good marine dealer and ask them what size 4 stroke they think the boat can handle , ps on you fish finder question down scan is a waste ,and side scan helps a little but is hard to read . love my lorance hds stuff though

 

[SuperD]

When you get the jaw dropping estimate to re-power your boat, look at a few used boats that are nicely outfitted so you can see what kind of price difference there is to help you decide whether to dump more money into the old boat or not.

 

[Cybersnow]

You are so right about the cost to repower the boat. Going to a Yamaha 30hp set up was almost $7K and a Merc setup is about $5K. The problem is that the boat is light, side console and perfect for the small mountain lakes in my area. I guess the other option is to take the boat into the local Merc shop (60 miles away) and let them tell me what it will take to turn it into a reliable power source. But I will start looking at Craigs List and see what a used comparably newer rig would cost. I passed up a great boat a year ago that was only about $6.5K. Maybe I will get lucky.

 

[nofish]

Over the years I have done a almost a full rebuild on my boat including replace my 150hp mane, 8hp kicker and the electric up font. I have replaced the floor and all the interior and I don't regret doing it. I was able to make it my own and after I was done I was in it way less than a new boat.

 

[mtncat1]

i have seen several used outboards the looked pretty good for around 2500 on ksl unless your set on new

 

[Cybersnow]

Not sure what KSL is, but not adverse to a used motor at all. Thanks

 

[mtncat1]

ksl.com is a online classified ad site in ut ,lot of listings for wyoming and idaho also