Adam G

Thanks basskatcher! My winter 'still life'! Turns out, no bass for me on opening day. I picked up a smallmouth last year in 38 degree water but that was March 20th! This year, March 1st and the water's already 42 degrees. What a crazy winter/spring! Did catch a couple nice brown trout while trolling in a bass boat though. :

Jigs I lose way to many in the rocks. I did have luck swimming them last year but I hate fishing them on the bottom

x2 This is so true. A Baitsmith or Hudd coming up to the boat will make my passengers go "hey check out this trout!" The tail barely moves on those baits. Nobody mistakes a triple jointed hard bait or a paddletail for a trout. Granted, sometimes the fish want more action. I've never seen a spinnerbait fish...

Going to be pimping HB here, get ready for it... I've had nothing but good luck with my 797 and 777 since installing last spring. The units are Interlinked together and have worked flawlessly. Anyone that is serious about their electronics and does not invest in some form of side imaging is foolish. This is game changing technology. HB brought it here, and still seems to be providing the easiest access to it. No extra hardware, no extra transducers. That magic box that the Lowrance units need is huge! As far as the 'who's image is better' argument, I think it's a wash for most people because the majority of us will be blown away at the defaults. I've played with my 2D settings for drop shotting and whatnot but the SI has been amazingly clear from day 1. Therefore, for me it comes down to user friendliness, build quality, and customer service. I find the HB units to be more intuitive, but that's very subjective... The card slots on the new HD units from Lowrance bug me. Every one I've seen has seemed to develop some slop and the horizontal design is not water shedding. The HB units have a water shedding design (even though I'd love to see them on the bottom) and have a secure fastener with an gasketed seal. In regards to HB service, I have had an interesting experience lately. They offer fantastic after purchase support via their website. New software updates are made available, for free, to any registered owners. I did have some issues updating both my units recently however and needed to send them back for repair... They turned the units, out of warranty FYI, in 9 hours, no charge. That is a fantastic throughput. Essentially same day service outside of shipping times. Humminbird man for life.

Here's the shopping list this spring... -Rapala Clackin Rap's -- Learned you can't have enough and now they have a new size -Sweet Beavers -- needed a new punch/trailer to try to get into jig fishing -Roboworm EZ shads -- going to try paddletail swimbaits this year -Baitsmith Shad -- everything else they make is awesome and I've heard great things about this one -Musky Mayhem Double Cowgirls -- I need a Tiger or a big Pike this year That should be the main additions this year, last year was a little crazy 8-)

Soft for sure. Baitsmith all the way! There's 5 more inches of bait inside that 5 lb smallies mouth. Yes, big swimbaits work for bronzebacks!

Anyone had their annual tackle box organization/cleaning/replace/consolidate session yet? Some local lakes are opening on Monday and I'm ready to rock. Why is that job of cleaning out every nook of your boat and box so therapeutic? Thank goodness for an early spring in the Northwest!

Who's gearing up for the early opener at Downs or Liberty in Eastern Washington? I was at the Liberty Launch today and the lake looked spectacular, warm water as well. Spring's coming early this year. Pic very related...

I use Progressive currently. Setup was easy, rates are fine, no claims yet. ;D I went away from our homeowner's/auto broker due to their lack of commitment with marine. Good choice for me so far. 18' Fisher Pro Hawk with a Merc 90 FYI. They included electronics and tackle for coverage as well.

Now really Jon, I think that the boat you have is just as capable, if not safer overall, than that bass boat when it comes to bigger water. A lot of these folks seem to be forgetting the fact that your Lowe is a V-hull. That tends to be associated with higher freeboard and and better rough water capability. People complain about how "unstable" their v-hulls are and how they don't like standing up in them to fish. This unstable nature is exactly why they make great wave boats. The boat will rock and roll with the waves, as compared to a jon, or a big deck bass boat, that want's to keep the corners flat. It's the same reason that an off road rig doesn't run anti roll bars but race cars do. V-hulls have a built in wave suspension. In addition, the Ranger is going to have a lot more speed. Pleasure boaters and the wave moguls that result are much more dangerous with 3 to 4 times the kinetic energy! Something that stays on the water at full speed, up the front and down the back, is much safer. Save your money and buy a nice bilge pump for storms when you need to make a longer run. They've been fishing the North Atlantic off the coast of Ireland in little 14 foot Dories for hundreds of years...now that's big water!

That's it! You have found your transducer. Now, as far as making that 'ducer work for your Lowrance units... I can't help you there.

Manufacturing Engineer

I use Plano 3741's and keep them in the original bags. This box fits plastics in their bags well and offers three compartments per box. They fit pork jars as well, but I don't use that much anymore. I use one for creatures/craws/pork, one for drop shot/grubs/tubes and one for Senkos and worms. I looked at the binders and I didn't like the idea of re bagging everything. Especially when you've got all the juice and salt in plastics these days. Keep em in the bag!

It's probably using a transducer that's mounted in the bilge. You didn't mention if you looked inside the boat for it. On a fiberglass boat, you can glass in a transducer to the bottom of the boat. The acoustic properties of fiberglass are similar enough to water that your depthfinder isn't affected. Look for a small puck glued to the hull somewhere around the aft bilge. That might do it for you.

Another good piece of information that seems prevalent here. This is a picture, credited to Tom Vickers from Humminbird, found in another thread from the sideimagingsoft forum. This is a good explanation of the interpretation of the SI image.

forums.sideimagingsoft.com/index.php?topic=678.0 Not sure how posting this link is going to work, I'm a little new here... Anyways, good example of a scientific method regarding the capabilities of HB's downscan. A seven inch target identified in every viewing mode of the HB. Considering we'd all like to be catching bass bigger than seven inches, I'd say we're all good. If you'd like to see much better images Kenny, check out the image galleries on the sideimagingsoft forum. Very impressive.

Tommy Bass - In regards to the pedal, I find I only use the left and right arrows and the on/off button on the bottom of the pedal. AP is always on, and I keep the motor constant on at really low speed (1 or 2). That way I'm not cycling the motor (noisy and unstable). Because of this, I have this enormous pedal that I'm only using a small portion of while I fish, waste of deck space... I think the cable style full foot pedal is a mistake for the Terrova. The feeling of pushing two on/off switches toe and heel is much more vague than the feedback from a true cable steer. Balancing on the foot pedal on the Terrova is very difficult. In regards to fishability, SPECIFICALLY BASS FISHING, this motor has revolutionized my productivity. First thing, being in the northwest fishing mostly natural lakes, I don't fish a lot of heavy cover/timber. In those conditions the steering response time of a cable steer can't be beat. However, I've been able to use an electric steer for many other benefits I didn't see coming. Because of the way that I've changed the way I use the motor (autopilot and constant on), the way I use the pedal has changed as well. I'm only providing input to the motor during maybe 5-10% of my fishing time. Before upgrading with the cable steer, I was on that thing 80% to 90% of my fishing time. 100% in the wind! The upgrades going to electric steer have really maximized my fishability. Once I add iPilot this year, I'll be able to position my boat on a dock or structure, bow into the wind, and fish from the back if I want! Now I'm to 1-2% input! This is why I feel that you could easily run without a pedal. Any inputs required could easily be done with a hand held, especially convenient if your casting angle has you on the back deck! There's a huge paradigm on cable steer for a bass boat. Heavy cover is an important consideration, but Minn Kota's innovations are changing the game. Now if only they add a cable between my iPilot and my 797...hint...hint...

The Terrova also has a much larger diameter shaft compared to the PD. I believe it is a larger motor housing as well. Much more heavy duty. I have the Terrova on my boat. I'd prefer the PD pedal though, more compact. Granted I'll be pedal free once I add the iPilot this spring!

Humminbird 798c SI Done deal

Holla! Spokane native, born and raised on Liberty Lake! That's where that nice 5lb'er in the profile pic comes from FYI...

Hey everyone, Yes the side imaging is a must do. I run the 797c2 on the console and couldn't live without it. In regards to the card, if you're getting a 797, there's only one slot so you can't take recordings or screen caps if you've got the card in. The newer units have two slots though, so no issue. FYI, I just tried to update my 797 and 777 following all the instructions and they've both crapped out. Even did the 797 while on the phone with 'bird's customer service to make sure I was legit. "Firmware error...white screen of death...Return authorization number" Cool thing is that they're fixing them and said it will be a 3 day turnaround! That's awesome service for RMA! Do your service in the winter, not during the prespawn!

You don't need any electronics. Someone told me once, "I've never once seen a fishfinder catch a fish." Seriously, here's your shopping list: HB 998c SI COMBO (external GPS), or 898 if needed... HB 778c (XTM 9 20 T transducer) AS Interlink module AS GR 50 GPS antenna (bow unit) AS SIDB Y cable for Dual beam/SI ducers on 998 (no switch) XAP 9 20 Transducer for hull mount on 998 Ram mount for the 998 2010 Navionics map SD card, western region. Spare MMC/SD card for updates and screen caps Feel free to send me you CC info and I'll get all this stuff on order. ;D