BigEbass

Thats a really good idea! I will do it! I must say now that I am floundering about possibly splurging to get the 898 - wouldnt mind even bigger, just a bit too much right now....man I hate decisions!!

Yeah J, likely very true - same thing with alot of electronics I would imagine - When I got my Nikon D90 (digital SLR camera) - reading the manual and going through it with my camer helped alot - this will likely be no exception - I think alot of folks do not take the time because..well...reading manuals is not exactly entertaining, but worth it!

I have another thread indirectly related on this for those interested - some folks have went to bass pro's seminars and this helped them alot apparently. Definately will read the manual and check out this link - thanks guys - any other advice from others obviously welcomed!

There are apparently people that have set it up to run while on plane. Also, again, the 798 while smaller has a high resoution (pixel count) and many owners on BR who actually own it state they love it - the screen size I wonder is more of a luxury perhaps than an essential?? Definately will look into the seminars guys, thanks!!

"Only 500 dollars more" - 500 dollars is 50% more than the 798 essentially for an additional 2 inches of screen - and to what end exactly? It would be nice, but I dont see it justified in my budget particularly - if I had the dough laying around I would spend it. I think 500 dollars more for the 898 is a rip off personally - they should charge maybe a couple hundred more...

And thats why I will buy it! The screen size issue is all about resolution - the ability to resolve what is down there - and that little unit can do it - it has a very high pixel count - just will need to be relatively close to the screen - would like to "go big" but that will cost about 3K - that is just out of my reach - the 798 will be a huge upgrade after all at this point and will identify key structure as you have so well stated!!!

So I am getting an HB 798 this weekend - this is an upgrade to the little lorance X50 unit that came on my 16' bass tracker 8 months ago which is really only good for showing depth for the most part. So with this new product I am getting, how do I go about learning it to be at least generally proficient. I have read a bit on here about the traditional color sonar as it relates to color line, fish side (thickness of band), bottom hardness/detail using the colors, etc...but the unit also does side imaging, down imaging, GPS, and I will buy maps for it - I am pretty tech savy so I am sure I will pick it up easy enough. However, is there a newer book good resource that will break down this unit for me and allow me to understand its uses, limitations, etc...?? Any help will be great - thanks everyone.

This was exactly what I wanted to hear! ;D

Sodaksker - I think if someone wanted to buy lowrance there would likely not be a problem - there have been a bunch of people who have liked theirs, but I think there has been enough concern about customer service to at least sway me in the direciton of bird - Salespeople are all mixed from my review - I spoke to a person at academy and they raved that lowrance is the best period, one guy at bass pros said to buy bird because we know more about their product (out for ~ 5 years) and the lawsuit against lowrance may be an issue (although I really dont think it would be personally). I simply see them both as basically doing the same thing and I will save 200 bucks and install 1 less transducer - but if someone wants to shell out the 200 dollars, I am sure that they would love it - lowrance's images are really "clean" - they look fantastic, perhaps a bit cleaner than bird's - but actually I have looked at tons of images of baitfish, bass chasing baitfish, stripers chasing baitfish, sunken vehicles, etc with the bird and I am certain it will do the trick. Again, I really do think the bird vs. lowrance thing is basically a nikon vs. cannon type of comparison (although nikon is better ) I cannot wait to try out the 798 - probably will buy it friday night and try it out this weekend - I will be back on here to post images and my thoughts so far. Although any furhter thoughts from other BR members would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks.

Yeah, alabama now into the 60's - water temp rising into the 50's - if we double dip into another cold streak, someone would have to put me on suicide watch

http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gx1x8zi Thats a sample HB photo of a bait ball - I hope my 798 will be able to replicate this to see bait fish - I understand that these units are not really "fish finder" per se, but seeing baitfish congregated as well as structure - oh baby that will be sweet!!

can balls of baitfish be seen on the HB as well? Or is it just that the HDS sees them a bit clearer per se?

Just got my first boat about 8 months ago so more to come on this topic for me...I am buying a HB 798 this weekend and that will likely be my first true 'addition' - we will see how that goes - I am hopeful. But at this point I will say that what I miss the most when I fish if I forget it, is my nail trimmers - I attach a small pair to an ID badge holder that has one of those pull strings on it so I just grab it, use it, and let go....I know, thats nothing big, but without it, I hate to go and pick up something else when changing out lures. Also my cooler is essential - not only to keep my foods stored away - but also for another reason - I too fish both sides of my boat and my cooler sits in the middle and it acts as a bridge when going from one side to the other - also this sounds weird I am sure too, but that lower area is always cluttered with stuff and this way I just walk above it all.

Good for you ;D, good luck quitting

That is awesome - helps to hear that you actually have it and like it - I have heard the same from other 798 owners - I am ready to try it out. I was just fishing on sunday evening on this flat on lay lake that had some fish in it and I caught 2 nice spot blowing up on the shad - but couldnt figure the fish out in between those hits - I buzzed around zig zagging while fan casting and was having difficulty finding some obvious structure that they may be holding too. They were like cruzing weeds - how does your unit do in seeing weeds and weedlines in specific?

So I have pretty much settled on the HB 798 to put on my bass boat - I am thinking I am gonna buy it this weekend - gotta get the boat monkey off my back I had thought about going with a larger screen, but the 798 I believe will serve my purpose at my console just fine and it seems to have pretty good resolution. The HDS 5 had been tempting me as some of the images look a bit "cleaner", but I am also very impressed with the images from HB. I guess what tipped me toward HB was the 200 dollar greater price tag, 2nd transducer, and some of the horror stories as it relates to service - but I imagine that in the end it is a cannon vs. nikon type of debate perhaps..... Anyway, I am really excited about getting this - I have just now started venturing out fishing alone without the aid of my more experienced fishing mentor....I hope that this unit will help me learn the bottom quicker to shorten my structure learning curve Any last thoughts before I take the plunge?

You gotta love the souther farm ponds - there are some really good ones in my neck of the woods too! Really nice fish!

heh heh, fisherman are fairly superstitious it seems - I have seen that camera comment a number of times on here

This has been the beginnings of my first prespawn season fishing it alone - prior had been fishing it with my mentor bass fishing buddy who is 69 and more experienced - so I am not totally set in one best way yet cause I am too new to it all, but this year (specifically yesterday) they were busting on the shad in a cove just as the origninal post described on lay lake - in 3-6 feet of water - I caught 2 nice ones on a lipless crank. But I agree with RoLo for sure - the late spawn I know I go shallow - that is my favorite time of the year and location personally!!

Man, he is barely hooked - luckily he didnt get off at the boat!!! You must have played him just right!!!

That is very cool! I have my first child on the way due in september - hopefully they will enjoy days out on the lake with their old "pa" (I am 26 years old by the way )

Got him on a sort of brown/orange crawfish patterned ratle trap - I had it tied on when I saw that first break in casting distance and I stuck with it to catch the second one - then there were no more breaks and didnt catch anything in the final hour or so > Orange has been a real producer for me in the past 3 weeks - caught my first 5+ pound bass last week and on a bright orange trap, then literally the next cast another 5+ lber (didnt have my scales - photo of it is posted in this forum). And I will add this too about going out alone. The "alone" part is not what I have feared. I have been riding along with my neighbor for over a year gaining my skills and confidence - what I really fear is bringing a new friend or another fishmerman and in the face of this person not catching - even with my wife I felt a bit of pressure sorta - thinking in the back of my head "the only person that knows that I can and have caught bass is my neighbor - will it always be this way?" - turns out I know enough to catch a couple fish in a few hours first time out on my boat "alone" on a lake I have fished with my neighbor probably 3 times ever (and its usually the upper end of the river near 280). But still need to be able to catch them in between those breaks..... My next question is this.....there were certainly some bass holding in that general area? I zigged and zagged around looking for a ditch or creek bed or anything that looked irregular while crakin my bait surveying the area for more fish - I wonder where those fish were holding up in between attacking the shad? The area was pretty flat really, some gradual changes in depth (which I tried to focus on). I wonder if those bass were just roaming those flats around sparse patches of weeds or something? I guess it just takes time to learn all the bottom features - I am actually going this week to get a side imaging unit to shorten my learning curve. By the way, I also went to cast once with one of my rods (an H20 express rod) and it just snapped at the back bone - luckily was wearing jeans and hooked only my jeans - has that every happened to you people - I am gonna try to return in!

Wow, guesses range 3 to over 7 lbs - looks can be decieving either way I suppose - nice catch!

Also tried working a craw rigged weightless off the edges of some dead looking weeds as well as a slower presentation - that was about right before I started chasing the few blow ups that got me my 2 fish.

In fact, that is exactly where I started - I went all the way back to the inner most part of the inlet - the water temp in the center parts of the inlet were about 50 degrees, may 52 in the shallows, but it was 54 way back there were I started - there were no signs of bass bedding from my account in those shallows and I worked the shallows for the first 1.5 hours and started working back deeper with a lipless crank and a spinner bait trying to find them - but when I started to see the blow ups, I finally gave up on the 2 foot stuff and focused out where they were hitting....I kinda wish in retrospect that perhaps a more finess presentation out there in between those blow ups may have done the trick....? I suppose they were going for shallow spawn/prespawn bass in that area casting the banks, but I really do not think that was where they were at perhaps - plus they didnt catch any for that time I was there