Jimmyb819

There is a reason why some rods are more expensive than others. Some of it may be branding, but more expensive rods tend to perform better than cheaper ones.

Can't say enough good things about my Curado I.

Good choice! I love my 7Ti. Definitely a great upgrade over the 5. I like running split screen so the extra inches make all the difference!

DVD vs BluRay is pretty significant, and if you think about how that translates into your fishfinder you'll realize the benefits. The resolution dictates the size of the pixels in your screen, the smaller they are (HD) the more detail you will be able to see and the better you can differentiate structure/fish. Whether or not it is worth it is up to you, but if you take a look at the units in person you can see a big difference in the detail they show. You can still find structure and fish with a lower resolution screen (I do) but you may want the extra fine details provided in the HD unit.

I've been learning to use my new 7 Ti from youtube and articles and forums. One thing I have found very helpful is taking screenshots, of everything that looks remotely interesting. That way I can go back and study them in detail, and I usually find things I didn't notice on the water but now I know what to look for next time I'm out!

+1. Find a deep section of the lake and turn up the sensitivity on your 2D sonar. If there is a thermocline it will show up as a horizontal colored band through the middle of the water column. Also, if you haven't already I would recommend that you do some reading on thermoclines, what they are, how they form, and especially the factors that cause them and influence the depth.

Definitely a personal decision based on finances, how much you need/want the reel. $80 to fix a ~$200 reel certainly seems like a better choice than replacing it.

I currently fish from a $100 Craigslist kayak, no tournaments yet but I'd like to try sometime. As far as the fish finder goes, it certainly is another great tool in any fisherman's arsenal but if you don't know how to use it effectively or confidently then it would just slow you down. I've had mine out three times and I've spent 90% of my time just paddling and working the sonar without even a cast. I certainly wouldn't try to use it if a tournament was on the line, don't have any confidence in it yet! My advice would be to fish the tournament exactly how you'd fish for fun and not overthink anything. Work on finding the pattern and then stick to it as long as it produces. Pre fishing certainly can't hurt as long as you follow the tournament guidelines!

So I'm very new to fish finders, having owned my Lowrance Elite-7 Ti for only a couple weeks. Still learning but I'm starting to get some better side shots, downscan hasn't been great and I haven't figured out the 2d at all. Submerged fallen tree: Downscan of submerged standing trees, not sure why they don't show better: Wondering about these next two, are either of these fish? Turtle maybe?

That's too bad. Are you still fishing it or has it declined to the point of just going elsewhere?

Anyone fishing lake Varner in Covington, GA? It's been a long time since I've been out there but I'll have a chance to fish it in a week when I visit my brother and wondered if anyone had some information on how the lake is these days. We'd like to make it as profitable an outing as possible!

Maximum picture size is 0.15MB, at least for me. That's roughly 150KB. You'll need to resize your picture in order to post it. Use a free online tool, just type in pic resize in Google.

I appreciate the suggestions! I will certainly give them a try as soon as I can. I actually have only tried it on one lake so far, I'll try it on a few others and see what changes.

Yes, just verified that I do have the Totalscan transducer selected.

It is an Elite-7 Ti with Totalscan