TheRodFather

I was fishing a creek years ago and there was a guy with scuba gear on, looking for trinkets I guess. Out of curiosity I asked him if he could see any fish in the pool below the dam that I was fishing. He said there were tons down there, and I wasn't getting any bites at the time. I agree that there are fish all over the place that just choose not to fall for artificial. Now whether that is the fish being wise, or conditioned against artificial, or just wrong time/wrong place, is the question. I think they do learn, pea sized brain or not, just like any other function of evolution, they learn better ways to survive, just like any other species. Somebody posted an article a while back, saying that catch and release fishing is causing changes in the fish population. Allowing fish to learn, and in the long term, causing them to become harder to catch, and then they pass that knowledge on to the next generation. I think we can all agree that highly pressured waters are harder to catch fish in, sounds like proof to me........ I used circle hooks by the way, he was hooked nicely in the corner of the mouth, and got a meal for his troubles . Something to think about.

Like I posted about a few posts up, I went out last night and got a cast net. Practiced throwing it a few times in the yard. Got up this morning, caught some Threadfin shad and nose hooked one on a drop shot. Fished a shelf on the lake I frequent, that goes from 10fow to 20fow in about 10 ft. Caught my PB, 7.4lb........... Do I feel like I "cheated", or there was an *.....ehh, maybe. The next largest fish I have caught at that lake might have been 3 pounds, I don't know because I don't have a scale. I had to borrow one today from a guy in the next boat cause this fish I caught today was a monster. I won't use live bait exclusively, but it was nice to know that there are fish on that shelf and in that lake, and that I'm not wasting my time when I fish.

I use two breakers, one for the TM, and one for the rest of the functions, nav lights, pumps, etc. When I launch I flip them on, after I retrieve i flip them off. I don't like the idea of plugging and unplugging the TM all the time, though I do have a minnkota plug built into the bow for the TM. I would think that would wear out the contacts pretty quickly.

I am extremely frustrated with my catch rates since moving to NC. I am going to get a cast net and give live bait a go, at least add it as an option. Waiting all week to get out fishing, shuffle the cars around to get the boat out, shuffle the cars to put the boat away. All to catch a few fish at best, 3 LM bass has been the best I have done on a lake outing since coming to North Carolina. I have been out one day nearly every weekend for a year and a half. I can catch more dinks out of the pond in my neighborhood. In PA, on the Susky where we moved from, it was nothing to catch a dozen on any part of the river, and 100 fish days on some parts if you could get past the rocks. Heck, there were creeks I could stop at on the way home from work and catch a dozen smallies for a quick fix. I realize that smallmouth and largemouth are different fish, but this is getting old. I feel pretty confident in my abilities, and I am throwing everything at them but the kitchen sink, slow, fast, erratic, it doesn't seem to matter. Even the ned rig is failing to keep the skunk away the last several weeks. Putting a "pattern" together is a joke, one fish caught then failing catch or even get bit using same bait, retrieve, type of structure/cover is all I have been working on for a year. I'm burned out. I do enjoy the time out on the water, out in nature. But I like to catch fish too, I don't think I can justify the time and money invested in this hobby too much longer without the enjoyment of a bent rod. I can't believe that's where I am at these days, sad.

I'm buying a casting net and using some live bait. Hours of research, thousands of dollars invested, put my time in on the water. Frustration mounting. Rant over/ Carry on

It is what it is I guess, I should have called Garmin directly. I'm not unhappy with the garmin units I have. One other thing I was pretty disappointed about is that the high def TD from the ultra would be a better fit for me on the transom (side scan scouting) than the CV that's on there now, and I was going to put the CV on the tm, hooked to the ultra, for 2d and staying on my spot while fishing. The ultra does recognize the CV, but the 73plus does not recognize the UHD TD. Although, I wonder if I could keep the UHD plugged into the ultra on the bow, but installed on the transom and view it on the 73 since they are networked.......hmm, I may have to look into that. That may solve that disappointment for me. Will my setup let me do that? CV TD plugged to console unit but installed on TM, viewed on the bow unit Ultra, and UHD plugged to Ultra unit on bow, installed on transom, but viewed from console 73plus. This is the dang problem, products are evolving so fast, and nothing is backwards compatable, forcing you to upgrade all at once or get left behind.........arggg!! Here is what I have: Ultra 106 with UHD gt52 (I think its a 52) currently on trolling motor 73 Plus with CV 52 (I think 52) currently on transom Networked Livescope lvs 12 Ideally I would like: High def on transom, viewable on 73plus for scouting spots Livescope on bow for working structure 2d, and downscan viewable on bow Ultra Can it be done?

Welding a hull is possible, I was quoted around 500 to fix a couple spots on my hull when I was restoring. I ended up buying a tig welder and doing it myself, so I came in around 700, and my time to learn. There are products out there for the DIYer that are quite good. Marinetex is a good thick epoxy that bonds well to aluminum, and West systems G Flex epoxy flows into cracks and seems really well. Repair welds can crack due to flex weakening the metal near the (strong) weld bead. So it's really a case by case, best guess based on location type of call. I used all three in different areas of my hull restoration, and they are all holding up great after several years. Closed end riveting a patch panel, sealed with 3m marine sealant is an option as well. Doesn't look the best, but will flex with the boat over time.

I have garmins, and they have their own inline fuse. If your graph is the same way then you are protected wherever you find the 12v from. If yours is not, then you definitely need to have it fuse protected. Inline fuse is fine, you can buy a holder and appropriate amp fuse pretty easy. I would consider where on the fuse panel you decide to connect to. Some circuits are going to draw more amps than others so if you connect "after" the fuse on your panel, to lets say the livewell pump, the graph combined with another high demand circuit might pop the fuse, possibly cause interference, or worst case overheat a wire. If there is a main wire from the battery, like a 10g wire feeding the fuse block, you could connect there with little chance of overloading the wire. Or if you have an empty slot on the fuse block that would be a clean way to do it. I redid all the wiring on my boat and there is a fuse on the block dedicated to the graphs, with a wire that goes to a switch I put on my console. The graphs are programmed to come on when 12v is supplied, so I hop in the boat after parking the truck, and flip the switch and the graphs are both coming online by the time I back out and get out of the no wake zone. For what it's worth, Soldering is always the better connection method, provided you know how (its not hard). Harbor freight has "marine" shrink tubing that has sealant that melts and creates a waterproof seal on the wiring after soldering. Corrosion is the cause of so many electrical gremlins, its worth the time to solder and shrink tube, especially on connections that will live under decks and panels for years.

I have an Ultra on the bow, and an older 73 plus on the console. The mapping it noticeably better on the Ultra. So much so that I usually use the console unit for rough navigating, but then look up to the bow while idling to find the "spot on the spot". Sometimes they agree on the shape of points and things like that, sometimes they don't, but the ultra is always closer to what the actual shoreline looks, and where road beds enter the water, etc.

I just had virtually the same thing happen a couple months ago. For about 500 bucks in parts and 120 in machine work I had my block bored .030 over and I put in new pistons, bearings, and seals. If you are mechanical, rebuild it yourself and save a fortune. Maybe buy a rebuilt powerhead. Next best in my opinion is find a used motor and repower that way. For me anyway, I would have to be set on keeping that boat for a long time to convince myself to repower with brand new. But I'm cheap, so that's me.

Just to be clear, your saying it wont turn "off", right? If yes, then I imagine the ignition gets grounded somehow to shut down the motor. Tha's how my old Merc works anyway. If the key can't find ground because of a broken wire or similar, the kill switch probably uses the same wire, causing it to do what you are describing. I would try to find a schematic for your motor, and controller. Then go from there, testing continuity on the proper wire.

It is overwhelming, I agree with ya there!

Which is why I said "nobodies fault but my own" in my post. The fact that others have had the same thing happen would seem to indicate an "issue", maybe sly marketing, lack of info out there on the web, who knows. For instance, in the graphic above, it states LVS 12 only works with 8400/8600 series, which is certainly not the case. I would love to see the "many forums" that speak to the lvs12. Last I looked there was only one youtube review comparing the 32 and the 12, and the 12 was not recommended. Unfortunately, I did not see it until I had the 12, again, my fault. Reviews on Garmin products are generally lacking from what I have seen, unless we are talking about product vids put out by Garmin. Here is a small snippet from "wired to fish", about the ultra series, no mention of the LVS 12 being less capable than the standard livescope. Slight of hand if you ask me. "Offering a best-in-class sonar solution, the ECHOMAP Ultra series has built-in support for Garmin's crystal-clear Ultra High-Definition scanning sonar as well as the award-winning Panoptix LiveScope™ series, including the new single-array LVS12, that delivers live scanning sonar images of structure, bait and fish swimming below and around the boat in real time." Like I said, it is my fault for not doing the research (properly), I did a ton of research, including starting a thread on BR about my various options with the 93, the ultra, livescope etc. I would need to re read the thread, but I'm 99 percent sure no one mentioned the 500 dollar tranducer being different than an echomap with the 1500 dollar livescope. Which is fine, it's not their job to watch out for me. It's all good. I know from my reading in other forums (like when I researched the ultra, and the garmin trolling motor) that you are a product tester for Garmin, perhaps your opinions on the subject are a bit biased

I bought an Ultra 106, and shortly after got the 500 dollar livescope transducer that works with it, LVS 12 I think it was. I went with the ultra because it could do livescope with only the addition of the 500 dollar transducer. I was discouraged to find out that the LVS12 has a limited field of view compared to the livescope returns that are all over the web that you are probably seeing and wanting. No one really talks about this, I'm not saying I was duped, but I definitely wouldn't have gone this direction had I known about the limited field of view. Nobodies fault but mine, my research wasn't thorough enough. The 1500 dollar livescope setup uses a transducer that has 3 separate elements, and the black box stitches the images together, giving you from horizontal out front, to back further than vertical under the boat field of view. The LVS12 that can be used out of the box with the Ultra, only sees 20 degrees if I remember correctly, so what I am going to end up doing for now is building a mount for it that can be rotated, and also tilted, so I can see straight down, or out horizontal, with a handle for adjustment. Had I known this, I may have just gone with a 93sv, and the 1500 dollar livescope, spent the same money, but been happier with the livescope even though only a 9in screen on the bow. The ultra did come with an UHD transducer, which is noticeably better than the gt52 the 93 comes with, and way better than the cv that the 73 on the bow uses. And the mapping on my ultra is much better than whats on the 73 i have on the bow. I am definately bummed about not having the "full" livescope. Not sure if I will get the legit livescope, or make what I have got work and be satisfied. It seems like livescope is mostly a Crappie thing anyway. I got the LVS transducer from a guy on ebay for a great price, next to new, and I would be willing to bet he had the same surprise and was unloading it.

It doesn't look like a transom saver would work on the trailer no matter where the boat is, the roller is set back so far from the trailer frame, where the lower part of the saver would mount? Might have to use the other style of saver, the ones that wedge between the mound and the driveshaft housing.

I used to climb onto the trailer tongue after driving the boat on during recovery. Until one day I lost my footing and slammed my chest, all of my weight into the winch/roller stand. I was sore for weeks. Now I back the trailer down so it's pretty close to the dock, close enough to step from boat to dock or dock to boat when on trailer. When launching I walk down the ramp to the winch, (barefoot or crocs in summer, rubber boots if its cold), throw the rope up on the dock (hooked to cleat near console), undo the winch and give it a push if needed, to almost float away. Then walk back up to where I can get on the dock, pull the boat rearward a bit with the rope. Tie it off on a dock cleat, and then park the truck (see following paragraph if dock is busy). Jump in boat and off I go. If the ramp is full when launching, I try to drive the boat to a dock side that doesn't have a ramp, before I park the truck, that way I am not blocking the ramp for another guy to launch/retrieve while I walk back to the boat. If the ramp is busy when I retrieve, I will do the same cause I will probably be several vehicles back waiting in line, so blocking a lane with my boat ticks people off that are trying to launch, or retrieve, and makes it take longer to get through the line. If I have somebody with me that I trust, I pull up to an end of the dock, walk to truck while friend motors back to open water, till I get the truck backed in, then they come pick me up and I drive the boat on.

I swear my lakes are barren, I never see anything like that.

You heading out with Joe R, or someone else?

I believe that you can, yes. It costs about 500 dollars, you install a new cover on the head, and switch some wires in the base. My powerdrive does not allow you to use the remote and the foot pedal, it's one or the other. The Terrova you can use both I think. Looks like the wireless foot pedal (if that's what you have) used with copilot will not work with Ipilot/ipilot link.

The grey stuff that the fuel bulb kits use seems to be impervious to breakdown. Not sure what it is made out of though.

Ugg, bummer. Ok, thank you for the reply.

Tried that, went back as far as my content could go, no thread......... In fact, there is one of my threads asking if anyone ever heard of a Landau (the boat I was looking at, and eventually bought). And my thread asking about what fish finder to buy. So there are threads from before, and from after the restoration thread? Strange, hope its not gone!

If this is in the wrong forum I apologize. I started a thread years ago detailing the restoration of a boat I bought and I can't seem to find it anymore? I used to be able to find it on Google by searching "total boat rewire, with pictures". And I could find it in my content stream on BR as well. Any idea what happened to it Mods?

I agree with your model, and do the same. I keep stuff till the wheels fall off, then I put the wheels back on and drive em some more. We are in the minority these days, maybe not out of the sampling of this group (BR), but in society as a whole.

So far so good, I took it out and let it sit there and idle at the dock for at least 45 minutes. Good water flow and it ran smooth, lots of smoke and rich gurgling. Took it out and idled a bit more in gear and then spun it up to about 1500 and back to idle, not keeping engine speed the same for long, doing that for about 3 hours total between a few different spots we stopped at to wet a line. Throttle response was good, ran smooth. I am going to get a water temp gauge and put it on the dash, I don't want to go through all this again, I might not get so lucky next time. Anyone know what the thread size is for the sender (there is currently a plug in the water jacket cover/spark plug plate that covers the cylinder domes)? I think it's 1/8th npt, but I don't want to waste money buying a gauge with the wrong sender threads.