Wayne P.

Same location with Down Imaging sonar: To see the actual route of a creek, it takes another technology. This is the same location with Side Imaging.

<p> You have to cross it perpendicular and have recorded history to see its shape. The only way to find that out is notice the quick depth change and then cross that area at different angles. If you get the boat speed and unit screen scroll speed correct, you can get a recording of what the creek/ditch shape is: Without that recorded history, you can be positioned over the creek channel or on one side or the other and only see a flat bottom displayed. Additionally the transducer is not a camera and the display is not a monitor. What you see displayed is not a picture.

If you want to catch a lot of bass try Hunting Run Res. near the Chancellorsville Battlefield. If you don't have a boat, they rent jon boats and electric motors. Better hurry though because the lake will be closed starting Oct 8 unit March. I caught 94 bass there Friday. A couple more in the area are Motts Run and Ni Res.

IMHO, whether or not you are competing and all the boats go by you like you are sitting still, you will wish you went bigger. Additionally the longer boats are better when the water is not smooth--boat wakes, waves, etc.

Message sent Long Mike you almost got it right. The Lowance uses a dedicated Down Scan Crystal in the LSS tranducer for the Down Scan images. It has a left and right Structure Scan crystal also. The 2D sonar is a different transducer that comes with the HDS unit. The Humminbird Side Imaging transducer has the left and right Side Imaging crystals and the 2D crystal. The Down Imaging is software generated using the two Side Imaging crystals.

Yes, you can have a thermocline in a lake that has less than 25' deep water. I used to fish at a 75 acre lake frequently that the late summer thermocline was at the 10' level with a max depth of 22'. I could see it with my sonar and verified it with a remote temp sensor thermometer. The bottom temp was in the 50's with a surface temp in the 80's. The thermocline was the pattern that made catching quite easy.

No, the Navionics does NOT have more detail than the map you posted, it has less. I didn't check the other two lakes. I checked the Android app I have on my tablet and the Navionics Hotmaps Premium I use with my sonar/GPS units. The map you posted is more personalized for use at that location like those done for parks and recreational areas. You will not find a USGS map with any of the notes and markings like that one has.

The map you posted is the most detailed I can find. It is better than the one Navionics has. You don't have a lot of "features" with those glacial lakes. Navionics has an Android and iPhone app that has those lakes as well as a PC app. Check their website.

You can't tell how the unit works if it is not in the water. Sound travels about 4 times faster in water than air. The unit is programmed for water

Bottom Line was the original company that had that type unit. The side looking feature was called "Side Finder" and the portable unit and some of the regular display models had that function. I used to have one of the regular models--there were two transducers and a switch box to choose which direction to view. When you select the Side Finder transducer, you get V-shaped lines on the display to show the "cone" of coverage. Any fish that it interpreted were given a distance number. You just have to be aware of which direction the transducer was pointed. I doubt that Humminbird will repair it.

I have seen them at Lake Fork several times. Also on the North Carolina coast.

Yes it does go all the way to PIckwick dam. I just have the 2006 issue, and it has it HD surveyed all the way to the dam.

You are making all of this more difficult than it needs to be. What you have is a closed circuit somewhere. To find it, remove the positive battery cable. Put one meter probe on the NEGATIVE battery post and the other meter probe on the positive battery cable. Set the meter to read OHMS. If the meter has a beeper, use that instead of looking at the ohm readout. You will be using the meter battery for testing instead of the boat battery. That is a lot safer and easier than all the decribed procedures. Then do the disconnection of each device or switch until you don't hear the beeper or you don't get an OHM reading. Whatever you disconnected to get the above is your problem.

Yes, I normally use spinning gear, but I use baitcasting gear also if skipping under docks or getting a vertical fall in timber is not the pattern.

You have no control of where a fish is hooked with plastic worms, jig, or any bottom bouncing presentations. When a bass takes in those presentations, it hits the back of their throat and they crush it with the crushers at the back of the throat. If you hook one in the jaw, you are lucky since it is on its way out of the fish's mouth. If you are paying attention, you can hook them in the mouth somewhere before they swallow it.

I put a piece of 1/4" electrical heat shrink tubing over the worm, then insert the hook point through the tubing, pull the hook eye under it, and Tx rig the point. I use the tubing to keep the hook eye from pulling out of the worm when fishing in thick weeds, docks, and timber. It is a tight fit so no heating is needed. I use a 2/0 Octopus hook for finesse worms and a 3/0 Octopus hook for Trick worms. A 4/0 Octopus with added weedguard for Senkos. That set up was developed since I fish Briery Creek Lake a lot---mostly flooded timber and used to be full of hydrilla. The total rigging will handle the biggest bass in any cover IF they don't get wrapped up too much. It starts like this:

If you just paddle, get a system that uses an ICE transducer and powered by a small rechargeable battery like used in security systems. You can get the whole kit already set up from Humminbird. Then you just let the transducer hang over the side. http://store.humminbird.com/category/385495/Ice_Fishing_Series OR you can fight with the FIshin' Buddy type which takes some kind of clamp surface to hold it. http://store.humminbird.com/category/271308/Fishin%27_Buddy_Series If depth is all you want, you can get the SmartCast that has a wireless transducer (looks like a fishing float) Tie that to your raft with piece of string, put the display on you rod or wrist. http://store.humminbird.com/category/296590/SmartCast_Series You can also just get the portable series and exchange the suction cup transducer for the ICE transducer and do the same as the ICE series. http://store.humminbird.com/category/307378/PiranhaMAX_Series

You are almost corrent. BUT if you reel in very quickly, the lure won't spin as much-it doesn't have time to do so. A round worm is mostly the type used for that presentation. It isn't hydrodynamic enough to develope any spin if the resistance is high like with a very fast retrieve.

What brand of sonar unit and what model are you planning on attaching the transducer to the motor? I'll send you a PM after you answer that.

I know exactly what your challenge is. You can't just tape or fasten the cable to the motor shaft. You don't have anything special that lots of others have to deal with using that type of motor. Do you have the version 1 or version 2 motor?

Over 75% of the bass I catch each year are with that presentation. I don't use a weedless hook with the slim worms and definately no Circle hook. I do use my own version of a weedless hook for Senkos made with an Octopus hook.

The best installation for a trolling motor is to use a transducer that is made for that purpose. Your issue will be cable management.

The best line type for that presentation is a braided superline. It will still twist as much as a mono, but it won't be as affected. I use the 6# and 8 # mono equivelent diameter super lines.

If those are the only two choices, I would choose the larger display also. As far as having "issues", it's like any other product, it may be perfect and it may not be. Both companies are still in business so they must have desirable products. The main "issue" is your installation. Do that correctly and you will be fine.

Have you asked this before? I remember the same units and same questions somewhere. I'll give a similar answer: Both have the same transmit power. Both are mono-chrome displays. The Garmin is 77/200 kHz and the Humminbird is 83/200 kHz. The Humminbird has a 5" square screen that is 320 X 320 pixels. The Garmin specs state it has a 5" screen also BUT the pixel count is 480 X 320 which must mean the screen is taller than the Humminbird and narrower. I dont' know if that gives it a higher resolution display or not. Resolution is pixels per square inch--not total display pixels. Additionally there are more accessories available for the Humminbird to make it more versatile if wanted. Look up the accessory list for both. The 561 is $10 less in the Bass Pro catalog. .