Tennessee Boy

The fish would appear in the same spot as long as it was on the right side of the boat and 18ft from the transducer as if you measured this distance with a tape measure from the fish to the transducer. So it could be 18 ft deep and almost directly below the boat, it could be 18ft out to the side of the boat and almost at the surface of the water, or somewhere in between. My unit allows you to remove the water column and this is suppose to give you the horizontal distance to an object on the screen and not the angular distance (direct distance from the transducer). I use this setting most of the time.

Very interesting discussion. So let say you are in 20ft water and you pass is a large fish to the right side. The fish is 5ft deep and 18ft from the transducer. Where would the fish appear on the screen? On my Humminbird Solix I think it would appear in the water column on the right and would appear to be 18ft deep.

Based on what you are saying and what I'm seeing in the picture, I think it has to be the distance from the transducer. On my Humminbird, that would be the case. Team9nine brings up an interesting issue of the split or width of the V in J Francho's diagram. Is it wide like this _/\_ or narrow or non existent like this _|_ ? On your picture, it clearly exist because you have the herring school in the water column on the left only. If it did not exist then the water column on both sides would be the same. I hope your user's manual gives more information than mine on how wide this is. It makes a difference in how you interpret what you see.

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I have an Ultrex with i-pilot link so I can answer this question. First there are two versions of the Ulterra, the i-pilot link and the i-pilot. The i-pilot link will connnect to Humminbird Fishfinders the i-pilot version does not so if you get the i-pilot version, having Lowrance units makes no difference. The i-pilot link can be connected to HB finders and gives you the following features. 1. You can pull up a screen on the fishfinder that give you all of the basic functions of the remote so you can control the TM from the FF. It takes up space on the screen and I almost never use it. That's what the remote is for. 2. You can select a contour line on the map and follow that line or follow the line from a certain distance. So if the top of a ledge is 12 ft deep you can tell the trolling motor to keep you 20 feet from the 12 ft line so you can fish the ledge. It's a very nice feature. 3. You can select a waypoint or just select a spot on the map and tell the TM to go to that spot or you can tell it to follow a route you have stored in the fish finder. 4. When the trolling motor is on autopilot, the fish finder will show the heading on the map that the autopilot is following. This is a very handy feature. 5. Routes and waypoints you save on the trolling motor remote get copied to the fish finder. 6. You can have the fish finder save a waypoint everytime you engage spotlock on the trolling motor. I really don't think you give up that much by having Lowrance units. You will have the features that people love the most about the i-pilot systems without connecting to a fishfinder. The remote gives you many things like following routes and creating waypoints. To me spotlock and autopilot are the key features of the i-pilot trolling motors, I can't imagine fishing with them now.

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Two very impressive anglers and two very impressive young men in that competition today. Congratulations to both of them!

I checked the live web feed yesterday right as he was walking on stage at half time. He has represented himself and his university very well. Should he make it to the classic, I'm sure sponsors will line up to have him represent them. That's half the battle in making it as a pro. Good luck @everythingthatswims

Life's not fair and neither is fishing. I've fished lots of tournaments where other competitors had faster boats, better tackle, more local knowledge of the lake, more time pre-fishing time. If someone else has an advantage you can go home and cry about it or step up your game. The playing field will never be level in life or fishing.

@Scott F I think you are referring to interference cause by turbulence from the prop. I agree this will not be an issue if the transducer is mounted far enough from the motor. What I am concerned about is the starboard side imaging beam being blocked by the lower unit. If you are trying to shoot through a gap, being farther from the gap does not make it easier. His lower unit is 5.5 inches from the transom. Most transducer mounting brackets put the transducer about an inch from the transom. That gives him 4.5 inch gap for the side imaging beam. Might be enough, I don't know. My transducer is mounted two inches from the transom and I think my motor is even closer than five inches when trimmed all the way down. It totally blocks the side imaging beam on my Humminbird Solix unless I trim the motor up a little bit.

Humminbird sells a splitter that will allow you to used two transducers, one each side. I don't know if Garmin has a similar option.

Welcome to BR!

Welcome!

Well it sure does on my Humminbird. I trim up my motor when I'm using side imaging and that helps. It's not an issue with down imaging. If I don't trim up, the signal just bounces off the motor and I see a mirror image of what on the starboard side on the port side.

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Welcome to BR!

Congratulation

Welcome to BR!

I'm old enough to get this joke. ?

I agree that nobody regrets upgrading to a bigger TM. My first boat was a 17 ft Aluminum Tracker. I had a 12 volt 45 lb thrust and I was happy with it. I had two batteries wired parallel. My biggest concerned for you with the 55 lbs would be running out of juice with just one battery so I think you will want to add another battery either way go. 80 lbs trust on a 16.5 aluminum boat is more than you need but there will be times when you can use it. I have an 80 lb thrust Ultrex on my 18ft Aluminum Ranger and I love it but if I had room for another battery I would have gone with a 36v 112 lb thrust. Money spent on a good trolling motor is money well spent IMO.

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That's a great video A-Jay. I've had to many things happen at 25 mph that would have killed me at 50 mph. I don't want to think about 70 mph. I enjoy a nice slow ride across the lake at 30 mph and if I feel a little crazy I'll punch it up to 40 for a few seconds.

Glad you're okay. The good news is you increased the insulation on you ceiling. Should help with your heating bills.....a little bit. ?

I was a Lowrance guy for the past 20 years until this spring. I never had any problems with my Lowrance units. They are rock solid and well designed. This Spring I switched to Humminbird Solix units. They work but I have found them to be a little buggy. Nothing serious just annoying little things. I switched to Humminbird for the following reasons and I don't regret the decision. 1) On the lakes I fish most often, the Humminbird Lakemaster maps are far superior to any other maps I have seen. This alone has made switching to Humminbird worth while for me. 2) I have Humminbird 360 imaging and like it. 3) I have an i-pilot link trolling motor and I like the integration it has with my Humminbird units. If I was not taking advantage of these Humminbird only features, I would have stayed with Lowrance.

Welcome!