Hard to go wrong with any Lowrance products to suit your budget. Elite 7s are rock solid with bright screen and good maps.Have 18 ft boat and will want a fish finder/gps unit and am wondering about experience with various units and displays
Boat is fibreglass with outboard if it matters and will fish west coast would like to go offshore as well
I’m just wondering as I’ve never done it or seen one in action do you see the fish your targeting on the screen even if you don’t see the hit on your rig or is it just a case of putting the rig in the right spot and time for a feeding time ie the bite is onHard to go wrong with any Lowrance products to suit your budget. Elite 7s are rock solid with bright screen and good maps.
I bought a garmin Echomap 74CV which will arrive tomorrow. Got a good deal, otherwise I'd be outfitting for Lowrance as well.
From what I've read, downscan/sidescan isn't as useful in the deep salt and CHIRP is the way to go.
Sometimes you may see the fish that ends up hitting your bait/lure, but not that often. The big factor is the sounders operating frequency. Mine is switchable between 50 and 200 kHz. Most who have sounders that use these frequencies use 200 kHz for salmon fishing as it will give you the best fine detail both to see fish and bottom detail. The trade-off is that the cone is very small compared to 50 kHz which has a much larger cone. In short, at 200 kHz you will get nice clear arches of salmon and show even very small one and even bait size fish and krill, but only if they are right under the transducer, which most of the salmon that see and hit your lure are not. I can often make a fairly accurate assessment as to the size of the salmon by the size of its arch in relation to its depth, and if it is very large and shallow, it may have some red in the arch on the display, not just black.I’m just wondering as I’ve never done it or seen one in action do you see the fish your targeting on the screen even if you don’t see the hit on your rig or is it just a case of putting the rig in the right spot and time for a feeding time ie the bite is on
And that’s what chirp is ? Both frequencies at onceSometimes you may see the fish that ends up hitting your bait/lure, but not that often. The big factor is the sounders operating frequency. Mine is switchable between 50 and 200 kHz. Most who have sounders that use these frequencies use 200 kHz for salmon fishing as it will give you the best fine detail both to see fish and bottom detail. The trade-off is that the cone is very small compared to 50 kHz which has a much larger cone. In short, at 200 kHz you will get nice clear arches of salmon and show even very small one and even bait size fish and krill, but only if they are right under the transducer, which most of the salmon that see and hit your lure are not. I can often make a fairly accurate assessment as to the size of the salmon by the size of its arch in relation to its depth and if it is very large and shallow, it may have some red in the arch on the display, not just black.
So why not use 50 kHz? Because the detail is terrible, and you may not even see a salmon even if your transducer runs right over it. So why have the low frequency option? Because it can see the bottom at much greater depth and beyond the point where, at 200 kHz, you may lose bottom lock. For us, we always salmon fish using 200kHz, looking for salmon, bait/krill at specific depths. Overall having a very clear and accurate representation of the bottom with fine detail is every bit as important as seeing fish. Sometimes you want to bring up your ball to clear a reef and then drop back down as soon as you are over to find a salmon hiding close to it out of the current. Sometimes at 200 kHz we can see kelp and weed growing off the reef not just the rock bottom, so we know to bring up the ball to not just clear the reef but also the kelp above it.
Different sounders may offer choices of different frequencies, which may have their own advantages and disadvantages. Basically, the higher the frequency the less area is covered, but the detail is better.
Have 18 ft boat and will want a fish finder/gps unit and am wondering about experience with various units and displays
Boat is fibreglass with outboard if it matters and will fish west coast would like to go offshore as well
If you are fishing close to bottom and there areThanks for starting this thread Loghauler. I'm new to fishfinders too and appreciate the knowledge dispensed so far. I'm a new owner of a Garmin echomap 72 cv....and it's almost all greek to me.
I was wondering, do most of you use the "traditional" display?
If you're fishing close to the bottom how do you navigate without getting hung up? Do you keep the chart open (combo screen) and follow a contour line?
I’m guessing my learning curve is going to be interesting as wellIf you are fishing close to bottom and there are
pinnacles then you will need to have a partner working the riggers while you give instructions.
Or if you are on a flat Sandy bottom then you can drop the ball to the bottom, bring it up a few feet and follow a contour line.
You’re taking to a guy who lost 11 balls in one year a few years ago and now zero lost in the last two years. I’m an expert at the subject!