Kayak Sonar Discussion

[Denis_Ruso]

Originally Posted by Johnny Hirn

I am looking at putting my lowrance elite 4x chirp transducer on the lowrance scupper plug mount for better clarity, however, as of now it is currently installed with the goop method. What is the best way of removing the transducer safely.
Tight lines,
Johnny.

Someone else could chime in but when I used plummers putty for my previous install, it helped to warm it up with a blowdryer/heat gun to peel off. You may have luck with the same method removing goop.

[Fishing619]

I'm looking for a new FF around $500 to $600 for a PA14
what do you recommend? I have look and they are a lot of
Options it get overwhelm thanks.

[ful-rac]

Lowrance HDS 7, Gen2-Gen3

[surfishiron]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

Taking in account your depth, I would say most likely it's not yellowtail. It's quite possible it might be depending upon the location you are fishing. You have your FF setting on Medium Chirp and are in shallow water so everything is going to be a bit stretched out, making objects appear to be larger than they would be on High Chirp. Also a wider cone angle covering more area thus displaying more information or more objects in the same amount of space. To me if I saw that on my FF at this current time in the area I fish, I would interpret that more than likely as Bonita, mixed with those little yellows that have been around lately, chasing around bait.

Providing key information might help...

Where were you fishing?
What kind of structure is nearby?
When was the screen shot taken?
Did you catch anything?

You never really can know with absolute certainty of what your seeing on your fish finder unless you are actually catching what you are seeing. And even then the other fish or objects you are seeing on screen can be something completely different from what you are catching. With local knowledge of an area, where certain species are known to congregate, this information can help to narrow down what your seeing on screen can likely be or likely not be.

First of all thank you to all that replied this is valuable info that i appreciate from the community. To answer Tony's questions I was fishing my super secret spot you probly don't know it is call La Jolla. Named by the Germans in 1903, there was structure nearby roughly 100-200 yards, screenshot was very recent, I caught several bonies and one YT. I never thought about depth when is came to sonar readings and or my settings in shallow vs deeper water. Appreciate the input from those more experienced than myself. Also never thought of using a different chirp setting based on my depth due to the fact that I usually fisht 70+ to 200. Once again thank you and I cant wait to bring more screen shots to this threat.

[jorluivil]

This is all I see on my screen.
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Any guess what it could be?

[MITCHELL]

[MITCHELL]

On my fish finder.....

[INGRIDSDAD]

I recently upgraded to the HDS7 gen 3, has anyone messed with the total scan transducer? Any advantage over the 50/200?

[chris138]

Originally Posted by INGRIDSDAD

I recently upgraded to the HDS7 gen 3, has anyone messed with the total scan transducer? Any advantage over the 50/200?

I personally have not... but I've read up on it and apparently it's bitchin. Its one for the first consumer grade sidescan transducers on the market... and definitely one of the best for rec fishers. The thing can allow you to generate 3D bathymetric maps of the sea floor!

Aside from all of the awesomeness of the total scan, it comes with one huge drawback for kayak. In order for the side scan to work, the transducer must sit proud of the bottom of your boat. It has to be able to see out to the sides, so it cant be recessed into the transducer scupper. That's fine on the water, but when you go to launch or land on sand (or worse yet rocks or a boat launch) the transducer will scrape on the ground. Scratching up the surface of the ducer is bad and will mess with its precision.

If I were gonna try the total scan, I would go with a boom arm over the scupper mount. Then you could just pull it out the of the water for launch and landing.

[chris138]

Originally Posted by jorluivil

This is all I see on my screen.

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Any guess what it could be?

WOPR... shall we play a game? How about tick tack toe?

[MITCHELL]

Tangles with your sabiki rig.....

[chris138]

Bump to 2020! Here's some shots from the end of 2019, hope your sounders are dialed in the new decade!

[acorad]

Originally Posted by chris138

Bump to 2020! Here's some shots from the end of 2019, hope your sounders are dialed in the new decade!

I think yours is broken, it makes everything look like slug YTs.

[Newguyhere]

Does anyone have setting suggestions for hook 2 5 splitshot if I'm 100+ feet. Could not seem to figure it out. At all.

[Newguyhere]

Pics

[TJones]

Originally Posted by Newguyhere

Pics

. that does not look good at all. you got some sore of interference. bad wire, bad ground, maybe bad transducer? try running demo and see what happens if that unit has this option? check your transducer plug and make sure it is seated well. no matter what you did with settings, your screen should not have that fuzzy bar. in another thread you had mentioned that you were loosing picture after a certain depth. check your depth settings and leave it on auto. you it is set at manual of 100' and you go out of range, the unit will go haywire.

[Newguyhere]

It's just weird bc it seems to work fine under 100 feet.

[chris138]

Did you ever get this figured out?

[Newguyhere]

I did not. From what I've read though the cheaper lowrance units are hit or miss. I only paid 80 bucks for it after rebates and sale.
I ended up upgrading to a Garmin echomap plus 64cv.

[chris138]

Originally Posted by Newguyhere

I did not. From what I've read though the cheaper lowrance units are hit or miss. I only paid 80 bucks for it after rebates and sale.
I ended up upgrading to a Garmin echomap plus 64cv.

Right on. I've heard similar things. The kayak life is probably the harshest environment for a sonar. Often its corrosion on the connector pins or power supply terminals that causes problems, but also the power supply fuse can give you issues too. Ever since I had like three of those damn fuses corrode I wont even install it anymore.

You will have to let us know how you like your Garmin, I have heard good things.