Sonar Discussion

[THE DARKHORSE]

You'll shoot your eye out!

[TCS]

Good discussion. Except that I don't understand the joke about shooting my eye out. Just a little slow I guess!

So here is what I have so far.

Lower khz: good for my application.
Color: required
Lowrance: good choice
GPS: still optional for me, I have a compass to make sure I don't get lost.

Here is my big remaining question:
If I get the Elite 5X instead of the HDS 5, how much difference will there be in actually seeing fish at LJ? The elite does seem to have a lot of power, but the peak to peak is different? Is there anybody that has experience with these two units that can compare performance?

Thanks!

[flydigital]

Buddy has Elite 5, I have the HDS. The screen resolution is a little better with the HDS. Sonar returns a little stronger and more separated. HDS is "high def" sonar which in practice actually has more power even though the ratings look much different.

Either one is great. As to how much difference, I would say you get about a 10-20% increase in overall performance with the HDS. If you know your stuff it might make a difference. For me, being pretty much a sonar novice, I don't think it matters much. If I did it again I would get the Elite 5 and save a couple hundred. Not that I don't like the HDS!

[Iceman]

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by TCS

GPS: still optional for me, I have a compass to make sure I don't get lost.

The GPS is not about getting lost it's about finding fish.

In Santa Monica bay I mark every halibut I catch as a waypoint on the gps, so when I go out to fish butts in the bay I can see every halibut I have caught in the past. Halibut like to hang in certain areas near structure, so the map of former halibut gives me a good idea where to target them.


At La Jolla I mark yellows I catch, squid concentrations, seabass I have caught, even rocks etc...So say I know there is squid around. I paddle to the old squid marks and often they are right there.

The GPS also gives you real time info on where you have been. For instance I leave the tracking on so I can see the line of my path. Say I get bit on a drift, I just paddle back up the same line and drift the same spot.

Say I hook a fish. well since you generally drift in a straight line you can tell where you hooked up by the change in course seen on the gps so you can go back and fish the exact same spot. If I find fish I stay on them all day or sometimes leave and come back to them, using the GPS.

I like the GPS combo units because it's easier to see, and I'll often split the screen so I can see my track, and the sonar at the same time.




I take a handheld as a back up but hardly use it.

In that pic you can see I'm working a an area that has bait (spanish mackeral) from the meter but you can also see on the gps that I'm working an area that I've been fishing all day by the tracks, and just north of an area where I hooked up a yellow earlier, that I marked with a MOB marker, which was just off the high spot marked on the chart. That is real time info that is great to have on the water.Bottom line is the GPS is a tool to keep track of and find fish.

The perfect example of this for me is the day I got my 40+ yellow at La Jolla. I caught a thirty pound fish in the morning and fished around that spot off and on all day. Slightly in and down current from that location I found a small spot of young squid, little three inchers holding tight on the bottom. By use of the GPS I kept track of them all day, though I did not catch anything off them, all afternoon. Right before dark I was fishing in closer to the kelp talking to Josh, who was fishing halibut. He told me the yellows were not biting in the evening, that it was a waste of time, as the squid were too spread out. I said there is this small pod of squid over there (to the north) about a 100yds,, I'd been watching them all day,and that I thought the yellows will hit them right before dark.

Finally I said: Well.... I got to go hit them, as now's the time.

I paddled over to the spot using the gps, found the squid with the finder , set up a drift to take me right over them using the past drift tracks as a guide, put down a bait, and as soon as I got to the squid I hooked up a forty plus yellow.

I would of never found that fish without the gps, for me it's just as important as having sonar.

Jim

[steveooo]

Another vote for GPS. For all the reasons mentioned above, plus the ability to look at depth contour charts and find out some new areas/lumps/holes/stones/ridges/peaks/canyons that you never would find otherwise. Also, instead of marking places where I have caught fish, I just mark off all of the areas that i am certain do NOT hold fish. I got plenty of those waypoints if anyone wants them

[GregAndrew]

I agree with what Scallywag and Flydigital said, and I have the Elite 5. I don't believe there is no old Elite 5 though, it is a new model itself (lots of places do not have them in stock). For me, built in GPS is well worth the price for marking everything mentioned while not having to fish another device out.

[Regor]

Originally Posted by Jim Day

At La Jolla I mark yellows I catch, squid concentrations, seabass I have caught, even rocks etc...So say I know there is squid around. I paddle to the old squid marks and often they are right there.

If you EVER go to sell your FF/GPS, I'd sacrifice and take it off your hands (especially if you forgot to erase all way points

[j mo]

Im gonna second Jeremiah's post regarding West Marine. Shelly and Amber at the Rosecrans store hooked me up.

Printed out the lowest cost HDS-5x I could find on the internet and brought it in- Price Match no problem!

I asked to have a unit set aside for me w a transom mount 80/200 khz ducer, well they made a mistake and set aside the 50/200 khz w temp sensor which is quite a bit more. They were out of the 80/200 so they said "no problem- sorry for the mistake" and adjusted the price to that of the cheaper unit!

And I got the $50 mail in rebate.

And for $69 bucks I opted for the no BS return- a no brainer.

I can’t remember the last time i had great customer service, it was quite a shock.

[wade]

has anyone mounted the hds to something other than a hobie?

any photos, or recommendations?

thanks

w

[GregAndrew]

Wade, the Elite 5 has the resolution and power to do all of the things that you are concerned about. The HDS can give you better separation of stacked or very close fish, but I am dropping a line if I see 1 WSB on the finder myself. I believe the HDS draws a little more power than the Elite, but even the Elite required an upgrade to a 9amp battery for me to run all day. The connector on the back of the Elite for additional temp/GPS receivers requires a cap that did not come with my unit. Lowrance was happy to send me several of them for free when I emailed them my address (I have extras if you need them). I would recommend the Gold (Navionics) unit for the $80 more it is worth it just for the bottom contours.

[Billy V]

Originally Posted by TCS

Good discussion. Except that I don't understand the joke about shooting my eye out. Just a little slow I guess!

So here is what I have so far.

Lower khz: good for my application.
Color: required
Lowrance: good choice
GPS: still optional for me, I have a compass to make sure I don't get lost.

Here is my big remaining question:
If I get the Elite 5X instead of the HDS 5, how much difference will there be in actually seeing fish at LJ? The elite does seem to have a lot of power, but the peak to peak is different? Is there anybody that has experience with these two units that can compare performance?

Thanks!

Tom and Wade,

I have the HDS-5 on the skiff with the transducer mounted "in the water".
Kevin has the HDS-5X with the transducer mounted inside the hull.

- When we rafted my skiff next to his kayak to compare the pictures we were able to get pretty much the exact same bottom picture.

I believe that is the answer you were looking for.
--------------------------------------

It simply comes down to familiarizing yourself with a new fish finder , and what a yellowtail, wsb, or squid looks like on the screen.

-On that note I have pics of each fish for $5 a peice to shorten your learning curve.

[TCS]

Has anyone tried mounting the transducer to the mast in a hobie adventure? I'm wondering if the mast is in a low spot or if I need to put a well around it to add water.

Also, anybody want to share default settings for an HDS in LJ? If not, no worries, I'll just go 'auto'. Maybe use bottom lock? They don't seem to have a saltwater setting, just shallow or deep. Is 120' deep?

Billy, thanks for the transducer info, I was wondering about that. I think I'll pass on purchasing your sonar porn, although I'll admit I'm curious...

I'll probably go on Friday to try it out.

Wade, you get yours yet?

I'll be fishing with Josh in March for sure, just to make sure I don't hurt myself with this thing...

[flydigital]

It's worth a shot... It works fine on the revo, strapping the transom bracket to the mast with zip ties (ducer must be faced backwards though as it doesn't fit between drive well and mast). I do believe this is the low spot on both models. If it doesn't work or you need too much water for it to work right, you can easily add a foam well around it. On the revo about 2 cups of water does the trick, with no loss of signal with pitching/rolling movement.

As for settings, its pretty subjective as to what works best, but I was able to start with the default and try adjusting everything, and within 2-3 trips out I had a good handle on it and was able to get it working great. I don't use any auto modes, and manually adjust sensitivity and colorline each time out, sometimes adjusting throughout the day (diff settings for each freq). When I first tried the 'modes' I believe it was shallow water that worked best. All these modes do is adjust the settings, but its good to go through them while you are out and see how they look compared to each other, paying attention to the settings used. Hope that helps a bit at least until you get some better advice from those who have more experience with it. Good luck!