Last Couple of Days

[vernon]

Not much to offer so far but since Saturday night have been out and at it some. Truth is, the boat's still so new I'm spending way more time playing than fishing. Danged Lowrance electronics are about to make me give it up all together!  What a stupid I am.

Anyway, have actually caught quite a few fish although only two keepers so far. Bunches of 13 and 14 inch smallmouth and spots (and some smaller) and all have been in less than 15 feet of water. Just throwing the Ned around gravel and rock banks. Nothing remarkable about the locations at all. 

Have tried a few gravel run outs in 30-35 feet with a jig but only caught three shorts. Nothing for me so far on the Plopmeister but fun to fling. No spinnerbait fish either. 

After escaping to the golf course today (y'all freaked me out with those Ebola virus looking ameba pictures yesterday) we're planning to hit it a little harder tomorrow. 

As I said, nothing really to offer other than you can get lots of bites up shallow if all you care about is getting a little attention. And, at this point, I'm actually pretty happy with just that!

Go Ned. 

[176champion]

I have a lowrance on my console and dont like it...i just put a new Helix 7 DI on the bow and been playing with it at home and like it way much better...was going to go out to day and play with it on the water but i thought it was more important to put brakes on my tow vehicle....

[vernon]

Yeah, the brakes deal was probably a pretty good idea. Now granted, I ain't figured much out with my Lowrance but I am nonetheless pretty sure it don't got much stopping power when it come to your tow rig!

There's no doubt in my mind that these units are absolute state of the art and that the problem is not them but me. Nonetheless, it is frustrating to no end to not know what you're looking at. I've never had networked locaters before and I swear yesterday I was in 40 feet of water and was watching something broadcast from my Dish network back home! 

It's like somebody gave me the freakin' space shuttle for Christmas and just said, "Enjoy!"

[bobby b.]

12 hours ago, 176champion said:

I have a lowrance on my console and dont like it...i just put a new Helix 7 DI on the bow and been playing with it at home and like it way much better...was going to go out to day and play with it on the water but i thought it was more important to put brakes on my tow vehicle....

I put a Helix 9 on the bow this summer and will replace my Humminbird 997 at the console with the same hopefully in the Spring.  I like the Helix 9 allot but noted an issue at least for me the last few nights.  My 997 has an old Navonics chart in it and I can change the background to Blue or Black which is very helpful to see at night particular for driving.  I can't see the boat position very well at night with the white screen even if I dim the light.  The Helix only offer White or Black background but the Black does not work if you have a chart in the unit (I have a new Lake Master card in the Helix).  I talked to Humminbird about this yesterday and she tested several old and new units with different cards and in fact this is how the new products work.

I asked her to submit a "safety issue" concern to the engineers and she said she would.  The white light on the bow also makes it harder for your eyes to adjust at night.  

So you guys with new Humminbird products that fish at night and feel the same could call Humminbird as well and ask for a software change.  Maybe they will do it if they get a few calls.

[176champion]

I just have the helix 7 di on the bow and hopefully next year i can get the helix 7 si gps for the console next year...with the 7 on the bow its getting crowded....right now on console is a lowrance mark 4 HDI...

 

[tapout]

176champion, I like the diamond plate mount. I used steel pipe to mount mine. Works fine. $10 instead of $110 for a RAM.

[176champion]

22 minutes ago, tapout said:

176champion, I like the diamond plate mount. I used steel pipe to mount mine. Works fine. $10 instead of $110 for a RAM.

Thanks...best part the aluminum diamond plate was free...lol.....i kind of butchered it.....was trying to set it dead center but rolling motor cables where in the way..

[vernon]

As an update of sorts I finally buckled down and got my mind right fishing the gravel run outs. As some have already indicated, 30 ft. seems to be the magic depth. Using one of Bo's Nu Tech jigs (really like these by the way) and a Jewel trailer, I got into some of the fattest Spots I've ever seen. 

They were serious too. Nothing subtle about the bite and whenever I missed one, it or another one would grab it up to four times on the way back to the boat.

As much as I've been griping about my Lowrance junk, seeing them on the graph was essential. Didn't get a single bite that I can recall unless they were evident on the screen. 

Before and after the storm, I was able to replicate this pattern in five different locations. A couple of times I was a 1/4 to dang near 1/2 mile from the bank!  New territory for me that's for sure. Heading back out momentarily to try again throughout today before heading home in the morning. 

However, I still hate these danged Gen 3's. They're way too smart for me!  

I've pushed every button on the HDS 12 and still can't get a digital depth reading on any screen except the full sonar page. The bottom reading shows up perfect - just no digital depth number. Switch to full screen sonar and, bingo, it's back again. A couple of times on combo screens it'll momentarily show some wild number like 1447 and then go right back to - - -. 

Oh well. Got a couple of weeks to figure it out before our return in mid October. I'll be back whining full bore again at that time!

[dblades]

You can manually add any data, ie depth, speed, temp, you want to each screen. I like depth and temp on my sonar screens, fuel remaining and speed on most of my chart pages.You are looking for the "overlay data" in the manual, easy to do once you try it a few times.

[Quillback]

I like to hear that you are getting them on the deep FB jig.  That's always a fun bite.