Sk8man

In any case it sounds like its not the end of the world . The 83/200 transducer does a pretty good job revealing things down there most of the time and you can always shut off the Fish Hawk briefly if you want to scope out things in more detail using the CHIRP (e.g maybe separating questionable objects from bait). You still have the capabilities of both so I wouldn't lose sight of that. The high tech/newest gizmo may help but it sure doesn't guarantee landing more fish. Learning to fully use your boat and equipment, paying close attention to detail, finding things that you can replicate, and sheer perseverance are far more important than the reliance on any device in the final analysis.

Hank's idea of the cameras is the way to go. I wouldn't be assuming it is an ice fisherman (although possible). IT could be a disgruntled neighbor, kids who are into mischief, ice boaters looking to launch near there or even teenagers wanting to make a skating rink near there or something. There are a lot of other possibilities than ice fishermen. Cameras might help sort it out though. Just need to position them so they can't be detected and tampered with. The fact that it has been repeated and is an out of the way location increases the possibility that it may be someone that lives nearby.

I think Angling Addict may be right...harmonics may be at fault.... as the CHIRP frequencies I believe would be in the upper ranges from the Fish Hawk and signals that occur at multiples of a given frequency can create "harmonics" and "mimic" that original frequency or parts of it in a receiving unit. So in this case it wouldn't be the placement of the transducer or units but the nature of the signal itself that is causing the problem.

The Fish hawk runs at 70 khz and I think that frequency was selected specifically to provide separation from the other common depth finder frequencies used. I think that under most normal circumstances you shouldn't have any problems in that regard. I'm not so sure about operating very close to another boat using the same Fish Hawk unit though whether some sort of interference might occur with the signal as it would be operating at the same frequency.

Cool.

Slammin I think I'd want some detailed pics of the INSIDE of the boat before pulling the trigger.....given the reference to animal damage ....could be severe.

Best wishes for a full recovery Jason

You might want to use your own judgment on setting the drag though

I didn't mean to infer that you pull lines Rick I think we know better than that

A couple things strike me as worth mentioning here just as food for thought regarding the issue of how much backing you have. The running the chute vs,. board setup issue is a good point and some others to think about are; The gear ratio of your reel becomes very important in this situation as does the drag itself and how you use it. Many if not most of the aggressive salmon will stop briefly within a hundred yards or so if they feel increasing tension on the line (I know there are exceptions and I've had them). If you are using a reel with say a 20 lb drag and a gear ratio of 6 to 1 it can be a very different situation than having a drag of 15 lbs and a gear ratio of 3 or 4 to 1 in terms of the amount of control you MAY have over taking line back when provided even the most brief opportunity. I know some folks feel that the drag should be set and then left alone under all circumstances (and it may make a lot of sense for charters for example) but if you have a smooth drag that is familiar to you it can used as an effective weapon against the fish by making him use as much energy as possible to tire him out quickly (especially if they will be released) as there is a point below the breaking strength of line that the fish will be working and pulling against the boat itself rather than just the drag and this is where things can be exploited (not for the average charter customer though ). Rick mentions another very important thing that is often ignored and that is using the boat in any way possible against the fighting fish and I know it is an unpopular view on here to pull lines and chase down a big fish but sometimes it is necessary (e.g. a tournament where you don't want to take chances) and can also be helpful in the short backing situation as well.

Just make sure you get the new one with the RED screen on the display. A lot of places advertise the X4D bu it is the non-Blue Tooth model without surface speed and that has the BLUE screen

I agree Brian and That is exactly what I was hinting at Big