Sk8man

Same to you Fleet and best of luck with things.

Hey FishinNY do they still fish Delta for the eyes and if so through the ice? I used to get up that way to visit my buddy on Bellingertown Road and fish the brookies at the base of his water falls but haven't been up that way in awhile.

Great looking spoons powerdive If it is possible to list the size of them somewhere on the website that could help folks select them. Keep up the great work.

I don't have one of those units but I believe the Gen 3 unit is capable of CHIRP So if you add the CHIRP transducer you should get increased detail regarding target identification and separation because of the enhanced extended frequencies. My understanding is that you have to have the CHIRP transducer to be able to do it vs. the standard transducer which just has the two frequencies and not the extended ones and that you can't get CHIRP by just adding that CHIRP transducer to a non-CHIRP unit. I'm a little surprised that you report better detail on the 50 khz vs. the 200 khz although transducer type and specific placement differences may be a factor. The 50/200 khz transducer is actually supposedly optimized for deep sea/coastal salt water applications while the 83/200 khz transducers are the freshwater optimized ones.

I just got a Hero4 Silver GoPro for Xmas and will be taking it to Yellowstone in late June to try out and I'm not sure whether the volcanic activity out there is any more dangerous than trusting my downrigger wire for underwater shots....maybe when it isn't so new Tyee I think you may be more of a risk taker at this point than me

I hear ya Big Water. Anyone who thinks they have these fish totally figured out is sadly mistaken . My gut hunch though is that in the cases of the curiosity streaks that trout and salmon come to investigate and either the terminal lure isn't what they want or were hoping for or that something in the setup may be "off" for them (e.g. they see the line, the vibrations from the rigger wire or the attached weight spooks them, the proximity or distance of the weight/lure or the action of the lure itself looks phony or strange to them). It is also possible that they may not be hungry and are just curious about the vibrations in the water in and of itself (which I strongly suspect is a factor in the use of my coppers and leadcore). Nobody actually knows the accurate answer to this dilemma but speculation can lead to some successful results sometimes which is why I made the above suggestions. Regardless of the reason it is as frustrating for me as it is to you

You know I was thinking salmon and trout totally when I made my comments and as we know walleyes are a much more "elusive" and seemingly "picky" species and I don't think anyone here or elsewhere in their right mind for that matter would argue against your trolling methods Justin- pure and simple you've got it down and it works.

I guess that eye didn't subscribe to the "light bite" school Nice fish!

You're very welcome steelfire. Best of luck during the upcoming season.

A true sign of the dreaded "walleye addiction" when you go out after them now Justin. Nice going!

Guess I'll have to run my Seth Greens up a little higher out there now

Big Water brings up a good point for exploration. My first thought however is why are the fish coming to look and not hitting? It may be that something is wrong with my setup as well as the fact that they aren't "hungry". They are at least "curious" so I would be messing with the rigger (up and down, change in speed, turns etc.) or bring up or down another rigger to see if they would hit that with a different setup on it or change in movement. I think an analogy from ice fishing is appropriate. fish will come and thoroughly examine a certain jig that has been presented repeatedly without hitting and then you immediately put down another line with a different jig and whamo. Another thing is we often assume that fish can't "see" something that is presented below them but we forget that despite their eyes being located topside they perceive movement primariiy with their lateral line structure but much of the time they may be looking skyward and seeing moving shapes or outlines and are attracted by that and then may discover some element of the presentation that is off, moving too rapidly for their liking and they are spooked by it or become disinterested. I always assume a curious fish to be positive rather than negative (such as one staying on the bottom without moving or suspended and not responding) and it is up to me to challenge them to hit The exact depths lures are running are often more important in our own minds much of the time other than when there is a distinctly formed thermocline with fish sitting within a relatively narrow band. Take for example the fact that most folks set in terms of rounded of numbers (20 30 40 etc.) with no real rationale for that repeatability is really the most important factor as Gill T already noted. Just thinking out loud here

Nice going Billy...you're a hardcore dude

Very sweet dog Dave! I even had my daughter who is visiting from California take a look at it and she thinks it is "precious"

I don't have the HDS new gen units but I can offer a little advice regarding the sonar functioning. I believe that the lower range of your transducer is 83 khz rather than 80. I have the Elite7 HDI (Down imaging unit 83/200) with mapping. If you are marking all your downriggers fine as well as fish you are already a step ahead of a lot of folks . My hunch is that you are running the unit at 83 khz when that happens too. There is a different cone angle associated with each of those frequencies with the narrower being the 200 khz which is best generally for shallower water situations. While the 83 khz may mark the downriggers OK at some depths often they go out of the cone when speed is increased above a certain level and/or if say on the 200 khz setting they will go outside the cone more quickly the higher up the riggers are set. Many factors affect the display of riggers, boat speed, underwater currents, the weight of the downrigger weight and "blow back" etc. For deeper water situations high quality 50 khz transducers (e.g. Airmar model matched to your unit) can be superior marking both fish and the riggers. Recently CHIRP transducers/units have come to the fore as they combine a series or increased range frequencies which basically enhances the detail and vertical cone coverage of the signal giving "clearer" returning information such as separation of fish from bait etc. This is where the new units excel. The mapping programs are especially good for unfamiliar bodies of water but for regularly fished familiar places I rely more on my own cognitive maps after years of fishing the spots . Depth finders aren't magical devices... they are primarily "tools" for assessing relationships between bottom structure, the water column features and presence or absence of bait and/or fish. Learning to use them properly takes time and experience once they are properly set up on the boat. Whether an "enhanced" mapping program added to your unit is worth the financial investment when you already are apparently able to display the most critical data elements seems a matter of choice as it is regarding the issue of the enhanced data from a new CHIRP unit and may also depend on your usual fishing situations (e.g. do you routinely fish unfamiliar lakes or spots or not). I realize you may already know these things but I was taking the opportunity to give folks new to this something to think about before either selecting a unit or upgrading.