Sk8man

It would be nice to get a repeat in the derby

Nice going Mike

Thanks for the info and I appreciate you taking time to respond but I think the price is higher than it was brand new. For now I've cobbled up my old one

Maybe they will re-position the line counter on a new model and that would be sweet.

If just running the riggers I run it at 83 khz much of the time. If I use my Fishhawk I switch the finder to 200khz and if fishing shallow it usually marks the riggers and when fishing deep I just go by the Fishhawk and the counter on my riggers.

This is the one:

The transducer can be mounted on the same block with no problem mine shares a screw with another transducer. Running on 83 Khz while the Fishhwawk is on will usually make the Fishhawk go on "random program". the 83 Khz will work fine with the Fishhawk off and you wouldn't be running it while on plane anyway. The 200 khz is usually best running 0-100 ft in fresh water. It has a narrower cone angle than the 83 khz so not great for marking downriggers in deep water either as they easily go outside the cone angle.

I have no idea why but even on the Fingers as well it has always been that way for me. Unless during a derby etc. I don't even bother fishing in an east wind and I don't think it is just "superstition".

Don't give up on it Stan It is coming along tough part now is pics, tables and diagrams etc. and I've taken long breaks away from it to fish

As with much of fishing there are a lot of assumptions being made in lieu of being able to directly observe or interview the fish. The video above is instructive in a lot of ways. It illustrates the fact that going with the current kills the action of some if not most lures. It also reinforces the fact that when in such a state increasing speed can accentuate lure action in a down current. Underwater currents are complex in operation and not always easy to figure out from the boat as they can go in multiple directions at once too and we make a lot of inferences or assumptions about what they are doing to our tackle. The Fishhawk assists in making a judgement about where the lure is running and the speed of the downrigger weight through the water basically and this can be compared with the GPS speed of the boat over bottom so an assumption can be made about strength and direction of underwater current. The desired speed of trolling is often taken for granted as being the effective speed that we think the lure operates say 2.2 mph, but that speed may affect a given spoon or stick in radically different ways under the water in the various currents where it isn't actually visible to us and also back from the weight because of the distance placed there (e.g. long setback and bow in line etc.). All the while we are assuming the lure is operating at whatever speed we had desired without any real evidence that it is actually running at that particular speed that the weight is OR that is running optimally action-wise. The video approach can help clear that last thing up but it isn't practical to do with every lure either. I use a Fishhawk X4D along with my depth finder as tools in trying to figure things out, but I also recognize the limitations in totally relying on any of them in figuring things out down there. People often want to simplify situations by limiting their input of information and this is one of those circumstances. A lot of time can be spent fixating on these electronic devices and forgetting to fish comprehensively and that is more effort paying attention to detail, monitoring the wind and water conditions, observing objects on the water and their path, observing changes in equipment, and many other variables that can be just as important as the data from the devices. Bottom line: all these devices no matter how sophisticated are merely "tools" with which to make "assumptions"or "estimations"and some are more reliable than others but none of them should be treated as "gospel" either. One of the things I found of interest in this video and many others I have seen is the apparent difficulty that fish often have in grabbing a lure in front of them traveling sideways and I am wondering if it is because of the positioning of their eyes which doesn't afford them binocular vision which is required for depth perception and maybe not related to just the speed factor.

Northern King?

Wow! great tribute and it sounds from all the comments here that it is well deserved. The things that are hinted at are important factors that have made the American workforce wonderful in the past; honesty, hard work, fairness in pricing, going over and above in effort, and taking pride in the work that is done. It is gratifying to see that it is still alive and well here. Bravo! It is also an example of the importance of letting folks know when it occurs.

The duolock snaps are the simplest option as noted above but there is also a sort of corkscrew gizmo (Don't know actual name for it) that simplifies changes of flies too

You should be OK at that end of the lake. The steep hills there block a lot of the wind until you get a few miles down the lake.