justtracytrolling

Nice work guys! Usually I'm jealous reading reports when I'm not fishing yet, but it had to have been brutal in this wind and cold. 2 more weeks for me till I'm in...I'm way behind, but gonna start uncovering this weekend.

I just love " the c n r bass season".

If you want to unload a bunch of tackle bring it to camp! You know what I use...hope all is well and I look forward to seeing you and your family. I have some pretty serious upgrades for this season to show you...and I have something special coming for you!

If NYS would run things like a business it would help immensely. It's absurd the management strategies they come up with when really at the end of the day it's always about money. Invest in the outdoors where we get a return...both in fish and fishermen. Of course our inability to unite as sportsmen doesn't help our voice...it seems like if we all were together on issues like these it would be tough for NY to ignore us.

Definitely need to mount low towards the centerline on a deep v. Even makes a difference on a bass boat. I'm very happy with the mega imaging 12 and have the same 9 you have as well. Hummingbird has a good diagram in a PDF that shows a few options though I'd definitely avoid the cost of two transducers.

The side scan will work shallow to deep also but the fish can't be glued to the bottom. It also works fine on suspended fish off shore. Imaging is also great for seeing exactly how the fish are schooled. I use this to specifically find schools of walleye set up to feed.

The depth isnt relative on the helix for how far to the side you can look. The helix has 5 different frequencies it runs on and the coverage is 180 degrees.

I can't even hardly have a conversation with Tracy now this time of year without my mind wandering to rigging, getting camp open, and getting outside!!!

I'm on otisco and specialize in what you want to do and I'd agree with everything mentioned above. In fact I think it's easier from shore IF you have access where there are fish... to be consistent you have to have a boat

The helix mega imaging unit does 400 feet each way with regular side imaging and regular down imaging to 400 feet. The unit does 125 feet each way with mega side imaging and 125 feet down with mega down imaging. The regular imaging is 455Khz and mega is 1.2Mhz. We are very happy with our units and they definitely have allowed me to find fish in new places. I can identify walleye without getting on them and if there are eyes anywhere under my spread I know I went over them with the mega imaging...I don't even use the regular. The catch to imaging is you need a big screen to see what is there. I see the individual alewives in the bait balls and can spot a single fish in the bait balls. I actually found, identified, and counted individual walleye set up on a sand flat last June one morning and because I knew they were walleye I was able to have the patience to work one tiny spot for hours till they turned on at 11am. With my 798si I'd have drove right by....

X2... I use a 36v 112 on a 21' pontoon set up as a charter boat and it trolls 2+ 4-5 hrs on flat water but it doesn't take much wind and it isn't very effective by itself with 4 customers and a dozen lines I use it primarily in concert with my outboard when trolling as an auto pilot and remote steering not propulsion. For smaller water and multispecies electric is great and might work ok for you, but for big water trolling a kicker is what I'd want.

If you only jig deep for lakers I suppose 1 graph and tablet would work....jig/dropshot shallower or on structure and you need multiple transducers and graphs if you want to fish anywhere but under your transducer at the back of the boat. Even with a wide angle sonar cone you can't see your jig from the wrong end of the boat in less than 40 fow and a 20 degree cone needs about 100 fow. Doesn't make sense to fish the bow with a trolling motor and not have a transducer on it and a graph.

Buy a second unit and screw the mirroring. Nobody in their right mind should be looking at a dinky cell screen and why do you want a tablet getting ruined. Graphs are cheap these days.

Pcpete We have the the gen 1 helix 9 and we have 2 gen 1 12 inch si units and 3 gen 2 12 inch mega imaging units and all of them can run multiple transducers and can run 2 units on 2 different transducers without interference....as far as the mirroring goes I have no idea as im not sure what the use would be if you have multiple units. If you wanna see and try the helix line you know where I'm at! This is important to anyone buying a unit for the transducer on your trolling motor. Do not bother getting di si, just get sonar GPS unit as the imaging isn't supported by the tm transducer. A gen 1 9 inch helix is A perfect choice at about 600 bucks. Love the helix!!!

This might be true in Canadian lakes as the fish grow and mature slowly but the research coming from Erie, where walleye grow MUCH faster and live a shorter life span, shows that the fecundity is poor in those bigger females and really the mid sized 22-26 inch fish produce more healthy fry than those old slobs!

That's ridiculous!!! We get only 50000 every other year and get a return. If they really are stocking those insane numbers in lakes without substantial returns then someone should use some common sense and give up wasting those fry as the fishery obviously isn't a good choice for walleye. Put them somewhere that has too much bait where walleye thrive but numbers are low.

Sounds like a great idea! Be even better if you could hatch enough to help the other fingers as the state is too busy overpopulating Oneida and lakes like Conesus and Otisco get a thimble full every other year. Such a shame considering Otisco produces MUCH bigger fish and faster.

The humminbird helix mega imaging unit is awesome and because it doesn't have a touch screen you save near $1000 over large touch screen models. Between the auto chart, which allowed me to create my own accurate map, and the imaging the helix has actually changed how I fish and opened many new spots for me.