Fish Hawk calibration

[Scalloper 1]

There is a huge difference in the speed over ground vs what the FH transducer reads. I am talking about in a small lake in Maine with no current. Should I calibrate the FH transducer speed to match speed over ground from my GPS? Then set my probe down 4’ and set that to match the transducer and the GPS.

[13owhunter]

I can't seem to get mine calibrated very well but its reasonably close.  No reason not to try and get it as close as you can even if its really just for a reference.  Interested to see what others have to say about this.  I fiddled with mine for a long time and couldnt get it as close as i would have wanted to.  If there is a trick, Im all ears......

[dry net]

The trick is not to play with it, fish till you get bit and repeat. I had mine so screwed up I had to call Fish Hawk. They kinda chuckled and said to reset it and fish varying speeds till you get bit and repeat. My boat catches at 2.4 most days, I'm sure everyone else's boat is a bit different. Good luck!!!

[spoonfed-1]

On 7/12/2024 at 3:35 PM, dry net said:

The trick is not to play with it, fish till you get bit and repeat. I had mine so screwed up I had to call Fish Hawk. They kinda chuckled and said to reset it and fish varying speeds till you get bit and repeat. My boat catches at 2.4 most days, I'm sure everyone else's boat is a bit different. Good luck!!!

LOL. Great post.

[ifishy]

Accuracy is not important it's repeatability that matters don't think of it as a speed think of it as an index number find the one that works for your set up and than you have your starting target make slight up and down adjustments as needed for a given day

[Scalloper 1]

Accuracy is always important. So far I think that I wasted my money on this thing. I cant say it has put one extra fish in my boat mainly because its not accurate or consistent. The temp does seem to be accurate but for speed....... junk.

[dry net]

1 hour ago, Scalloper 1 said:

Accuracy is always important. So far I think that I wasted my money on this thing. I cant say it has put one extra fish in my boat mainly because its not accurate or consistent. The temp does seem to be accurate but for speed....... junk.

In my opinion it's the second most important tool on the boat after the ff. Good luck, catch a bunch!!!

[Josh A]

My fish hawk was awesome until last week when it sunk to the bottom of the lake.  I tried calling back as it snapped off the down rigger line. I said “ noooooo come back.  Please”. That sucked 

[ifishy]

5 hours ago, Scalloper 1 said:

Accuracy is always important. So far I think that I wasted my money on this thing. I cant say it has put one extra fish in my boat mainly because its not accurate or consistent. The temp does seem to be accurate but for speed....... junk.

I disagree if the speed says 75mph and I get get bit I don't care that it's wrong as long as I can get it to say 75 again and the lures have the same action. Salmon can swim at 30 miles an hour and can see and sense baits from a long way off exact speed or depth precision is way less important than lure action the probe has definitely put more fish In the boat for me especially in the currents of lake O sometimes you have to bump your GPS speed by a lot more than. You would think and even watching lines can be misleading with surface currents and deep currents different

[Scalloper 1]

Bill Saffis catches as many as anyone and more then most and none of his boats have them.

[dry net]

3 hours ago, Scalloper 1 said:

Bill Saffis catches as many as anyone and more then most and none of his boats have them.

I have one already but how much you want for yours?

[Earl28]

I would calibrate and adjust it to the actual speed. That is also why you can not use the speed reports of others. Many do not calibrate...

[chinook35]

Speed over ground (SOG) is GPS speed.  Speed over water (SOW) will always be different because of wind , waves and currents   Its speed over water that counts 

[GAMBLER]

The fish hawk surface speed is altered by the flow coming off the bottom of the boat.  It is not a true surface speed.  When using a probe, I use it as a guide and to repeat what caught fish. Does it matter if it's .1 or .5 off?  No.  Learn your electronics and what speeds work for what applications you are running.  Use the probe for repeatability not exact science.  Too many guys get caught up on certain speeds and certain temps.  If a guy is on the radio and he says hes trolling 2.5, is that above the thermalcline, in the thermalcline or below the thermalcline?  It will be a different speed in different parts of the ater column!