trolling speed

[Eagle 1]

I seem to be haveing a problem this year with my speed. I have a Lowrance LMS-522c iGPS. It shows me water speed by wheel and land speed by Sonar. The differance is about 1mph.......give or take sometimes. If I'm wanting to troll 2.5mph lets say, should I watch the water or land speed?. Going with the current , there can be a big dif. I don't have a "Black Box" or otheer drop down. Seems like everyone is doing GREAT this year and I seem to be doing not as well as usual............not even close. I realize temps are crazy this year to.

I remember when we used troll as high as 4mph back in the 80s

A little help with my problem would be really appreciated.

p.s. spent the afternoon smoking some COHO!

Thanks RAS

[LongLine]

The "absolute" numerical speed is not that important. What you should do is troll for a while, when you catch a fish look at what speed you are moving at. Then repeat it. If you're seeing fish on the FF & not catching anything, then change your speed and note what it is by whatever means you have. Best way to determine where the fish want it is to gradually zig-zag & see which side of the boat gets the hit. Inboard side then go slower, outboard side then speed up.

GPS, surface paddle wheel and down speed will never match if they're all individually factory calibrated correctly, given their inherent error margins & the fact that you're trolling. GPS is determined by triangulation and depends upon which satellites your picking up. It's also affected by height above the surface. It's really not as accurate as people think at slow speeds. Paddle wheel is affect by the drag of water behind your boat. (troll thru seaweed & watch the weeds get "sucked" in towards you transom) Down speed is affected by the currents & inclination (angle) of the probe. Also if the current hits the probe from the wheel side or non-wheel side.

As to the warm water right now, you may want to speed it up a little as fish metabolism is higher in warmer water.

H.I.H.

Tom B.

(LongLine)