Lowrance HDS-7 Marks Bottom and Bait balls but no fish hooks

[gpiatt]

Hello all,

I have a Lowrance HDS-7 that marks bottom and bait balls but no fish hooks or my down rigger balls. My transducer is from Lowrance and is a 50/200 kHz. I have tried angling it up slightly to see if blowback is too great, but no luck there either.

When I'm in Sodus Bay on 200 kHz I see fish hooks with no problem and it never looses the bottom. The bottom of the transducer is clean, has anyone heard of just the 50 kHz portion of a transducer slowly going bad.

I also did a hard reset on the unit as I had been playing with setting for the fishfinder. But still getting the same results. I did have power plugged into console under steering wheel but have run dedicated power wire straight to battery with inline fuse.

I hate to go through replacing transducer and find out that wasn't the problem. Hopefully someone has seen this before and give me some ideas to try.

Thanks,

Gregg

[NitroMusky]

Stupid question but did that transducer come with the finder? Sometimes in swapping ducers, they are only partially compatable I.e. Is HDS 7 compatable with a dual beam or 50khz??

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[steelfire]

Two questions,

1, what are you running your sensitivity at on the 50khz??.

2, How old is the transducer??

[gpiatt]

NitroMusky,

Transducer was for LCX-26C and Lowrance stated that it will function fine with HDS-7, it has capability of 83/200kHz or 50/200kHz. So I have selected the correct transducer per Lowrance web site, double checked tonight just to make sure. Thre was also a software update that I just loaded on it tonight also.

Thanks

Gregg

[NitroMusky]

Good, check that off the list...

I'm not a lowrance guy so all I can offer is general thoughts...

is there a selection option in the setup for type of ducer you're using that needs to be changed?

Is there a view like on HB where you can see the two beam's returns side by side, rather than composite? If so, using that view would help you narrow it down by checking to see if its indeed working- i.e. just a weak return vs no returns etc.

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[gpiatt]

Steelfire,

I have tried turning up sensitivity and lowering it and I have set it back to auto, as any changes I made di not seem to make much difference.

I want to say I replaced original transducer in 2009 as it split, later I found out there was a recall but they took my money without saying anything.

Any suggestions as what transducer I should get if it is bad? I really miss not seeing my balls .

Thanks,

Gregg

[gpiatt]

NitroMusky,

I have the correct transducer selcted which is a HST-DFSBL which does show up in the menu. So I know I have correct transducer selected on my HDS-7.

I do have the option for split-screen so I can look at 200 kHz and 50 kHz at the same time. I will try that this Sat while I'm out. Never even thought of that, thanks for that suggestion. If I'm marking fish with 200 kHz than more than likely the 50 kHz portion of th transducer is going bad.

Iwill let you know what I find, might even go out tomorrw night to see what happens. Thanks again for the ideas.

Gregg

[NitroMusky]

Moreso than marking fish, see if you're generating ANY returns. The 50khz will provide a wider cone but at the price of relative sensitivity vs the 200, however it should still at least return bottom etc. At least then you will know if its total failure of some sort or adjustment related

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[steelfire]

200 is good for shallow water but the 50 is best for deeper water trolling. It uses more power and has a wider angle. in a 100 feet of water with the 200, i don't see my rigger balls or make out the thermocline. with the 50 I see all 4 balls and can see the thermocline break. I can also watch the fish streak in and out of the rigger balls. I never see that with the 200.

Gpiatt, I have gone thru 4 transducers in the last 10 years. I spoke to a lowrance rep about this once at a show and he told me that if you use the 50khz more, you will burn out your transducer quicker, he said average life of a transducer running most at 50khz is two years so I would bet that you need a new transducer. it sucks because they aren't cheap!!!

[gpiatt]

Steelfire,

Have you always replaced them with another lowrance transducer, I was thinking of trying the Airmar P66 transducer if I have to replace it. Does anyone use a different trnsducer with their HDS-7, I'm open for suggestions.

Thanks,

Gregg

[steelfire]

I have always replaced mine with a lowrace transducer only because when it's working it rocks!! But now lowrance sucks in my opinion, and after 5 years they won't fix your sonar. So when I have my next problem with mine, I'll find a diffrent sonar company that will back there product.

[NitroMusky]

I'm not a lowrance guy

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[180ccf]

I have a setting on my HDS-8 Gen2. I forget which one of the 500 menu items it was in but I am sure it's under the sonar settings. I lost bottom often in 150' of water. When I changed the setting to DEEP WATER TROLLING it worked like a champ. Mine was set on SHALLOW WATER from the factory. There is also SALTWATER, CLEAR WATER, FAST TROLLING... A bunch of settings, I now use that setting if I am in the bay or out deep. It worked for me. I also am not sure if the GEN-1 has these options. It's worth a look. BTW, I have replaced 3 Lowrance ducers in the past 10 years. Lowrance was always nice enough to send me them at no charge.

[Striperhound]

go into the fishing mode and change it to deep water mode. Any time I am in over 60 feet of water this is the best picture. Also make sure your fish alarms are off and surface noise is low. and bump up the gain to 95% plus. I get a great picture with these guidelines.

[EKoselny]

Gregg, did you ever figure anything out to fix this problem? I recently bought a boat with Lowrance unit that does the same exact thing. I suspect that I need a new transducer, but I just wanted to check to see if anything else fixed this problem in your situation.

Thanks,

Eric