Transducer scaring fish.

[WmPaul]

I would like to ask the general consensus of the forum if our transducer will scare fish. The past few weeks I've trolled for Lakers 3 times and released 24 fish, the largest being approx. 18 lb. I fish the western end 65'-110' fow with downriggers.  Transducer is mounted on the Starboard side. Starboard side landed 3 fish and the port side landed 21 fish. The lures, Kwikfish and Spin & glows. Frequency 200 kwz or 83 kwz. My lure set up range is 10' to 20' behind the ball, within a few feet of the bottom, 17 lb mono. A large disparity to say the least. Looking for suggestions. Thanks  

[LNDBT]

Maybe boat shadow? Just a guess though.

[Sk8man]

First of all at that depth the width of the cone of the signal will be quite wide probably encompassing both sides of the boat when near bottom. My hunch is that it may relate more to the particular way you are trolling and the speed differential between the two sides of the boat moving through the water and turns in particular. The leeward side is usually running slower than the outside and it is quite pronounced even on slight turns and you may also be unconsciously "favoring" a side of the boat while steering without realizing it (e.g turning to the left ever so slightly).  Just a thought....

 

P.S. If you were in really shallow water say 20 ft I would be wondering about it as a remote possibility though.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Sk8man

[ReelPower]

I think the cone of sound from the ducer is large enough at that depth to rule out the position of the ducer on the transom as a factor. Check the voltage on the dour rigger line, perhaps you have excess voltage running down the wire. Did you switch lures between riggers?

[WmPaul]

Thank you for the replies. ReelPower, I'm using manual riggers. We didn't switch lures, most generally changing colors between K9 & K11 frequently.

[ray koziatek]

rotation of prop/////,pitch of prop,,,rpms,,,,drift bags,rigger cable noise... ect,ect..

[Popeye]

Were bites coming on turns? Do you have a tendency to turn more often in the same direction?

[Silver Fox]

Here is my question..... What in the heck are you fishing Lakers for this time of year! It sure isn't cause they taste good! Lol

[TyeeTanic]

It can't be your transducer.

 

The other weekend I essentially had the rigger line with short lead almost under the transducer, for sure in the cone because I could see a line I believe was the lure.  Fish hit this line 80% of the strikes.

[Patriot]

Check to make sure the actual depth that your Starboard side rigger is with the counter on the downrigger, while the boat IS NOT moving. You may not be as close to the bottom as you think you are.

With my one downrigger, I need to go 9 feet less (it was reading less and I was deeper) to make it accurate. What I end up doing is just turning the counter so it adds 9 feet. That was at 90 feet of water.

Might be just as easy for you to bounce bottom and bring it up a bit

[thork9]

Take a electric meter touch down rigger cable with red probe and ground the black probe to motor or a metal surface and read voltage milo lot setting doc and see if they are the same check both cables. If boat isn't grounded properly (down rigger ) you might have a higher voltage. I had this problem with a down rigger , you should read lower than .500mv. I had one almost six volts blew the fish away no hits. If you have higher mv reading use a longer lead 50 ft. Look up black box for fishing will explain better than me.