Which down speed & temp system do you recommend?

[lost a lure]

But you still cant tell where the fish is in the sonar cone

Edited January 27, 2016 by lost a lure

[Big Water]

But you still cant tell where the fish is in the sonar cone

Correct.  You don't know if it's a "glancing blow" and the fish just cuts through the edge of the cone or the fish traverses the entire diameter of the cone, or something in between.  Whether the fish is moving and in what direction further complicates this.  

Edited January 27, 2016 by Big Water

[Legacy]

Watch these if you want to know how sonar works

 

 

 

Great post! Great explanation! 

[Todd in NY]

But you still cant tell where the fish is in the sonar cone

And that's why I need a down speed/temp/depth system.

 

The hardest part is convincing my wife that I need one

[TyeeTanic]

But you still cant tell where the fish is in the sonar cone

 

You are mostly correct, except because fish aren't dense, often if they are on the side of the cone they will have a soft return (means faint signal) which shows up on your screen as normally just blue colors. When the core of the arch is a hard return (strong signal), you will start seeing red and even better yellow in the arch. That is an indication that the fish is close to being under the transducer.

[TyeeTanic]

And that's why I need a down speed/temp/depth system.

 

The hardest part is convincing my wife that I need one

 

Haha, we can't even convince all the fishermen on this site!  Good luck with your wife! Lol.

[Xxx]

Read my post about ball depth, I had 120ft down on the rigger finder says its at 120ft, so we drove towards shore at same speed and the rigger ball did not bump up till I was in 90 ft of water, the ball is like a pendulum wich swings back with the water coming against it, yet the sonar says its 120, well it's not its at 90ft down yet it's 120ft from your transducer. With the smart troll it would tell you the depth because it uses a pressure sensor, which you might have to have 160ft out to get your 120 ft down.

[Todd in NY]

Haha, we can't even convince all the fishermen on this site!  Good luck with your wife! Lol.

LMAO! After 23 years together I've become a good liar... I mean convincer... well, sometimes

[Todd in NY]

Read my post about ball depth, I had 120ft down on the rigger finder says its at 120ft, so we drove towards shore at same speed and the rigger ball did not bump up till I was in 90 ft of water, the ball is like a pendulum wich swings back with the water coming against it, yet the sonar says its 120, well it's not its at 90ft down yet it's 120ft from your transducer. With the smart troll it would tell you the depth because it uses a pressure sensor, which you might have to have 160ft out to get your 120 ft down.

I'm glad you brought this up again, because the ball is in the cone 120ft away from the transducer, but only 90ft below the surface. Just like fish showing up on the screen, we still don't know what part of the cone they swam through or which direction they were going.

[Adk1]

I will be pulling the trigger on a Fish Hawk X4D this spring. Northwoods Supply the best place to pick one up?

[BAZOOKAJOE]

X4D

[TyeeTanic]

Look at Smartroll before you decide Adk1

[Todd in NY]

Which down speed probe will measure speeds down to .5mph? I've read that some probes won't measure under 2mph but I don't remember which ones they were. I need a probe that will measure real slow speeds, as well as the higher speeds for the kings.

[TyeeTanic]

Smart troll will measure below that. Doing tests at the dock, I'm sure I got readings as low as 0.2 mph.

[Todd in NY]

  for the Smart Troll.

 

Anyone else with the X4D, Depth Raider, or Sub Troll (just in case my wife lets me buy a unit, but on a smaller budget  )?

Edited February 2, 2016 by Todd in NY

[Xxx]

Smart troll will measure below that. Doing tests at the dock, I'm sure I got readings as low as 0.2 mph.

That's nice to know, I never gave how slow they measure a thought, "Most"eye fisherman don't see speeds over 2-2.3mph

[Todd in NY]

There is an uncoated cable available for the subtroll also. Copper wire encased in ss wire. Same 150lb strength.

Does this SS coated copper wire have the same diameter as coated cable or standard 150# uncoated cable? I've read that the coated wire can cause inaccurate readings with certain line counters in riggers.

[Xxx]

I don't know if the coated cable makes a differance, because where on the spool is full, so the line counter is in since with the spool, some guys have 150ft of cable some have 200ft so forth and so on, there again,IMO it's to get you in the ball park. Again this is my opinion??

[Todd in NY]

I don't know if the coated cable makes a differance, because where on the spool is full, so the line counter is in since with the spool, some guys have 150ft of cable some have 200ft so forth and so on, there again,IMO it's to get you in the ball park. Again this is my opinion??

Thanks Pap. I'm pretty sure I read it on a web site that either makes coated cable, or a web site that sells a speed/temp system that comes with coated rigger cable. It said that the coated cable has a bigger diameter than standard rigger cable and that the line counter on the rigger may not represent actual depth of the ball. Of course, this is not an issue if your probe gives temp/speed/DEPTH. I also think what they are saying is that if you run coated cable on the rigger with the probe on it, and standard cable on the other riggers without probes, and lowered all riggers to 100 FOW on the line counter, the rigger with the coated cable may not be the same depth as the riggers with standard cable on them.

 

For all I know I might have read it on the Cannon web site because the Intelli-Troll system gives temp/speed/depth but uses the coated cable like the Sub Troll

[GAMBLER]

The problem with coated cable is it only allows you to run the probe on that rigger.  With the Fishhawk X4, you can run it on any rigger on the boat. 

[Firechief48]

Todd I've been below 1 with the Sub Troll and Gambler is right, that's why I'll also run the Fish Hawk this year as well. The other thing that I might have missed mentioned in this thread is not all will give the same reading at the same time.

[Yankee Troller]

The hardest part is convincing my wife that I need one

 

If I had to do that I'd be convincing myself I need a new wife!

[Xxx]

If I had to do that I'd be convincing myself I need a new wife!

The differance here is that is "your" bread and butter, just like "we" need a vehicle to go to work, if you told her you needed a 50Th anniversary corvette to get to your charter boat there might be a problem, the moral of the story here is our wives don't see our toys as a necessity? But in actuality it's a very needed tool to be successful at catching a salmon. To our wives its a stupid fish. UUUGGG!!!

Edited February 2, 2016 by pap

[Yankee Troller]

The differance here is that is "your" bread and butter, just like "we" need a vehicle to go to work, if you told her you needed a 50Th anniversary corvette to get to your charter boat there might be a problem, the moral of the story here is our wives don't see our toys as a necessity? But in actuality it's a very needed tool to be successful at catching a salmon. To our wives its a stupid fish. UUUGGG!!!

 

Just busting balls

[Legacy]

The differance here is that is "your" bread and butter, just like "we" need a vehicle to go to work, if you told her you needed a 50Th anniversary corvette to get to your charter boat there might be a problem, the moral of the story here is our wives don't see our toys as a necessity? But in actuality it's a very needed tool to be successful at catching a salmon. To our wives its a stupid fish. UUUGGG!!!

 

Actually it's my wife asking for the Corvette... My "hot rod" obsession is my boat!