Fishhawk or what else?

[bruceleogould]

This is my first year trolling and I've spend a **** ton of money already on rods riggers boat fabrication lures u all know about it I'm at the point now where I'm getting bored or catching lakers, rainbows and coho.

My fish finder is a old not colour and it seems like It not showing me enough I trolled off of bronte for 8 hours yesterday and only marked fish twice just wondering do the transducers get weak and how acurate the little wheel speedo is on them

I really need to get something to tell me speed at the ball but not sure if fishhawk is the best choice when I will go after a high end fish finder next trolling season so I can pick up thermocline on screen.

What options are there for ball speed sensors?

Is there a major advantage to getting speed depth temp and all in one unit and if so what options are there other than fishhawk?

Newfie Bruce

[TyeeTanic]

Smart troll

[garrymny]

Ok I'm in the same boat. No money for a fish hawk. Check out the luhrJensen trolling speed indicator that uses a 1 lb ball on a string. I plan to make one using their concept but I will attach it to my down rigger boom and use the cable angle to swing an indicator needle like they do.

Sent from my XT1030 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

[Sk8man]

Garry the Luhr Jensen trolling Speed Indicator is one of the first modern methods to judge relative boat speed. There were color band markings e.g. red, green, and yellow etc. on it  but it was not possible to tell exact speed of the boat let alone relating to any thing going on at the ball which is a complicated relationship between specific weight, underwater currents, precisely what setup you are running on the rigger among other variables. We used to cut little slivers of black electrical tape and place them at the specific places on the band indicator markings as we caught fish. Pretty crude device but it worked.   The angle of the downrigger is at best  useful "guesstimator" of boat general speed but the relationship to what is going on down at the downrigger weight level is something very different and requires a different measurement device the two most commonly used today are the Fishawk and Smartroll and earlier the Moor Subtroll (special coated downrigger cable needed).

Edited August 10, 2016 by Sk8man

[BAZOOKAJOE]

Save your money and get a fish hawk and a better FF with gps. The cheaper stuff is half arse and you will end up spending even more money. In the meantime...watch the bend in your dipsey rods. Are they limp (too slow). Are they pulling so hard they are creeping drag or popping releases (too fast). Listen to the hum of your down rigger cables. A medium tone (with a small steady stream of bubbles coming off the cables) is about optimal. If they are screaming and the angle is very exaggerated (too fast). If they are silent and no bubbles (too slow). Put stuff out at different depths to start. When you catch a fish move stuff around to duplicate what worked. Watch your ff for bait and marks...fish the marks! The fish hawk uses the same wheel for surface speed. Start at 2.7 and adjust from there. You should be somewhere between 2.0-3.0 in most cases. And remember 20 yrs ago guys caught plenty of salmon without all the technology that exist's today.

[garrymny]

I'm going to rig up the downrigger cable angle indicator so when I catch fish I can look and see what the angle is. I also plan to rig microswitches to trigger an electric servo to control the throttle and maintain speed such that the angle is roughly 45 degrees.  It can be fine tuned if I find a different cable angle is better.

[Sk8man]

Garry - BazookaJoe gave you some really good advice for actually fishing and not just messing around with jerry rigged stuff hoping for something to "happen"

Edited August 10, 2016 by Sk8man

[garrymny]

My elite 4 x chirp seems to be fine as far a s a FF. I just got a fish hawk TD. Today, I built and installed electric steering and electric throttle control for my kicker motor. They want $300 for each of those systems, so I think I saved quite a bit by doing it myself. Should make it easier.

[J.D.]

Depth Raider