Yankee Troller

I started with my phone, and then connected my Motorola XOOM tablet. That was nice big display, but it was old and I couldn't easily find an adapter for a cigarette lighter. I ended up picking up a cheap ASUS tablet on Amazon.

I started with a ICE55 and then moved to the ICE688. The non-flasher models have more power than the flasher models. If Lake Trout fishing is something you want to do you can do it with the 45/55, but the ICE 597/688/HELIX units are a lot better for deep water >100'. They just have more power. I've used them both. The ICE HELIX5 is a heck of a unit, and it will give you flasher mode or traditional sonar. Once you ice fish with traditional sonar and use the real time sonar window associated with it you'll never go back to a regular flasher. This unit is $50 outside your range, but you get GPS and the ability to use mapping. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Humminbird-reg-Ice-Helix-Sonar-GPS-Combo/2136076.uts

Anyone looking to get a unit for ice fishing should take a serious look at the ICE HELIX 5 and 7. You can use GPS and Maps to mark your hot holes. They have a flasher mode as well as your typical 2D sonar all in a nice package. Humminbird ICE

On divers we place it right inline. Take the swivel on the wire and put it through the loop on the probe. Take the swivel on the probe and connect that to the diver. You can use a clip if you want and move it further up the wire, but I think that's defeating the purpose? As for coppers we use an OR clip and put it just above the copper/mono swivel.

This is a very sensitive system, so if your boat (and I don't mean the guy asking the question) is a wiring nightmare you may have a lot of interference issues. Transducer placement is recommended by the manufacturer to go outside of the propeller bubbles (ie. corner of the boat underwater). Our's, however, is dead center of the boat and low. The Speed probe is a different animal. I have it and I run it in tandem with my MOOR so I can get used to the speeds it read out. On my ride we run our MOOR at 2.0. The ST speed probe reeds 2.7 at this time, so much closer to a Fish Hawk. The probe is VERY compact. Gives you a real time speed from an average of the last 5 seconds, and an average speed which is an average of the last 5 averages. We used it on coppers out to 500', but I don't think we ever put it on a core. We don't run many cores after Spring time to be honest, and we really started digging into this system late May early June. I think the ST is best utilized for diver placement. No need to fill reel spools to make your counter accurate. No need to worry about what wire your buddy is using to try to figure out depth curve. You KNOW where the diver is when it got rocked.

I'd like to come out and say I'm a fisherman. Not someone who writes articles. These are things the Smart Troll helped us with over the season and I wanted to share this with you. Although, we've developed a relationship with the owner at Smart Troll we did purchase our unit and probes from him. A lot of people know we've been running this, and a lot of questions have been asked. I just wanted to help out a business in our community and explain some benefits of using a Smart Troll. It’s not often that something comes along in the trolling industry that you can say will change the game. Some companies like Cannon Downriggers coined the term “controlled depth fishing†to describe what we do while chasing Salmon, Trout, and Walleye on the Great Lakes. A few years back the Smart Troll (ST) was introduced to us. We knew that if the ST worked as it was supposed to it would be a game changer, and put extra fish in our cooler. Over the course of the last three years we stayed in contact with Darrell, the owner of ST, and the few captains who took on a majority of the bugs and fixes. In the spring of 2015 we had the opportunity to fish on one of these boats, Sure Strike, in a charity event and see just how helpful the ST can be to anyone who trolls the Great Lakes. Pictured above is a Smart Troll probe that you can place in front of a diver. At our seminars in the Winter/Spring of 2016 we announced we had purchased a ST system for use in the upcoming season. So, let’s flash forward. It’s October and our 2016 season is over. We put the ST through a whole season of use and here’s what we found aboard our boat the Yankee Troller. For the most part the system worked well. I’d say its solid 80% of the time, and it gets jumpy the other 20%. However, if you know what you’re looking for during that 20% you can get a grasp of what’s going on down there. Let’s not forget this is still a work in process, and can only get better! The first thing we noticed that affected our ST signal was high RPMs from the engine. This is something Darrell has a physical fix for as well as a firmware fix after witnessing it on our boat in June, so we’ll see if those fixes helped come 2017. The other thing we noticed is that horrible currents sometimes plagued the signal. We were able to get consistent read outs on coppers to 300’, and on good days we had a 500’ copper sending us data. However, ST only guarantee’s it’s signal to 300’. Put aside the few kinks, and there’s A LOT that the ST Depth/Temp probes helped us with, and educated us on: · Bottom tracking with your diver – This was something our first experience with the ST showed us. Sometimes the fish are just glued to the bottom. Using a ST probe on your diver and being able to place your diver within 3-5’ of the bottom WILL increase your catch when you run into this scenario. We did a lot of this during late summer on Lake Ontario while fishing for Brown Trout. Many times there was a 5-10’ band of water they were in right smack dab on bottom. That’s where your lures need to be, and that’s where the ST really shines! Direction of troll (DOT) – This was another benefit of having the ST hooked up to our divers. One day we experienced a 19’ difference depending on the DOT. It was staggering, but most days it ranged from 8 to 12 feet. That might not seem like much, but think of it in terms of downrigging. Many times you have a hot downrigger bite on a downrigger at 60’, but the 50’ downrigger is dead. Sometimes the fish are just that fussy! Diver Settings – We know a lot of people don’t like to change a diver from a setting they are comfortable with. They feel as if they don’t know how it will affect the dive curve. We’re here to tell you the ST takes the guess work out of it! Do you want to run four divers? Put one on your low diver and one on a high diver and you’ll never have to worry about where they are running. Are you fishing shallow water and want to put the diver on a 3 or 3.5 setting so you can creep it out to get as close to bottom as you want? Not a problem anymore! Utilizing Multiple Manufacturers – When it comes to wire and copper there are a few manufacturers that provide us with these products. They aren’t all the same, and some have a thinner diameter than others. An experiment between two wire brands, for example, showed us we needed to let out another 25’ to achieve the depth of the other wire with all other variables removed. The same holds true for different diver manufacturers. We ran the Chinook Diver, a local manufacturer in Rochester, a lot for Brown Trout this summer. With the ST attached we didn’t have to learn a new dive curve. We were able to put that diver right where it needed to be by monitoring the ST. Daily Conditions – Each day our Great Lakes are a different animal. Thermocline, winds, and currents all affect the water column. One day a 150’ diver will be riding at 75’ and the next it’s at 60’. Everyone knows where their diver is supposed to be, but the variables each day dictate that and you can be 10+’ off. If the ST is something you want to add to the arsenal next season mentioning this write up will extend the sale to November 15th that ST had on their units the last month.

Mention my write up and the discount will be good until Nov 15th. I plan on publishing it Monday.

Here are the dates for all inquiring. Oak Orchard Open (OOO): June 10th & 11th King of the Oak Events (KOTO): June 9th (Friday) July 22nd (Saturday) August 19th (Saturday) September 3rd (Sunday)

No bother bud. Want to help everyone catch more fish!

The following will work just fine Daiwa Saltist 20 or 30 Daiwa Sealine 27 or 47

There are smoking deals on them right now. We've been running them for a few seasons. Great units, but make sure you register your unit and download the latest software. These FF's are mini computers. There are a lot of videos on YouTube to help you navigate them. If you buy one and need help just PM me. If you want a very good unit that's easier to navigate (in my opinion) look into the Humminbird HELIX series. A LOT of guys that I've turned onto this series LOVE them. They are packed with everything you need for trolling at amazing prices.

Most likely I had the speed probe down with my MOOR as I'm trying to see where the ST is when we're in the zone on the MOOR. However, when fishing is what you experienced accuracy isn't all that important. Getting lures in the water is! lol

Guys, I have a nice write up on the Smart Troll coming out soon. If diver depth is something you;re looking for you'll be amazed at what you'll find. Still working on the write up, so be patient.

In all seriousness. Unless you're running a charter operation or fishing tourneys why would you even want a 500' copper?

We understand, but since the inception it's been the weekend of Mothers Day.

We're working on this.