jigstick

How to I switch it to local?  Everything listed as local says invalid under the sonar section

So I had my buddy install a brand new transducer to the display. We are now getting an appropriate water temp. But everything is still showing up as invalid in the installation settings. We’ve tried powering down the unit and turning it back on. We have the proper transducer model selected. Wtf is going on with this display?

I understand the difference between the two. My question for the group is what do you guys prefer / use when trolling the Great Lakes?

I’ve been thinking about getting rid of my chirp transducer and going back to traditional sonar.   The cone angles of even wide angle chirp transducers are roughly 1/2 the coverage area of a traditional transducer. 

I’m starting to feel that chirp isn’t necessary for trolling on the Great Lakes. The increased resolution and target separation is nice if you are looking for structure or jig fishing for crappy, perch, etc but the narrow cone angle isn’t helping much when covering large areas of water with a wide trolling spread. 

Im thinking of going back to a 50/200 or 77/200khz traditional transducer with a 45* cone angle. That will cover a much much larger area around the boat when trolling. 

What do do you guys prefer?

I can’t say enough about the GLTs. I’ve had them for 7yrs now and they have taken a pounding by kings and lakers. Yet when I’m trolling on Erie for walleye they still have enough action to them to see when you pick up a 2lb walleye or sheephead. And at $25-30 bucks the price to performance ratio is hard to beat.

They stand out pretty good just looking st them. They have a pearlish color to them. 

I use Okuma Classic Pro GLTs for everything. I have no problem feeling walleye, steelhead, lake trout, Kings, Browns, cohos, or Muskie with them. 

I was on Lake O last weekend and murdered mature kings all morning and only marked maybe 3 fish. And my riggers were firing all day long. I think I should have marked more than I was?

When on Lake O in 400fow can you mark fish 120ft down?  Are using Chirp at that depth or straight 200khz?

wonder what setting I don’t have correct. I must be doing something wrong. I’ll deop my ducer another 1in and add some cant to it but I’m not sure that’s going to correct my issue. 

here is my thread.   Maybe there will be some info in there that helps you out. 

Definitely use appropriate hydraulic rated thread sealant on all the fittings. And don’t overtighten any of the ORB fittings. Especially into the back of the helm or hydraulic pump. 

Bleeding the system took me 10min. Lots of easy tricks to get that part done. 

I had a Raymarine Sportpilot on my boat for 3 years. Last year I converted to hydraulic. It really wasn’t that expensive. With a $3000 budget you should have no problem at all covering the cost of converting over and installing hydraulic autopilot. 

I had had a whole thread with pictures of my conversion. Best thing I ever did to the boat. Let me see if I can find the thread. 

I’m located in Pittsburgh but the boat is in Amherst. And I don’t know anybody with a lowrance unit up there

10 minutes ago, Traveling Circus said:

Yes. 

I'm running the same transducer to a Garmin Echomap Plus 93SV, in CHIRP, and marking fish from the bottom to the top in 130 FOW........... last weekend.

There were plenty of lakers on the bottom where I was last weekend.........

Youre running the Garmin GT52HW TM transducer to a Garmin Echomap 93SV?  That’s the same setup I have. 

What frequency were you on?  I think my transducer isn’t the proper frequency or something. 

I lnow 50-77khz is plenty long enough wavelengths to penetrate any water depth on the Great Lakes. And show good marks. Detail and target separation won’t be as good as the higher frequencies....but we aren’t fishing for bass here. 

My chirp transducer won’t ping at frequencies below 150khz. Garmin is telling me that even with a high wide angle chirp transducer pinging between 150-240khz at 300 watts that I should have no problems marking at any depth in Lake Ontario. But I’m not able to do so. So I’m trying to figure out the problem. 

The lowest I can go is 200khz traditional sonar or use my chirp which sweets 150-240khz. 

I understand the frequency ranges.  What Im asking is if people using CHIRP ducers with a range similar to mine are having good results in deeper water.  Garmin said I should have no problem marking throughout the water column out to 600fow with my current Chartplotter and transducer.  Maybe my transducer location is holding me back....or a setting I have wrong.

im wondering if I should just buy a new transducer and plug it in.  see if it works.  I hate to throw money at a problem like that though...unless I know it will work.

That's another question I have for you guys.  ive seen pictured posted of peoples screens showing incredible marks.  My transducer is a high wide CHIRP with a frequency range of 150-240khz.  I can run it in CHIRP mode which sweeps this range...or I can run it on 200khz.  I get fantastic marks in shallow water on lake erie...ie 65ft and shallower.

When I get much deeper I seem to mark a lot less.  I mark very little when im on Ontario I never mark fish that are deep...say 90-120ft down. 

I really wish my transducer would do lower chirp frequencys.  or at minimum 50 or 80khz standard sonar.  but it doesn't.  The Garmin website states my sonar has a range of 1500ft in fresh water.  Should I be using a different transducer?  I have the gains and power turned up as high as it will go.  I think its a 300watt CHIRP transducer.

I did a soft reset but that didn’t fix it. I’m trying to avoid a hard reset because I haven’t backed up my tracks and waypoints onto an SD card yet. 

Maybe the ducer **** the bed. I don’t know. I’ve never had a problem with my Garmin, Raymarine, or Airmar components. 

Ok I think I can do that with the bracket where it is. If not, I’ll move the bracket down on my stern saver. 

Should the ducer be placed parallel to the keel?  I held a framing square on the bottom of the hull and leveled the bottom of the ducer onto it. Should I angle it up or down to focus the beam forward or aft?

Depth and temp are set to “HDS7 this unit”. But on the depth line it says “HDS7 this unit (invalid)”

Can you guys critique my transducer location for my Garmin Chirp DI/SS ducer? 

Im getting fantastic marks in shallow water. 60ft and less.  Out deeper it’s hit or miss. Either I’m not driving over fish or the angle is off on the ducer. We killed salmon the other day but had very few marks. Even with the riggers firing. My balls aren’t showing up either. 

This is all on Chirp. I plan on going to 50hz next time out to see if I get better marks. But with chirp I should be marking more I think. 

lines in around 530  lines out around 1230

Anybody here have experience with the lowrance HDS Touch displays?  Our HDS 7 Touch is acting up.  For 3 years it worked perfect.  Last trip out the sonar crapped the bed.  it won't read depth.  it just gives --- where depth should read.  and no image scrolls across the screen.

In the settings / installation menu we have the correct model transducer chosen.  However in the network settings, under depth source, we are given one option to pull data from and its listed as "HDS 7T this device (invalid)".

somehow this error arose and I can't figure out wtf is going on.  We still get a temperature reading, but no sonar.  Lowrance cusomter service sucks balls and have been no help.

any ideas?  we did a soft reset so far to no avail.  Everything in the settings seems to be correct except the sonar source says "invalid" next to it.

Very frustrating.  Should switch to Garmin. 

No. It got worse. The closer we got to Wilson the dirtier the water got. Water also got a lot colder. We didn’t catch anything once the water turned ice cold.