Wayne P.

Another point, I also do the same with my SI units, especially my bow mount setup as I am fishing. My wife keeps telling me it's cheating.

Well, it won't be available unit August. There is plenty of time to voice your recommendations to Humminbird for an alternative option for the transducer. I'm going to do that. A few years ago, forward scanning sonar was being discussed and one of the points was a place in boat hulls be prepared for such a feature. That may be a forthcoming design addition now that the hardware is an actual production model.

Chick Lake

The transducer has to be below anything on the boat including the boat so it can scan 360 degrees. If a trolling motor transducer version is offered, your trolling motor shaft would have to be long enough to accomplish the same UNLESS the selectable side or forward settings are used and not the 360 view. I don't see many boats running a bow trolling motor with the motor itself below the level of keel at the transom.

farmer, I have a PT 170 TX also. I still have the small Lowrance unit installed plus a couple of more units at the console: My setup is this, (the Lowrance is behind the unit on the right and I use that with an Alumaducer when I want to).

I only fished those when I was asked to be someone's partner. I really don't care for tournament fishing even though I have 50+ awards for doing it.

OO mod, Message sent

Not long, I would guess. I'll wait for a trolling motor transducer version before I would ever consider it. I have one of my SI transducers on a breakaway mount that it gets tripped several times a day.

Cabelas has it in their on-line catalog: http://www.cabelas.com/sonar-and-sonar-gps-combos-humminbird-360-imaging-1.shtml?WT.tsrc=CSE&WT.mc_id=GoogleBaseUSA&WT.z_mc_id1=1345278&rid=40&mr:trackingCode=DB4B183B-BF5D-E111-88CA-001B21631C34&mr:referralID=NA

Note the transducer below the right transom

Humminbird, a leader in the marine electronics industry, will make a major new product announcement at the 2012 Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport, LA. A brief news conference will be held at approximately 2:00 PM CST following the interview session at the B.A.S.S. Media Day on Thursday, February 23, at the Silver Lake Ballroom. For those unable to attend, the announcement will be streamed live at http://upload.outdoorsfirst.com/liveaim.asp

I used to fish them. A Silver Buddy or similar blade bait was the top producer.

Agreed J, I did just that when I added another SI unit to go with my 5" screen model. I then decided to get another 10" for the console. BIGGER is BETTER especially from a distance.

Inside the hull pictures are useless, you must test for the best performance while on the water before you epoxy the shoot-thru to the hull.

Yes, I do know. First of all the SI transducer has to be externally mounted and it has to be BELOW the water. That "above the water line" you were told came from an idiot. Next; the supplied transducer is the "standard" for applications world wide. Your boat is not considered "standard", so due to hull design most put the SI transducer above the hull bottom and install a shoot-thru (XP 9 20) in the bilge for on-plane depth readings and 2D reading all the time. The two transducers are usually connected to the display with the AS SIDB Y cable. That set up is seen by the unit as a single SI tranducer--there are no settings to change and there is no "automatic" transducer selection by the unit. It is all done with the electrical connections in the Y cable. Yes most bass boats have a prepared thin spot in the hull for shoot-thru mounting, BUT you must test that location prior to adhereing the transducer to the hull if you want the best performance. Follow the included instructions. If you send me a couple of pictures of your transom at a level that shows the hull steps from the motor to the right side of the transom, I will edit it with the suggested mount location for the SI transducer and how to do it. purdum43@aol.com The pictures should be something like these: One size does not fit all so each hull brand can be different for the transducer location

I use 40# Samuari with 20# XPS fluorocarbon leader for finesse fishing. I use the leader for weight to make the braid sink as part of the presentation. My connection knot is the Uni-Uni Knot with 6 turns on both lines. I have no problem with the micros on a Ducket rod. It casts just a well as it does on other rods with larger guides. I cut the knot's tag end flush with the knots. Thousands of caught bass indicates to me that it works very well.

Put a small swimbait on a Swarming Hornet head for the umbrella rig center wire. That will give you the blade with a hook.

Here is an example of a huge bass getting lunch. That is what the A-Rig duplicates.

Some suppliers are not "authorized dealers" and advertise their low prices. Do an EBay search for the brand and model. You may find one for less than $1249

That is a higher price than they were selling them on Black Friday in 2010 when they were trying to sell all their discontinued models in stock prior to the release of the 798ci HD SI units.

Lake Anna hot side with any presentations you want. Pond one and two have water temps around 70 degrees. Depths from 1' to 30'.

The 798ci SI and 798c SI are legacy units. (ci) has color display and internal GPS antenna, c has color display and external GPS antenna. The 798ci HD SI is the lastest model and is Ethernet capable for sharing data with another unit. The rest of the specs are the same. Forgot to add that the 798ci HD SI has Contour XD background mapping and the older units have Uni-map or Contour XD depending on the mfg date. Plus the other version was available with extra Navionics mapping included for an addition cost and were called NVB models. The HD model is not available as a NVB version. I'll send you an IM with more details.

I've been using the Storm WideEye Curl Tail Minnow--the bass seem to like them

I didn't catch any today worth taking a picture of. A few slot size bass and some under the slot at Briery Creek.