Wayne P.

PM sent

I've been using them the past few trips with a weighted swimbait hook Txposed and using the pull/fall retrieve to simulate dying bait fish. Mostly in the 10-20 depth range where I find schools of bass with my electronics.

Most of the time a thrown bait is due to the barb preventing the hook from penetrating to the hook bend. The barb also makes a hole in the fish that is larger than the hook shank. IF you can consistantly get hook penetration past the barb then it does have some value for hard baits or heavy softbaits like swimbaits. It has more negatives for light soft plastics. The only other benefits of a barb is keeping live bait on the hook and holding a wire weedguard in place.

That brings back some old memories. I use to fish the lower end of it, Currituck Sound, just after the Bassmasters Classis was held there. Am I that old, LOL. Johnson Spoons over the grass, Devils Horse along the grass edges -------- http://www.bassmaster.com/node/100077

That was discussed on the area threads earlier and I posted a couple of unit screen shots of a thermocline: The bottom post on this topic thread:

I have two opposing views of a couple of riggings suggested: First is the rigging of the hook parallel with the Senko using any attachment method. When the Senko is taken by a bass, it is not straight, it is bent, that bend is larger than the width of the hook bend. That in itself will cause a missed hookset. Having the hook perpendicular to the Senko is the best position for positive hook-ups. Next is the hook style, the Circle hook will cause missed fish also (protected point) and if you have a longer attention span than a toddler, just about any other hook style is more efficient (except the Kahle style). The best hook is the Octopus hook. It has a short shank like the Circle hook, which lessens the hook deflection due to shank length, and is a very strong design due to the short shank (less metal to bend). It has a open point-to-eye attitude for surer hook sets. The hook bend size should be about twice the diameter of the Senko, I use a 4/0. It is bass fishing, not panfishing. The electrical heat shrink tubing will lessen the tearing of the Senko so it will last longer IF it is used like this: I added the wire weedguard using 1/8" heat shrink tubing. The wire is Malin 60# braided stainless steel leader and I use that strength so it will stay hooked up in heavy vegegation and timber. It releases easily with a normal hookset. About 80% of the bass I catch involves a wacky rig of some sort-that historically is in the 2,000-2,500 per year range. I get a lot of practice with that presentation. "That's my story and I'm sticking to it".

OH, the short older guy that is younger than I am. LOL

As I mentioned before I use Switchfire Clear all the time. I haven't been in deep enough water or fished deep enough to even need that turned off. All of my snapshots are with the Clear setting, I don't need to change any of the other settings from the default settings. For your unit, depth and temp are the only ones needed unless you want to monitor the voltage. I don't know how many readout choices you have for each data box. The only other one (which takes an accessory part) is Aux. Temp. Some add a temp sensor to their livewells. You won't get that choice without that temp sensor hooked up. Which "buddy", I seem to have a lot more than I know about. OH, forgot another setting I like for 2D sonar, Bottom View = White Line. I also like the pallet 1 color you have.

This is what I ment about DI with 2D sonar and one of the ditches at Humting Run:

The second picture I posted of plankton was a few weeks ago at Briery Creek, thus the lower water temp. The bubble screen shot was Friday. If you use Switchfire, it increases the sensitivity and gives a wider range of sensitivity settings. You have to turn the sensitivity down a lot in shallow water. That is usually used in very deep water to watch a vertical presentation and get stronger returns in deeper water. I always use Clear, it is plenty sensitive for my use. The thing in the ditch is probably some brush put there when they built the lake, there is a lot of that especially in cove on the North side of the island past the peninsula with the pontoon boat. I leave the surface clutter setting on the default 5 setting and don't pay any attention to anything near the surface. If I don't want the wide clutter band, I just use 200 kHz. I leave the 83 kHz setting at the default 0 setting. Here is the Hunting Run thermocline late last summer as the water was just starting to down. Note the surface temp. This is with all the same settings I have mentioned: BTW, I caught two of the bass shown at the temperature readout, I think they were in the 4# class.

This is a column of plankton;

This is bubbles at Hunting Run on Friday:

Your sensitivity is too high. With the Humminbird units, the thermocline will be shown very clearly at the 5 or lower setting. That is the thermocline in your first picture. The thermocline wiill usually be at the same depth over the whole lake. The thermocline is in your last picture slso and it is really obvious since the fish are holding at the top of it. The high sensitivity setting will just put more clutter on the screen. Plankton will show up very well at that setting also. It looks like plankton is what most of your clutter is. The angled lines in your 8th picture are bubbles. They are angled because your screen is scrolling and/or you are moving. I use Switchfire clear all the time and get very clear images to 70'. I usually keep my 2D sensitivity setting at the factory default setting of 10 though since I don't use 2D sonar much any more. Your 7th picture looks like trees or bushes on the bottom and the large blob above the bottom could be a school of baitfish or part of a tree/bush. That is a great example of how the Down Imaging technology can be very helpful in interpreting what 2D sonar is showing. You can eliminate the thick surface clutter band, buy setting the sonar frequency to just 200 kHz, but you will lose some coverage width. 83 kHz alone or with the 200 kHz is best for vertical presentations.

I have the PT 170 TX and when I got it, there was barely enough room for a group 27 and a group 24 battery. I removed the gas tank and put in 4 group 27 batteries and a 3 bank charger. I use a portable gas tank so I can remove that to put in another group 27 battery. My bow motor is a 36V and I use two transom 12V motors when I fish electric-only waters.

Jigs are good presentations all year. The issue is what depth you use them. If your water developes a thermocline in the summer and you use the jig below that thermocline, you won't be catching any bass. I see it all the time where persons fish "deep" because someone told them the bass go deep in the summer so they use bottom presentations in 30'-40' depths when the deepest the fish are is at the thermocline level which is about 15'-20' on the waters I fish the most.

I forgot what my top speed is, I'll check next time out. I have a Motor Guide Tour 36V motor on my Tracker PT 170 TX.

Power Pro is one of the roughest braids made. Even the lowly Suffix is not as rough. Bias or uninformed has a lot to do with one's preference.

Another Humminbird units can use either of the transducers for 2D sonar.

That sounds like what Motor Guide has for their prop choices. The Safari 2 blade has longer blades, is slower (less pitch)than any of the other types, but better in weeds which is just opposide of the smaller 2 blade prop. The Safari is .6 mph slower on a 36V motor than the 3 blade Machette. The short blade 4 blade prop is old school and not even listed as a replacement prop in recent history. Overall the new Minn Kota Weedless Wedge 2 is the most weedless without giving up speed. Some have adapted it to a Motor Guide for its weed performance, expecially on the Potomac River. In trolling motor performance, adding voltage adds motor rpm and usually the prop is the same between the 24V and 36V models with some 12V models using the same prop.

The only way those can use the same transducer is with a switch to choose which unit will be using the transducer. I doubt it is set up that way. The other transducer is probably epoxied in the hull next to the bilge pump. For $1,000 you have lots of choices including the imaging technology. What are your preferences of features you want with a sonar unit? The 565 has the highest screen resolution in the industry, the only thing better is a color display with the same screen resolution.

I use Yellow Samurai and Gold Stren Superbraid. The fish don't care even in clear water. They are not scared of that fat worm, why would they be scared of fishing line? I use a stronger hook than a worm hook, straight or offset type. I use an Octopus Hook 4/0 with an added weed guard.

For me it has nothing to do about the bait, it's the presentation. #1---weedless wacky finesse worm #2---shakey head finesse worm #3---Tx rig 10"+ worm #1 is about 75% of the catches

The "right direction" is to take the Sensitivity settings off of Automatic and set them yourself. Then you can choose how much "junk" is displayed. Set each frequency to your liking. Look at your unit's specifications and choose the widest coverage frequency for 2D sonar and DI.

For those not familiar with the superlines, forget the strength rating, and get the DIAMETER that works well with the tackle you have. Smaller diameters work well with spinning gear (4#-8#) and the larger diameteres work well with baitcasting gear (10# +). The smallest diameters like the 4# and under don't have any shock strength and will break easily.

Sam, the line size and amount is not a reel rating. It is just information about how much line of typical 6# mono the spool will hold. Nothing more, nothing less.