Wayne P.

3/8" electrical heat shrink tubing with the hook perpendicular works better with or without a weedguard.

The Solunar tables gives you the best times for each day. The weather conditions, water temp/clarity, and time of year have nothing to do with it. If the body of water is frozen over, you still get the best times for the day IF you want to go fishing through the ice.

Those lines look like wave action erosion at different water levels. Use about a 1/3 of the SI range you have set.

Consider the Humminbird Helix 5 DI model also. It has dual beam traditional sonar and dual beam Down Imaging with a color display larger than the ones you listed. MSRP $249.99

I doubt the gimbal mount will interchange.

Helix 7 cable connections:

Yes, the same for all versions of all models. This was posted by a retailer on another site: Humminbird HELIX 7 Sonar.....$349.99 (Included Transducer XNT-9-20-T) Humminbird HELIX 7 DI.....$399.99 (Included Transducer XNT-9-DI-T) Humminbird HELIX 7 Sonar/GPS.....$449.99 (Included Transducer XNT-9-20-T) Humminbird HELIX 7 DI/GPS Combo.....$499.99 (Included Transducer XNT-9-DI-T) Humminbird HELIX 7 SI/GPS Combo.....$699.99 (Included Transducer XNT-9-SI-180-T) Humminbird HELIX 7 SI/GPS KVD Combo.....$699.99 (Included Transducer XNT-9-SI-180-T)

The Helix 7 is already in the Bass Pro Shops on-line catalog for pre-order.

Most of the boat brands now have better performing hulls than "back then", including Ranger. The 20'9" Z-9 will be a big improvement in all water types. The 300 series Rangers and similar hull designs are the worse riding hulls I have ever been in.

Look at the Bass Pro Shops on-line catalog.

False, any unit of any brand on any frequency can be affected by RFI and cross-talk. It cannot be "fixed". It has to be dealt with on an individual basis as it occurs--there are dozens of remedies that may or may not work for a particular installation since each is unique. Typically RFI is a issue mostly from a transducer attached to a variable speed trolling motor. It is not a sure thing, but not unusual. BUT any other motor can affect a sonar unit--outboard, trim/tilt pump, bilge pump, livewell pump.

If you like the Helix 5 series, there will be a Helix 7 series on the market soon.

Yes, you need the XTM 9 WIDE DI 20 T trolling motor puck. It is tuned to 83/200 kHz 2D sonar plus it has extra internal shielding that the transom transducer does not have. Bottom line- use the correct parts for the application. For the console SI unit, attach the Side Imaging transducer on the transom above the hull bottom and also install the shoot-thru XP 9 20 transducer and connect the shoot-thru and transom transducer to the display with the AS SIDB Y cable. That is the proper installation for your hull. Do it right the first time. I would recommend you exchange the SI transducer comes in the 899ci HD SI Combo box for the XHS 9 HDSI 180 T. It will improve the performance of the 899. The ContourXD built-in mapping has 3,000 locations with contours for the whole US. That means there are many more thousands of locations not included. It your waters are not included, the unit can use Lakemaster and Navionics map products.

Fork has a slot limit of 16"-24". If you fish a tournament there, you won't be weighing in any fish between 3 and 9 pounds. Fished it many times. Anticipating the early morning topwater bite at Fork:

With those two units, you can have all the technologies on both of them since they cross/share the technologies. It just takes the Ethernet cable and a couple of Ethernet adapters. Along with sonar technology sharing, you can share GPS data and accessories. If you decide to add the 360, both units can display it. The boat you have will determine how/where the console transducer is installed, You can customize your setup for your boat and its capabilities. Out of the box, it has all the parts for standard setup worldwide. Remember there are two 859 models. 859ci HD Combo and 859ci HD DI Combo. If you order your units, state the whole model name you want. The 899 is the 899ci HD SI Combo. The 900 series models are exactly the same as the 800 series, just the display is a different size. The cabinet is the same.

Norman Deep Little N

Which Chick river???? Chickahominy River in Va. or Chickamauga Lake in Tenn. Chick Lake is HD surveyed Nautical Charts and via Sonar Charts with Navionics. Chick River is tidal contours and spot soundings like the GEMCO maps with Navionics Nautical Charts and HD surveyed by Sonar Charts. I have it in four Humminbird units and several mobile devices.

Monday it was Zoom finesse worms rigged weedless wacky like my avatar and on a 1/8 oz shakey head. 8'-12' depths

A "fish finder" is sonar. You just want a GPS unit for marine use. Lowrance has a couple: Elite-5M HD Elite-7M HD

With the small screens, or larger ones too, use a shorter SI range to show small stuff like fish, brush, rocks, etc. Use the 100'+ to see the general bottom layout. Then rescan using the shorter ranges. To get the best detail use a SI range that is three times the depth in more than 10' depths. That will give you 1/3 on each side for the water column and 2/3 of each side for the bottom. In shallower water use a SI range of a long cast. Turn off the left side readouts in the full screen SI view so the whole width will be used to display SI. You can double the size of displayed subjects by choosing to view just one side of the SI view.

Humminbird ONIX 10 SI or Humminbird 1199ci HD SI Combo.

Navionics has several versions of contour mapping for waters for mobile devices--smartphone and tablet. I use three of them. Navionics USA, Navionics Boating, Navionics Boating HD in iOS and Android devices. It is the same maps that are available with the mapping cards for marine sonar/GPS units. If you want view the maps, go to the Navionics website and click on Web App--what you see is what you get with the above products.

I know all about the Eaker Shaker, I have been bass fishing for over 60 years. The Eaker Shaker was introduced 17 years ago.

Most 50# braids are the same size as 10# mono, that is good start.

Typically a 30# braided superline is the same diameter as 8# mono/fluorocarbon and 20# superline is the same diameter as 6# mono. A 10# mono equivalent diameter superline is typically 50# and 60/65# is 12# diameter. Some quality superlines (like Diawa) are smaller in diameter. I use 40# Daiwa Samurai and it is 8# mono diameter. Fireline is not a braid, it is fused filaments.