Back on the water & dialing in new electronics

[Koz]

Well, I received my new Humminbird Helix 7 Mega DI SI G4 on Saturday and the YakAttack fish finder mount for it arrived today, so despite the heat I decided to get out on the water and try it out. I previously had a Lowrance Hook2 5 and the transducer arm mounted to a YakAttack CellBlock on the rail, but with this unit being bigger I tried something new. I had the Humminbird and the transducer arm on the rail and put the CellBlock loose behind my seat.

 

One thing I don't like about my Seastream Angler PD is the rails aren't standard, so I need a special bracket to lock items to the rail. While putting it together I realized I forgot my battery clips, but after a little trial and error I made do for the day.

 

It was hot and the fishing was slow. Oddly enough, I found nothing in shade pockets and my favorite spot drew a blank. I hate when that happens, because it's a 35 minute pedal to just get there. I looped back and hit a bay area that pays off every now and then . I set the fish alarm to medium, and that actually helped and soon found some bass and landed three.

 

It was a weird day, I guess because I was anxious to try out the new fish finder. Not only did I forget the battery clips, but I also forgot a hat. So on the way I stopped at a convenience store / boat launch to buy a hat and I realized I forgot my wallet. I also forgot my fish grippers, and this came into play.

 

While I was fishing a spinnerbait in that hot spot, about 15 feet from my kayak a big gar - 4+ feet -  hit the spinnerbait. Realizing I didn't have my fish grippers I ripped the bait to get it away. It hit the bait, but luckily I didn't hook it. I don't think I want to pull a gar onto teh kayak. If I had hooked it I probably would have headed to shore to figure out how to get it off.

 

I love the my new Humminbird. The side scan is much more detailed than on my old Lowrance. The sonar also pick up less clutter, and while it may not be "pro" this fish alert helped today. I had the screen mounted low, and it was blocked by my knee. I'm going to take some time and move it around, and may even put it back on the CellBlock and lay the arm down so it's not too high. I'm not sold on the down scan imaging, but I think it's something I'm going to have to play with and dial in. I'll also play with the charts and navigation.

 

There's a lot to learn and dial in, and I need to find the patience to do that. It's just that once I'm out on the water I'd rather be fishing. I guess the best thing I can say about the Helix 7 is I don't feel like I wasted my money, and I can't wait to get more familiar with it. I'm still fairly new to electronics, so there's a lot to learn.

 

 

[Conrod]

Keep us posted please.  Can you post a picture of your setup? I have a small boat and am considering upgrading to a larger screen too but not sure best way to mount.  
Thanks!

[casts_by_fly]

15 hours ago, Koz said:

Well, I received my new Humminbird Helix 7 Mega DI SI G4 on Saturday and the YakAttack fish finder mount for it arrived today, so despite the heat I decided to get out on the water and try it out. I previously had a Lowrance Hook2 5 and the transducer arm mounted to a YakAttack CellBlock on the rail, but with this unit being bigger I tried something new. I had the Humminbird and the transducer arm on the rail and put the CellBlock loose behind my seat.

 

One thing I don't like about my Seastream Angler PD is the rails aren't standard, so I need a special bracket to lock items to the rail. While putting it together I realized I forgot my battery clips, but after a little trial and error I made do for the day.

 

It was hot and the fishing was slow. Oddly enough, I found nothing in shade pockets and my favorite spot drew a blank. I hate when that happens, because it's a 35 minute pedal to just get there. I looped back and hit a bay area that pays off every now and then . I set the fish alarm to medium, and that actually helped and soon found some bass and landed three.

 

It was a weird day, I guess because I was anxious to try out the new fish finder. Not only did I forget the battery clips, but I also forgot a hat. So on the way I stopped at a convenience store / boat launch to buy a hat and I realized I forgot my wallet. I also forgot my fish grippers, and this came into play.

 

While I was fishing a spinnerbait in that hot spot, about 15 feet from my kayak a big gar - 4+ feet -  hit the spinnerbait. Realizing I didn't have my fish grippers I ripped the bait to get it away. It hit the bait, but luckily I didn't hook it. I don't think I want to pull a gar onto teh kayak. If I had hooked it I probably would have headed to shore to figure out how to get it off.

 

I love the my new Humminbird. The side scan is much more detailed than on my old Lowrance. The sonar also pick up less clutter, and while it may not be "pro" this fish alert helped today. I had the screen mounted low, and it was blocked by my knee. I'm going to take some time and move it around, and may even put it back on the CellBlock and lay the arm down so it's not too high. I'm not sold on the down scan imaging, but I think it's something I'm going to have to play with and dial in. I'll also play with the charts and navigation.

 

There's a lot to learn and dial in, and I need to find the patience to do that. It's just that once I'm out on the water I'd rather be fishing. I guess the best thing I can say about the Helix 7 is I don't feel like I wasted my money, and I can't wait to get more familiar with it. I'm still fairly new to electronics, so there's a lot to learn.

 

 

 

I have a helix 7 MSI also for my kayak and its a great unit.  Like you said, it will take a bit of time learning what works best for your lakes.  Up here, I have a mix of soft bottom, sand bottom, and rocky bottoms.  We have a lot of weeds.  The softer the bottom the more you need to up the sensitivity.  Also, starting with a higher contrast and lower sensitivity is what I've found best.  I like a low sharpening level.  Too much and it is distracting I find.  Water column sensitivity will clear up any residual speckles in the column.  Also play with color palettes.  Each color set will be more or less visible to your eyes.  It will also have an effect on the sharpening/sensitivity.  White on black is already pretty high contrast so you need a little less.  Dark orange on black (HB standard) needs a little more.

 

Weeds can make side imaging useless.  When it is really thick up here, side imaging will only show a rough line at the top of the weeds in the water column and not a whole lot beyond them or in them.  That's when down imaging is helpful.  Also with heavy brush piles and trees- I like both in that scenario.

 

Charting is good, navigation is less useful for me.  My biggest lake is 2200 acres, so mostly I just use navigation to show me the quickest route back.  And, I'm using the charting map to see it and not the navigation map.  I keep meaning to hide navigation but forget.  Charting is useful.  Autochart will make a depth map of your lake as you fish.  Navionics and other contour maps are fine to start, but charting it yourself will give more details and clarity.  You can find the hidden ditches and cuts that aren't on big maps.  I've done that with at least one lake here and its found me fish.  Just be advised that the built in memory is enough for about 250 acres across all of the lakes you try to map.  Try it on your most fished lake or location.  If you think you'll use it more, get the zero lines card for 'infinite' storage.  Do that before you map more, because the internal memory doesn't transfer to the card later. I have the card and I just turn on autochart when I turn the helix on.  It can record while I fish.  On slow days I'll fill in tracks where I didn't fish over to complete the chart.  

 

 

 

 

[Koz]

5 hours ago, Conrod said:

Keep us posted please.  Can you post a picture of your setup? I have a small boat and am considering upgrading to a larger screen too but not sure best way to mount.  
Thanks!

Next time I head out I will take a picture. I may go back to putting at least the head unit on the CellBlock. I like to try a few different things to see which is the least intrusive when hauling in a fish.

[Koz]

On 6/20/2022 at 8:33 AM, Conrod said:

Keep us posted please.  Can you post a picture of your setup? I have a small boat and am considering upgrading to a larger screen too but not sure best way to mount.  
Thanks!

After experimenting a bit, I once again decided to mount the fishfinder and the transducer arm to the Yak Attack CellBlok. I tried mounting the fishfinder and arm to the rail and putting the CellBlok behind my seat, but it did not fit well back there. Plus, behind the seat is where I put my C-Tug while I'm out on the water.

 

My kayak does not have any hatches or internal access. If it did, that is where I would probably put the battery. Even when I drop the fishfinder mount lower, it's still pretty high as the CellBlok is about 2.75" tall. 

 

In the pictures below, note that when I'm on the water I swing the head unit to the left so that the screen is just about parallel to the side of my kayak.

 

I have to say, I really like the Helix 7. I liked my Lowrance 5 as well, but the larger screen size with the Helix makes it much more useable.