Fish Finder for Trolling Motor

[smlfishing]

Do most use a second fish finder on the trolling motor to locate bigger bait?  If so any suggestions on a unit? 

Thanks 

[mwardncsu]

I do on occasion. I use 5" screen unit - done for regular sonar. Would like a 7" up front to be able to see side scan a bit better as well as sonar

[Brian]

I actually just pulled mine off the trolling motor tonight. I had a LSS1 on my trolling motor which worked great. But, I don't have a screen up front and had to flip my bracket mounted display around which was kind of a pain so I found myself throwing the net off the stern anyway. I actually ran power and ethernet for a display up front, but moving it up there just to catch bait was more trouble than it was worth when I can just toss the net off the stern deck if the bait is deep enough that I need sonar.

It was cool running the bow LSS1 at 800 kHz and the stern LSS2 at 455kHz and watching bait/fish appear on one, then the other.

[jmr04]

I'm getting a quote on one right now. My boat is a little small and don't love throwing off the stern. I feel totally blind throwing w/o looking at my chart.

[Deleted]

I run a 12 touch on the CC and an HDS8 upfront. I originally thought the one upfront would be overkill. Now I can't live without it. For bait, it is awesome, especially for tracking small, tightly packed balls on the bottom. Many people have found me backing around in a cove and find it strange. What I am doing is determining size of bait and location on my 12s SScan then I run upfront and wait for my target to appear on the 8.

Another major advantage is when pulling downlines along with your spread. Set the front unit to 200 and your back unit to 83. The front unit will then give you a warning when trees are coming and the back unit will verify where all your downlines are located. Saved me many snags.

There are a bunch of other good things as well.

[jmr04]

I can see how that would work. Nice idea.

[archenemy]

Running a second lss-x ducer off the trolling motor has its merits for sure as explained by mwurd and yam. Many have had interference problems which were mostly mitigated by grounding the housing of the TM housing back to the house battery. Just be aware its not plug and play always. Another point is that if you are turning the TM you are skewing the signal of that forward lss-x.

There are some really good posts on this forum describing how to make this work.

Personally I am down to one lss-2 hung off the stern, turn my hds8 forward, run the boat in reverse, and time the throw. Like yam my hds12 tells me when to get ready when bait is in the area.

Good luck.

Sent from my XT1080 using proboards

[mwardncsu]

Just to be clear I didn't have a structurescan xducer on my TM. I just view mine from the transom on the hds on the bow that is networked.

[smlfishing]

I appreciate the help. My boat is 22 but like JMR the only place I can throw off the stern is on the swim platform I am forever getting hung on something or hitting the motor or worse afraid of taking a swim. Arch I talked to Ben McCall on Burnt Chimney and for I think 50 or 60 he will take my TM apart and ground it internally. When you say time your throws are you going in reverse marking bait then waiting and throwing off the bow? When I got my boat it had a 1198c already installed in the CC so you cannot see it up front. It does not seem as friendly as the HDS12 that I have seen. I really like the ideas of being able to use the TM FF for more than just catching bait. Does anyone recommend a place to purchase Lowrance units?

[mwardncsu]

Check prices with Ben @ SML Marine Electronics or Dewayne at Captains Quarters - they may be able to do as well as the "big box" stores or on-line stores - and of course are local to help service it. Not that you should not shop for your best deal. Lowrance has dropped the price on HDS Gen2 Touch units a fair bit this winter trying to clear that inventory, so those may be something you might want to look at.....

[archenemy]

Yep going backwards. If the bait shows up directly below the boat I move the bow to one side and time the throw.

Sent from my XT1080 using proboards

[smlfishing]

Thanks I was going to talk with Ben but did not think about Captains Qtrs. I am going to give that going backwards a try this weekend

[mwardncsu]

Dec 9, 2015 14:55:39 GMT -5 smlfishing said:

Thanks I was going to talk with Ben but did not think about Captains Qtrs. I am going to give that going backwards a try this weekend

Dewayne is closed for the season till March - chasing big stripers down at the Bay - but depending on your timeframe he may be able to help you out remotely perhaps... not sure.