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[All Tangled Up]

Hey all, I was curious about depth sounder/fishfinders. I recently bought and returned 2 models from Canadian Tire. ( Eagle Fisheasy 2 $180, and the Garmin Fishfinder 160 $380) My problem lies in the fact that they say that they work at speeds up to 70mph, but once I get past 8-10mph or so the units stop working. I have tried different angles and locations on my transom for the transducers but nothing works. What do you all use for running the Fraser at speeds? Thanks for the info.

[Steelhead King]

i never trust the speed on the depth sounder, i will use them as a refences. Otherwise, i use my GPS, it give me speed, direction and time all at once....   

[All Tangled Up]

Sorry speed is not what I am looking for, I want it to read the depth of the water so I don't bottom out in the Fraser when travelling at higher speeds.

[fishersak]

Dude, trust me...at high speeds by the time the sounder lets you know you are about to bottom out it is too late!!! I have a few messed up props to prove this.  A slow careful speed is the only way...I wouldn't trust a sounder to do this job!

[Terry Bodman]

I have a Humminbird Piranha 2. It loses its ability to read depths very quickly as soon as I pick up any speed at all.

[Jimmy]

buy the best you can afford. But if you are not sure of an area on the fraser slow down and let the depth sounder work it's magic.

I paid about $129 and it works great it is an eagle 128 or something like that.

[The Gilly]

My Garmin Fishfinder 80 works fine.  My boat gets up to 30MPH and no trouble reading bottom. Paid $130.

[stryker 07]

My pirahna 2 reads bottom until till 40 mph....might be the position on the stern or getting air pockets when on plane caused from runners or keels.

[DaN ThE MaN]

my eagle sea finder 240 is a wounder machine..jsut got it last season paid 280 for it i think.. ive never had it not work when goin full tit

[The Gilly]

You might be getting too many bubbles, thus interfering with your reading.  Try adjusting the sensor on the stern.

[kellya]

I made the same mistake. If you read carefully it says to put the transducer(i think its called) on a certain side. They say to do this because the propwash can affect the reading when it spins to the one side. I am not sure what side this is but i think you are supposed to put it on the right hand side.
Hope this helps

[IronNoggin]

I run a HummingBird 400TX. It clearly shows the floor at 45 MPH, although does mark "false" fish images at much after 15 MPH (bubbles I believe). It's somewhat pricey (over 4 bills I think) but has lasted a long time, and has proven itself extremely reliable.

Might just be your transducer location though. I knocked mine off on a deadhead, and had a few adjustments that had to made mounting the new one before it performed up to spec again.

Good Luck!
Nog

[All Tangled Up]

Thanks for all the great input. I know I shouldn't be running unfamiliar water at full speed. I mainly want it for cutting corners in the ocean in White Rock when the tide is changing. It doesn't go from 20 feet to 2 feet as quickly as the Fraser does. I am going to buy a new sounder this week and hopefully have time to install the transducer in a better locale. I'll post back with the results, and thanks again for the help.

[All Tangled Up]

Found a nice little sonar/gps unit at Walmart, installed the transducer in a different locale, went for a cruise in Cultus Lake, worked like a charm. Thanks again for any, and all help folks!