Transducer problems (tm260)

[VViCKiD]

Hi guys,

I was out on the weekend chasing some fin and was really annoyed my 1kw transducer was not performing.

I was in about 300 fa and could not pick up bottom. This is a real problem when Trying to sound for tuna to cube up. I couldn't even pick up bottom while trolling at 6 knots.

The unit I have is a lowrance hds 7 gen 2 touch.

My settings were:

Installation: B260

Frequency= 50 Hz

Ping speed = 12

The odd thing is that I can pick up bottom going 25 knots in shallow water. Which seems to suggest to me the issue isn't turbulence. When I am drifting, I can pick up bottom quite easily.

Anyone have any ideas? I'd b super grateful

http://i.imgur.com/QgKur14.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/2GZ4ZJX.jpg

Edited July 20, 2016 by VViCKiD

[Croydon]

I see your range is set on auto. In those sought of depths it can be difficult for the sounder to pick up the bottom even at low speeds. Try setting your depth manually to suit the area you are in. But even when trolling/cubing, I will normally only be looking at the top 80 - 150m, as 300 fathoms is a long way to try and raise fish. I'm more looking for bait schools and then try and mark fish. Hope this helps. Cheers..........

Dave

[VViCKiD]

Thanks Dave. Do you know if you'd be spotting marks even though you can't pick up bottom ?

[Croydon]

Yes you will. I set my range manually to around 80m upto 150m, when trolling. Whatever bait and or larger fish come through the transducer will show up. Just need to interpret what you see. Anything deeper than that you are probably not going to raise anyway. Cheers........

Dave

[VViCKiD]

Thanks dave ! that's reassuring !

[JonD]

Not wanting to put a downer on things but I had similar issues with my hds8 and a tm 260 not picking up in deep water. Sold it on eBay and went back to the 200-50htz deepwater which picked up bottom much better for deep dropping.

I personaly think the 260 narrow beam loses bottom as the boat rocks which gives the poor old Lowrance a dizzy spell it can't recover from untill it gets back to 300m or less.

For offshore tuna hunting I set mine to a max of 80m so it will only search to that depth and any fish between that will show. I figure if they are deeper than that the chances of my cubes finding them are slim anyway.

Jon