Fishing electronics and trolling motor

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Douglas217

Douglas217

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So as we all know, it is really easy to wrap up a lot of money into fish finders and equipment. Well I'm looking into upgrading my boat and equipment and I have a few questions for you guys that have some of the upgraded electronics. My first question is about spot lock on trolling motors as well as GPS on finders. Does it work well at powell? Do the steep canyons interfere with the GPS on the trolling motor as well as the fish finder? I have a lowrance hook2 right now and it jumps all over the place with the GPS. I was told once that GPS doesn't work well at powell and if that's the case I would imagine spot lock doesn't work very well either.

My next question is about lake maps. Do they have any topo maps for Lake Powell. I've seen maps where you can highlight certain depths of water. You could also make a offset for the water level which would be handy for Powell since it fluctuates so much. I believe they where lake master maps for hummingbird. Is there anything like that available for Powell.

Thanks for any feedback. I appreciate it.
 
I have the lake master on my graph and I have spot lock on my TM and so far I love both of them. I have certain depths highlighted and I put the offset in when I go to Powell. I expect when I try to spot lock near the high walls it will not work like normal but I have only had the two together for a year so I have not tried it near the walls yet. The gps is awesome when I used it but again I haven’t had it that long.
As for the maps I love them! No they are not “perfect” as has been discussed on here before but they are real piece of mind and give me the contours and depths I want to be fishing. It has made fishing this little pond much easier and less stressful for me and I don’t worry nearly as much about the whales as I used to. if I want to target 20 it is easy to do and I believe I have been catching more fish than before I had this advantage. There are tons of Videos on these with why you want them. There are others on here that will chime in and you will get mixed reviews but at least you will have some opinions to help you decide. Good luck deciding!
 
I have used spot lock trolling motors on Powell for several years. For the most part they work exactly like they should. If you happen to get too close to a canyon wall and spend enough time there, they can lose GPS signal and go "goofy". Simply turn off the motor, let it re-acquire, and go back to fishing. Love them. I'm on my second one just last year.
 
Squirrel said:
Humminbird with Lakemaster chip, you can adjust the lake level which is probably the most important option at Powell. Sq
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How universal is the lake master chip? Does it work on any hummingbird with gps? We have a helix 5
 
Dungee Fishing said:
How universal is the lake master chip? Does it work on any hummingbird with gps? We have a helix 5
Click to expand...
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say YES. I believe that Humminbird and Lakemaster are connected at the hip. I don’t think that Lakemaster works in other fishfinders like Garmin or Lorance. Please correct me if I’m wrong. The Lakemaster chip has saved my butt hundreds of times. Sq
 
Their site says it works with the helix 5. I used it on a helix 7 & helix 8. If it has a slot for the card I believe you would be good. If you want to barrow my card and try it you are welcome to before you buy one. I would update the software on your graph to make sure it is current and you would be good.IMHO
 
Dworwood said:
Their site says it works with the helix 5. I used it on a helix 7 & helix 8. If it has a slot for the card I believe you would be good. If you want to barrow my card and try it you are welcome to before you buy one. I would update the software on your graph to make sure it is current and you would be good.IMHO
Click to expand...

Arent the chips divided into like “western states lakes...” etc.? Is there just a Powell specific one? And how does one update the software of the unit? Is it like WiFi comparable or something? Sorry,still very novice with electronics. And sorry @Douglas217 not trying to hijack.
 
The “Western States” chip covers POWELL and most of the Western U.S. lakes. The Lakemaster website shows all the lakes covered. You have to download, for free any updates from Humminbird for your model #. If I can do it, anyone can. I updated 2 HB units last year. Sq
 
One of the important things is after you get the software update onto a card and put that card into the unit and start the updating of software, make sure you don't loose power or do anything with unit during the updating software process, until it is finished updating.
 
Douglas217 said:
So as we all know, it is really easy to wrap up a lot of money into fish finders and equipment. Well I'm looking into upgrading my boat and equipment and I have a few questions for you guys that have some of the upgraded electronics. My first question is about spot lock on trolling motors as well as GPS on finders. Does it work well at powell? Do the steep canyons interfere with the GPS on the trolling motor as well as the fish finder? I have a lowrance hook2 right now and it jumps all over the place with the GPS. I was told once that GPS doesn't work well at powell and if that's the case I would imagine spot lock doesn't work very well either.

My next question is about lake maps. Do they have any topo maps for Lake Powell. I've seen maps where you can highlight certain depths of water. You could also make a offset for the water level which would be handy for Powell since it fluctuates so much. I believe they where lake master maps for hummingbird. Is there anything like that available for Powell.

Thanks for any feedback. I appreciate it.
Click to expand...
I run a Minnkota Terrova, 98% of the time it works great at LP. If your right up next to a sheer wall it will sometimes go goofy and so do my graphs. I haven't done great fishing those spots anyway so it isn't much of an issue for me. As for the maps, LakeMaster is really hard to beat at LP. It only works with Birds though, so It wont be compatible with your Hook. Navionics works in Lowrance products and it has excellent detail on LP. However it does not allow lake offsets. You can highlight the river channel which is nice when running. There are some things you can do with shading to kind of adjust for lake level, but it does not correct the depth contours. If your looking to upgrade I would suggest going to the website of each map maker, LakeMaster has a list of lakes covered in each region and tells you whether or not they are in HD. As much as I like LM at Powell, it has no detail at Flaming Gorge, my home water. That's why I have the Lowrance unit as well (bought it first). If you go to Navionics site you can look at the chart viewer and see the actual map of all the lakes for free. I'm not a schill for either company, both good graphs, they both have features that I like and dislike, one thing about the Birds, on some models you can run both maps. I have some buddies running Garmins, and they really like them as well. Good luck, there's a lot of cool gadgets out there now!
 
I don't have that gear and likely will never get it, however there are plenty of times I could have used it if I did had it. I think it would be particularly good for holding the boat precisely where you want it in the wind. :)

Ed Gerdemann
 
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