Sounder Use

[Neil]

Thanks Jo. Your knowledge in this area in second
to none.

[Jo Rowley]

Gold Band 40-100 fathoms

Flame Snapper 120-200

Barcod 75-200

Bass Groper 150-350

Blue Eye 150-450

Rosy Jobs 50-100

[Neil]

Great Info! Very rare for fishermen to share such
valuable details.

Thank You.

[Neil]

hey jo comparing your notes with mine I do the same
kind of fishing in the southern gulf of mexico same
spiecies your flame snap we call them queen snap or
ball bats cause of shpeblue eyes are our barrell fish
or snotballs the goper like like what call mystie
grouper or convicts also wreakfish couldnt tell by
picks we are now targeting red bream and fine scaled
roughy i use the same equip the 1200 and max sea and
travel 200n/m same as you all very interesting stuff
you have what is your whosale price on your blue eyes
here holding at 4 .00lb u.s. gouper 4.50 flames 4.00
to 5.00lb u.s.

[Jo Rowley]

Hey Buddy,

You never left your details.

Seems like we are definitly in the same business.

I enjoy the challenge of doing something different.
Not many fisherman have the patience and skill to
succeed deep water fishing.

All those hours of bottom mapping get paid back
bigtime when you find something unmarked on
charts loaded with fish that have never seen
a hook before.

We sell Flames whole Iki -Jima ice Slurry for
the equivalent of US$6.00/lbs

BlueEye and Bass groper H+G US$7.00/lbs. The
heads are popular with Asian restuarants and
we get US$4-6.00/lbs.

I have checked out the Gulf of Mexico on Google
Earth and there looks to be some very interesting
bottom with canyons, rough bottom and steep
drop offs.

Looks like there should be good stocks of fish.
As it’s a long way offshore, doesn’t look like
it gets a lot of fishing pressure.

Would love to have a look there someday.

Cheers,

Jo Rowley

[Zane]

Hi there Jo, Just thought I would take the time to
thank you for your replies on this topic!, This is
an absolute gem. Your comments on the deep scattering
layer and deep water sounding interest me greatly!.
I live in NZ and do a lot of swordfishing here.
As well as deep dropping bluenose (blueeye) etc. Is
38khz your preferred frequency in the deep? opposed
to any of the lower frequencies. During your time
sounding the DSL, Seamounts ect for Blueeye have you
been marking swordfish?. Over here we are catching
Swords in the same area as the Blueeye during the day
270 down to 350 Fathoms. Thanks in advance!,

[Jo Rowley]

Hey Zane, I have had swordfish chase a line of blue
eye to the boat late in the afternoon, all lit up
and aggressive, but i have never caught one bottom
fishing. I use 38 KHz as the sound footprint is
tighter than 28 Hz and you don’t get as much side
load scatter and interference on near vertical
bottom. When I was long lining for swords in the
same area we used to catch plenty of them with the
remains of reef fish and dogsharks in their guts, indicating that they were feeding close to the
bottom during the day. Also, an autoliner that
worked the same area used to catch the occasional
swordfish on his bottom set gear so we know they
are in the area. It’s just that in the time it
takes to fish and catch a swordfish, I can catch
more blue eye worth a lot more .I have never marked
one on the sounder as I have my sounder set on
40/80 fathom range and Shift. Bottom lock is set
so I’m just scanning the bottom 15 fathoms.If you
catch a good sword, email me a photo. Good luck.
Cheers,Jo Rowley

[Matt]

Hi Jo,
I know you mentioned quite a while ago in this post
that you didn’t like the 82-88 (2kw??) tunable because
the picture was not as good. Was this a furuno
transducer? also what do you mean not as good picture,
can you not pick up the DSC with it and was it not
able to mark fish as well as the 3kw 28 or 38kHz?
Why a 38kHz and not the 28kHz?

[Jo Rowley]

Hi Matt, Been at sea so sorry for the delay in
replying. The 82-88 tunable transducer was from
Furuno.
It seem to lack power and did not seem to be able
to separate feed just above the bottom, feeding fish
and reading bottom softness/harness was not as good.
I guess I got spoilt with 38 Khz@ 3 Kw.I prefer
38 Khz as the sound cone on the bottom is smaller
than that of 28 Khz. This limits the interference
caused by reflected echos and ghost readings on
uneven and very steep bottom. We can still get
feed and fish on near vertical and fast dropping
walls and have learnt which are real soundings
and which are ghost images. I hope this helps.
Cheers,Jo Rowley

[Matt]

Hi Joe,

Thanks alot. That helps.

Cheers Matt

[Matt]

What is a ghost reading and what causes it?

Thanks

Matt

[Simon]

hi Joe,

just found this forum and very interesting, I
commercial fish the top of the north island of
NZ drop lining after bluenose and puka from
150metres to 700meters and running an oldie
furuno fcv 291 and 2 kw with maxsea timeplot zero
and time is running out for the 291 as its had 3
sessions at furuno nz as i think its telling porkys
was wondering if u had anything bad to say about
ur setup before buying one ? the hardest part is
going to be making a tank for the transducer and
the cost of a haulout for 22m steel 100ton is not
that cheap !! may run the transducer on a side
mountpole if theres not to much turbulance till
next sch haulout.

how much are the go pro casings as this would
definitely tell my if the 291 is not telling
the truth !!!

thanks for all the info Simon

[Matt]

Hi Simon,

Have you run a big transducer on a side mount pole
before? If so have you got any photos of such a
set up.
I was looking at similar option?

Thanks Matt

[Simon]

hi Matt,

yes have run before used a 60mm galv tube with
right angle welded to the front edge adds strength
and reduces turbulence. with a flat plate with a
fairing block on , then run a 3mm braid line forward
as a brace and bolt at the top to attach to
bullworks and a u clamp at the lowest possible
point around pole clamping back to the side of boat.

did try this before with out the right angle and
after 2 days of heavy weather the pole bent !!!

[Matt]

Joe,
I am at the moment looking at options between the 82
tunable and the 2kw 38kHz. I fish these same depths
as you and run a 295. Hoping to be able to mark fish
near bottom at 6-8 knots. In your experience with
the 82 though its not as good at sounding close
bottom and bottom softness/hardness was it still
able to do the job?
Do you have any screen shots of the 82 in these
depths marking fish etc?

If its not that good do you think the 2kw 38
would be able to do the job?

Thanks Matt

[Author]

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