Whats up with my Lakemaster map chip??

I’m just wondering if others have issues with their Lakemaster chip being inaccurate? I have a Hummingbird 798ci HD with the newest Lakemasster chip v7.0 in it, and sometimes it will be accurate with what the bottom depth actually is, and sometimes it will be way off. I’m talking that I happen to be in 24’of water but the map says it should be 12! Then after a few yards they will become more accurate and eventually right on. Let me insert that yes, I adjust the water level offset each and every time I fire it up as I primarily fish the Whitefish Chain of Lakes which is controlled by the Crosslake Dam.

But should I need to adjust the water level offset from one side of the lake to the other? Let me add 1 more thing, I just installed the chip this spring when I switched over to a Minkota Terrova and linked them with the Hummingbird. I have not been able to get the Heading sensor to sync with the system as of yet. I have relocated the heading sensor thinking that something could be blocking it, but I don’t think that these two items are related.

Thanks for your help,

It’s my guess that the mapping just isn’t 100% accurate. I’ve found it to be common with Lakemaster maps in some of the lakes that I fish. The depths in most areas are right on the money while some areas can be off by quite a bit in some cases.

According to a guide we hired in Ely the lake we fished was mapped very poorly. One client found a spot that he thought would be pretty good, this guide told him:
‘we can fish wherever you want but those coordinates are on dry ground!’
I guess Lakemaster has been back out there so hopefully that lake will get better mapping.

The Whitefish Chain is unique. Water flows in from springs and the Pine River and out from the dam in beautiful downtown Crosslake controlled by the Army Corp of Engineers.

Water flows down hill, some days the the dam is wide open and some days it is barely a trickle.

Water is self leveling if it is not moving. I am betting that if you put your boat in at the access on Big Trout and read your GPS elevation and motor over to the dam on Cross and read your elevation; there could easily be a foot difference in elevation depending on the amount of water being discharged and the amount of time the dam has been open.

I doubt that it would be 12 ft difference but easily one or two. I also doubt that your Lakemaster or Humminbird compensate for the slope in the lake surface caused by the dam discharge.

Mr. Sticks, I think I just had the same experience and talked to the service dept that did my Hbird install. In my case it wasn’t the chip or transducer, it was that I needed to re-set the unit. Apparently it can default randomly to its highest depth range (2000 feet!) which you don’t want.

You want it defaulted to 100 feet, here’s how:

•Go to Menu
•Settings
•Restore
•At Drop down Default Box, select freshwater 100 feet

Worked for me anyway. May have to do this anytime you do a re-set, software upgrade, etc.

FryDog, Thank you, I will defiantly try that!