Several years ago my dad and I were off of Stoney point south of Knife river when there happened to be a water spout off of Beaver bay. Before we could get all the gear out of the water we have had Big Big Big sea’s. No time to measure. They were just Biggggggggg! I would say 12ft+ Trough to Crest and 30-40ft Crest to Crest.

Shimano Stradic of Saros all the way. Since I have switched to the stradics, I have not had a reel failure and that is 5 days a week on the water. Scott

Now, Now Folks, Settle down. What we all really need is another light rail line. Can I pull my bass boat with that???

You may actually get by alot cheaper to buy another sled or one that is not so good with a running motor. These are very costly repairs if the bore is bad in any way. May be more to fix then the sled is worth. Scott

Not totaly familiar with this one but there may be a bolt on the front side of the lower down from the top. It has been years since I dropped one myself but give it a check. Scott

I prefer the 100% Fluoro as appose to Fluoro coated. You have to read the boxes carfully. Scott

I am a hard core drop shot and jig fisherman. I have spent the last two years testing any fluero that I can get my hands on. I have found that the Trilene to be the worst with P-Line and Seaguar carbon pro to be the best with the seaguar being the finesse choice by far and Yo-zuri being a close second. All my heavey jig rods and SB rods are P-Line Flueroclear. Scott

I own a casting and painting operation here in MN. I can tell you there are no cheap alternatives. Lead in a normal market can be purchased for $.50-.60 a lb that being new lead mixed to the needed formula. Bismuth on the other hand, which is the next closest alternative for centrifical casting, is in the area of $8.00-9.00 a lb. The consumer would be the one taking the brunt of this one. I have done several non-tox jobs for people and believe me, the price goes up dramatically. Scott

Nice mount, March is coming and I hope to get up to Mille Lacs and get a couple of my own. Scott

It is a new ebay policy this year to combat fraud. It happened to me recently when I opened an additonal account to sell some stuff for some friends. They only did it for the first two sales and they have not done it since. Scott

If you have a jack plate, that is the preferd place to mount it. I did not so I had to mount mine off to one side and on a ranger bass boat with a built in setback, I had to mounted along side of the motor mount. I usually have to trim the motor up about 2″ to get a really good view off the port side of the boat. You will need to glass a puck into the boat as well for higher speeds as the side imaging trans will not work as the boat comes up on plane. The only other thing I can say is if you have never used a SI unit, you will be amazed. Scott

I installed one on my Ranger 520 last year and there is a lot of things to consider as far a placment goes with that unit. What boat are you mounting it on???

When it starts to bog with it keep running if you choke it?? If so you have a plugged jet in there.

What kind of carbs are on it???

Watched the episode this weekend. Great job guys!!! Keep it up. Scott

34 miles, I have ridden several times on snowmobile.

Thanks for the post, I just checked and my wife and I got picked. This will be our first Turkey hunt. Scott

Totally agree with you there. I have lakemaster chips that are of no good to me now after swithching the boat over to bird. Scott

Ut Ohh!! I see a new heated topic coming. Lakemaster Versus Navionics!! I ran both side by side on my boat for a year and found that one was spot on on one lake and the other was spot on on another. I have now gone to using all Navionics as I retired my Lowrance when I put the 797 on the helm but use the lakemaster for ice fishing in my hand held.

I have been using the Bird 797 for the last season and it has changed the way I fish. It is one awsome tool. It is a little tough to interpret at first but the key for me was to go to structure that I knew and see how it looked on the screen. As for seeing gill spawing bed, in my opion seems a little far fetched but I am not using the bigger units either. On the lake we have a cabin on, I know where there is a sunken t-section of a roll in dock in about 10 feet of water. I can go over it and actually see the grid of the dock on the screen. Also crusing 3-4 mph 50 feet off of shore, you can pretty much count the dock posts on the docks on the screen as they all show up on the screen. Real neat tool. I am considering selling the 797 and going to the 900 series. Scott

One thing I have never done and would like to do and may be see a show on is Rainey Lake Crappies. I know it is a big secret but the crappies that come through the ice up there are unbelievable. Scott

Is there a DVR that works with the Marcum like the aqua view unit??

Morries seafoods has them but they are up by Mille Lacs has them but I think you have to buy them by the case.

Contacted by Jon at Marcum this morning, though they are unable to repair the unit as they have stoped making it, I feel they have made me an awsome deal to make things right. Thanks Marcum. Scott

30 hours and no responce from the folks at Marcum, email or verbal. I am getting nervous. I hope the folks at Marcum dont let me down.

Actually being an avid duck hunter that has not been able to get out the last two years, I am greatest gelous looking at the duck pic’s. Scott

Thanks for the info James, I guess this camera has been a problem since it was new and Marcum always reassured me that they would continue to take care of any issues that arrise with it. I have emailed them and left a message as well so hopefully something can be done here. If there is one thing I can say about Marcum, there customer service and repair has been second to none. Scott

Meaning they will not have cameras anymore, Period??? or just the old style ones?? Scott

Just so there is no missunderstanding here, I am a newbe poster but visit the site often and value it very much. As I stated I am the user of Marcum products and use them, just thought the article was a little one sided. Even though Vex does not have anyting essentially new on the market, they were left out, and from talking to several others offline who frequent your site, the feeling is quite mutual. If the administrator of the site would like to discuss more in depth with me on this he can gladly access me via email. Thanks all

I am a newbe here but I just have to make a comment. Why the Marcum Challenge?? The Challange to me appeared pointless. If you want to sell and promote a product, just take it out on the ice and show it off and it will sell itself. But If the Marcum product is so great, why do you have to have a challange?? If the product is so good, let it stand on its own to feet. I feel this is a very bias evaluation, in my eyes. I have not yet had the pleasure of using any of the Hummingbird units but I felt this article was meant as a straight forward attack on one product. I have used Marcum for years and switched to a FL18 last year after getting sick of interference problems with everyone I fish with. Yes you can reject it out but it is a pain to do every time you go fishing with people. Everyone I fish with runs fl18’s and we have no interference issues what so ever. As for the Marcum, of the 8 or so years that I used Marcum products, I had problems three times, each and every time, the customer service from Marcum was second to non. To sum up my comments, one thing a person may want to consider is what types of units he or she may be fishing by on a regular basis, it can really make things much simpler.