That’s a very good tip. Thanks. Will give it a try in the harbor on Saturday.

Thanks for the input fellas. When I dig into this some more, I’ll check the gauge of the wire used for the Helix from the fuse panel to the unit. Not sure what it is. In any case, I’ll skip the idea of using one of the trolling motor batteries as the power source, and either run a 10 or 12 gauge wire pair all the way back to the starting battery with in-line fuse, or to a new dedicated fuse panel. Wiring the new fuse panel into the existing master power shut-off would be nice.
Boat’s still ready to hit Lake Michigan harbor for jigging up Lakers and jumbo perch when our temps climb above freezing later in the week. This will be one of my January projects after firing up the woodburner in the garage, waiting for someplace to thaw.

As an aside, if you’re looking to save a little cash, besides the single big jon tube rodholder attached to each downrigger, I use the aftermarket version (Extremes) of the plastic Lund track mount kit, with Scotty rod holders. They’re cheap and versatile, in that you can slide them to wherever you want them, and they have withstood even the most violent salmon gear dipsey and leadcore/planer board hits. Have fun getting your rig set up.

I have a 2019 1775 impact, and used the single Cisco mounts for each downrigger. I also have the short arm Big Jons with I think a 20 inch boom as measured from the hub of the cable spool. I read somewhere when setting it up, that Lund recommends staying with 6 lb. downrigger weights, but I went with 8 pounders and have had no problems in 5 years of use on Lake Michigan.

I bought the Hamilton Beach 3 Qt. fryer five years ago at Fleet Farm. (Comes in a two-basket as well). We set it up on a table on our deck in October, and leave it there until late March, frying fish every week or two and filtering or changing oil as needed. It heats up to temp just fine even in frigid weather, and the beer I’m having while frying stays cold…..win-win. The wife says it’s much easier to clean than our older fryer that bit the dust. Unless we have a major family fry, we don’t use it in the summer. If this fryer were to bite the dust, I’d replace it with the same.
For low-volume summer fish-fries, we heat up a cast iron pan on the propane grill, add oil and bring up to temp, and shallow fry fillets with grill lid closed, so that all the splatter burns off. No mess to clean up, except for the pan.

Ditto previous poster. Lac Seul offers great walleye and pike fishing, along with smallies. Occasional whitefish surprise as well. Mahkwa is located in the central part of the system, with lots of good water to fish close by. It’s a busy camp though, so if you want peace and quiet, might want to look elsewhere.

This may be a longshot for you to check, but I can tell you that my saw binds up when there are bad nicks in even just a couple of the cutting teeth or drive links. Happened to me a couple times after chain came of sprocket and got nicked. I used a file to remove the nicks and worked fine afterwards.

A Monday funny…..

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Just checking to see if anyone reads these ads, lol. I knew I could count on you guys. And no, chair not included but could be thrown into the deal for a measly 50 bucks extra.

Hit the Milwaukee Harbor targeting browns and lakers by casting and jigging, but only boated one. Perch were aggressive though, smacking 3/4 oz spoons and 5 inch jerk shads, so we each set up dead sticks with fat heads and went home with 5 each. Started out with NE winds and 3 to 4 foot rollers plus some chop, so stayed ducked in behind breakwalls near the gaps most of the time. Water temp at 43 degrees, so still time to try again.

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Fished a couple more times since last report and have not found a fast and furious bite yet. Managed to boat 10 to 15 eyes or so on each outing, and actually got 3 legals two days ago, but that’s slow compared to the more typical fall bite I’ve enjoyed out here in the past. Hope to make it out a couple more times before ice.

Anyway, seems like posting on this thread has gone by the wayside, so may it R.I.P.

Trophy19, are you planning to troll, or jig the gaps and harbor area? Interested in seeing how you do, as I plan to hit it myself next week after returning home from a trip. Tis the time of year to jig the gaps and harbor, but trolling inside also can produce fish.

Been out a couple times in the past week just for 3 to 4 hours, and the typical fall bite I’ve enjoyed in the past isn’t on yet. I’m thinking that the water temps are still too warm, hovering around 54 degrees both outings. Boated 6 and 8 eyes on these outings and missed some good plastic hits, plus a few obligatory goats and rockies. No white bass oddly enough.Eyes ranged from 14 to 18.5 inches, with most 16 and up. Plastics and jig/minnow both caught fish. More trollers on the water than usual, and heard of reports of nice catches by that method, including some big fish.
Taking a beak for a week while travelling to visit family, but back at it in November. Should start seeing some much better action.

Is this the Plus or Ultra model Tom? Also, would you sell without transducer. A buddy is looking for a second head unit only.

Petenwell for a couple trips, chasing eyes and few hours casting for musky. Also get some nice perch and plenty of white bass incidental to walleye fishing. Closer to home, it’s the Rock River for eyes, and Oconomowoc and Pewaukee lakes for skis, and Madison chain for big gills.
And I’m glad there are lots of hunters at this time of the year….lakes and rivers are nice and peaceful much of the time.

First fall outing yesterday on the river with my 20 year old grandson, 7 till noon. slowwwwwwwww. I boated two white bass and he got one nice eye, a fat 25 incher that’s still swimming. I’ll never hear the end of that story…..grandpa got skunked on eyes. I reminded him that it was my dead-stick with weedless 1/8 jig that I convinced him to hang over, caught that fish. Don’t matter…bragging rights are his for sure. lol.
Water temp 65 degrees, and not much current despite the recent rains. Off to Petenwell at end of week, so back to the Rock in a couple.

So here’s my assessment of the transom-mounted LVS 12 after a couple days of playing around on Petenwell. I found it very useful as a fish-finding tool in detecting the presence of fish in standing, submerged timber and downed timber, which Petenwell has plenty of, in cases where traditional sonar showed unidentifiable marks. The forward view showed me the submerged standing trees ahead (15 to 20 fow) while scouting, and in a case or two, fish milling around them. Caught one suspended crappie casting into the “milling” fish. In down view, it also showed fish hanging around structure, or just swimming around featureless basin bottom. It confirmed to me something that I already knew: although the fish are there, they don’t always eat.
I came across a tip that said to increase the color gain in sonar appearance to 90% to better see the jig or whatever bait you’re throwing. I did this and did see my jig a little better than before within the limited scanning angle zones of the forward and down views. But as said above, it is difficult to see your bait with the LVS12, especially when affixed to the transom, so this is not a video-game fishing transducer or set-up.
So in summary, I’m happy with the end result, since I did not want to mess around with the black box and xducer on a stick set up. While the LVS12 has significant limitations to the more deluxe tools out there, it has significantly improved my fish-finding capability. Heading back to Petenwell later in October for a one week trip to improve my skills with the new toy.
Oh, and here’s the fishing report. Went up to get some work done around my friend’s cottage, so only fished 4 to 5 hours the two days. Got lots (30 to 40) of undersize eyes each day with some legals mixed in. Also took home 6 nice crappie, a dozen perch at 10 to 12 inches, and released a dozen or so big white bass and 3 channel cats. Did the LVS12 help? I think so, since I spent more time scouting and confirming before dropping lines.

That’s a sphinx moth.

Still collecting dust. Yours for $115 plus shipping.

Looks similar to my 2019 1775 Impact after two weeks being tied up to a dock in Canada the year I bought it. My fenders were tied up to the boat, hanging but rubbing against the hull in wave action. Used rubbing compound to try to buff them out a bit when we got home, then several coats of wax. The areas are still visible, but not as bad as they initially were.

My roller trailer/1775 Impact are easy-on, easy-off in most conditions, solo half the time. The guides do help when wind and/or high, fast water add a little challenge to it. They help keep the boat in the correct zone to drive it up or pull it up. Mine guides are scarred up too.

So I mounted the LVS12 on the transom about 5 inches portside of the GT-56 transducer , not knowing if the side-scan view might detect the LVS12, or if the LVS12 would “see” the lower unit. Actually had to slide the GT56 toward starboard a bit to make room for the LVS12, which raised the height of the GT56 a bit as well. The installation worked well. As a matter of fact, the GT56 side scan is no longer picking up the lower unit when trimmed down; previously had to tilt up a bit for port-side scanning.
Played around with the lvs12 down-view for only a bit while gill fishing with grandson.(busy catching gills with a 9-year old). Had a tough time seeing the jig, but eventually caught glimpses of it while playing around with the settings. We were spot-locked in 18 fow with a patch of weeds right below us. Could spot gills milling around the weed patch with an occasional bigger fish swimming thru, guessing bass. Clarity was great. Didn’t do much with the forward view yet.

So I plan to go solo next time and get to know this new toy. Any suggestions from others’ experience with settings, tips, etc. appreciated.

Welcome to IDO Nik. That’s a nice-looking rig. I had a 2000 Wrangler DC that I sold in 2017 and moved into a Lund. Seller’s remorse ever since, although the Impacts are a nice fishing boat too. What’s the top speed with the 115HO? I think the Cobra has a few less interior creature features than the older Wranglers, making them about 200 lbs. lighter.

I figured it’s usefulness would be limited when drifting/jigging a shallow river like the Rock. I also fish Petenwell and local lakes where I’m often jigging or drop-shotting in 15 to 30 fow, and the Milwaukee Harbor in open water for late season Lakers in 30 to 40 fow. Will post some feedback after getting out a few times. Looks like it will be delivered today.

I know what you mean about the limitations. Most of my time fishing walleye is vertical jigging so I’m hoping the transom mount is workable for that. I’ll give it a go and if it’s not a useful tool, or a fun tool to find and “watch” fish with, then I’ll likely switch over to the stick mount. For a couple hundred bucks, thought it was worth a try.

So I pulled the trigger on an LVS12; Englund Marine had a clearance on them for $234 including shipping. I’ll be mounting it on the transom for a permanent installation on my 106SV Ultra. I know it’s limitations compared to the black box models, but decided not to go in whole hog. Will be installing it in the next few days. Reached out to Garmin to see if I can mount it right next to the GT-56 transducer, and they said that should be fine, as they don’t expect that the frequencies will cause any kind of interference one to the other.

Speaking of Garmin, I’ve been impressed with their fast responses to both phone and email contacts with the transducer installation question, and a previous minor issue I had with the side-scan imaging. Great service and tech help!

Off topic here, but a good, easy way to fry in the back yard is to use a propane grill if you own one. Turn the burners on high, set a cast iron pan in there to heat up, add the desired amount of oil and bring to desired temp. Put the fish in, close lid. All the splatter burns right up, no mess. Trick is to figure out what burner setting to use to get to desired oil temp.

I carry a floor jack but added a breaker bar with pipe extension, plus impact wrench socket set after getting stuck last year with flat on truck and boat in tow. Had the tires rotated a week earlier, and for the life of me, couldn’t break the lugs loose with conventional lug iron bar. Had a 2 hour wait for AAA to rescue me and just before they arrived, a 250 lb. guy stopped to help. He was unable to break the lugs loose with my lug bar, pulled out a breaker bar and extension pipe, and after leaning into it pretty good, was able to loosen the lugs. Of course, AAA showed up a minute later to finish the job.

Can’t comment on Humminbird vs. Garmin side-imaging comparisons, but I can tell you that the side-imaging on the Garmin 106SV Ultra with the GT-56 transducer is a step up over their 9 inch units due to the processor, power and three-frequency sonar differences. The 10 inch vs, 9 inch screen not that big of a deal; it’s the specs that add to the quality.Pulled the trigger on one a few weeks ago and had it on the water a few times. Clarity is amazing even in default settings, vs. my older 93SV, and if you wait and look for sales, can find the unit with ducer for under $1400.

Suzuki, wondering where on Marathon and when were you chasing the bonefish? Need a boat and guide to do it, or access fishable water by foot? We stayed on Marathon in January and fished a few times, but didn’t hear anything about bonefish.