Fish Hawk and temps?

[AllenW]

Just picked up the X4+D and with it came a chart of best temps for many fish.

Numbers seem right to most of you?

Fishing by water temps has been one of my weak points especially since I had no way to read temps at different depths.

tia

al

[cliftp]

Just picked up the X4+D and with it came a chart of best temps for many fish.

Numbers seem right to most of you?

Fishing by water temps has been one of my weak points especially since I had no way to read temps at different depths.

tia

al

I just put the same one on my boat this year and am trying to learn how to use it. Just for fun, we were at Lake Erie, out of Port Clinton week before last for a couple days, at times around the islands, the surface speed and speed at 25 feet were as much as .5 MPH different. Kind of a big deal when only going 1 to 1.5 on the surface. I'm thinking those poor body baits were not even moving. If Lake M ever gets so I can get out, I'm looking forward to using it. I do wish it had speed at the transom in back instead of using GPS speed though. I'd be curious if it is more stable using the Fishhawk speed vs the GPS speed.

Hope it helps us both.

Paul C.

[wingnut]

Allen, Is there any way you could post the chart or direct me to where I could find one. My X4, did not come with a chart and I have been curious what are the best temps for walleye, steelhead and salmon would be.

[Dr Hook]

Yes it would be nice to see the chart, but from other similar charts I have seen, they are usually off a bit.

[littleboat]

I just put the same one on my boat this year and am trying to learn how to use it. Just for fun, we were at Lake Erie, out of Port Clinton week before last for a couple days, at times around the islands, the surface speed and speed at 25 feet were as much as .5 MPH different. Kind of a big deal when only going 1 to 1.5 on the surface. I'm thinking those poor body baits were not even moving. If Lake M ever gets so I can get out, I'm looking forward to using it. I do wish it had speed at the transom in back instead of using GPS speed though. I'd be curious if it is more stable using the Fishhawk speed vs the GPS speed.

Hope it helps us both.

Paul C.

I was surprised when I bought my X4D and realized that the wheel on the xducer couldn't be used for surface speed, because they traded it for probe depth. They should have reworked the display. Now the wheel on the xducer is worthless. Unless you have an autopilot you might have more variations in speed than you thought for the surface when adjusting for sea conditions. I guess you will just have to keep your eye on the ball speed which you want to anyway.

LB

[CITM]

The paddle wheel on the transducer isn't very accurate due to turbulence anyway, most use GPS speed for surface speed even if they have a standard x4. Or drop your probe to 3'-5' feet.

[AllenW]

Allen, Is there any way you could post the chart or direct me to where I could find one. My X4, did not come with a chart and I have been curious what are the best temps for walleye, steelhead and salmon would be.

Here, I found it on their web site.

http://www.fishhawkelectronics.com/documents/552_FH_X4-X4D_Manual_Alts_LO2.pdf

Scroll down a bit and it shows the temp thing.

Not sure which would be better, the paddle wheel or GPS, I think I'd lean towards the GPS though, but it wouldn't take into considerations currents at the surface though.

May have to keep track of what depths I catch fish at and see how close it is, always variables, but the chart might be a good place to start at.

Al

[SeaCatMich]

When I had my FishHawk 840 the down speed, surface speed and the GPS SOG all were different speeds most of the time. My sonar also had a paddle wheel on its transducer and it would be a different number too. This makes sense though since they are measuring speed differently or with different conditions. The FH surface speed and the GPS speed over ground is influenced by the lake's surface current's increasing or decreasing the speed relative to what it would be in calm conditions but the FH is relative to the water and the GPS is relative to the ground under the boat. The down speed is measuring speed relative to the various currents at the depth of the probe. The only speed that really has any value when trolling is the down speed. The others are nice to know, but are really only telling you how what direction and how fast the underwater currents are. I personally like to move the probe around a little because the currents can vary in speed and direction at different depths too.

The temps on the FH chart have been updated in recent years are are more accurate than they used to be. I would pretty much agree with the optimal numbers but the upper limit numbers are generally too low. For Chinook the upper is listed at 60* but I have caught many early morning shallow waters with 65 to 70* temps. Same for Steelhead -- says 62* is the max but I often find them in 65* water offshore.

[cliftp]

When I had my FishHawk 840 the down speed, surface speed and the GPS SOG all were different speeds most of the time. My sonar also had a paddle wheel on its transducer and it would be a different number too. This makes sense though since they are measuring speed differently or with different conditions. The FH surface speed and the GPS speed over ground is influenced by the lake's surface current's increasing or decreasing the speed relative to what it would be in calm conditions but the FH is relative to the water and the GPS is relative to the ground under the boat. The down speed is measuring speed relative to the various currents at the depth of the probe. The only speed that really has any value when trolling is the down speed. The others are nice to know, but are really only telling you how what direction and how fast the underwater currents are. I personally like to move the probe around a little because the currents can vary in speed and direction at different depths too.

The temps on the FH chart have been updated in recent years are are more accurate than they used to be. I would pretty much agree with the optimal

numbers but the upper limit numbers are generally too low. For Chinook the upper is listed at 60* but I have caught many early morning shallow waters with 65 to 70* temps. Same for Steelhead -- says 62* is the max but I often find them in 65* water offshore.

Good point on the speed. Guess it really doesn't matter much except at the ball. I'm assuming the Fish Hawk transducer is for both the X-4 and X-4D, hence the wheel.

Paul C.

[SeaCatMich]

Good point on the speed. Guess it really doesn't matter much except at the ball. I'm assuming the Fish Hawk transducer is for both the X-4 and X-4D, hence the wheel.

Paul C.

The FishHawk 840, X4, and X4D all use the same transducer. Each model has a different probe but the new X4 and the older 840 will work with the X4's newer probe. Since the X4D adds probe depth information to the signal transmitted to the transducer, the X4D display is needed.

[squints]

very accurate. ive used fish hawk for 20 years.