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[cool]Just posted up my fishing trip report. Here is the sonar review.
First, let me say that I have used the Cudas for several years and am fairly familiar with their functions. That helps.
On this trip I fished from shallow (8 ft) to deeper (up to 20'). I only noticed a bunch of "false signals" when the unit slipped into the auto depth mode of 40 feet. Then there were a lot of small fishy icons near the surface. I tried messing with the sensitivity but did not work with it long enough to get a satisfactory solution.
I fished most of the day in depths of 12 to 15 feet. That is where I caught all my fish. In that zone, I actually saw very few fish icons on the screen, and whenever I saw a bottom blip I usually got a bite on my minnow when I dragged the bait over it. There were not the huge schools of shad and crappies in the area today that there have been.
In the attached pics you can see that the sonar did a good job of showing bottom weeds from the shoreline being recently flooded after being dry for a couple of years. There is also one pic that shows a sudden sharp drop in bottom depth. No fish there this time, but sometimes that is a fish magnet.
I will be taking it to a deeper lake, for trout and walleyes on Wednesday and will get a better idea of how it works to show those fish.
Here are some pics of the installation. I also have a complete set of pics of all the cutting and fitting if anybody is interested.
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Thanks for the report. I am thinking that you got me on the right track with mine. I will be going again over the holiday weekend. Ron
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[cool]I think you need to find a more tuber friendly environment to give it a good checkout. Being distracted by hostile bass boats and swimming rattlers makes it tough to concentrate.
Also, spend some time with the demo mode and get familiar with the settings. For example, I usually set my scroll speed at about 50%. You just need to play around and find what works best under different circumstances.
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that all looks very similar to mine too. Even our transducer mounts and FF setups look very similar.
Jason
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[quote TubeDude] I also have a complete set of pics of all the cutting and fitting if anybody is interested.[/quote]
I'd be interested in these pic's. I just picked up a Cuda 300 yesterday.
I'm sure I'll have a bunch more questions when it comes to the install.
Thanks
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[cool][#0000ff]I haven't had time to do a complete step by step PDF writeup. But here are the labeled pics. They should help a lot, but feel free to ask if you need further explanation on any of the steps.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One of the tough ones, for those who have not done it before, is assembling the parts on the skimmer transducer bracket. If you start by just putting the two little grooved washers on the ducer and fitting that on the metal bracket, the rest is easy. Most guys try to put it all together at the same time. See the pic "Ducer step one". It also shows how the other parts fit on the cross bolt.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]One other thing. Most sonar systems come with the little fuse attachment. If you are installing on a boat, with a big battery and other things that can create power surges, it is a good idea to install that between the battery and the sonar. But, on a tube installation, with a small SLA battery, it is not necessary. I have never installed them and have never had a problem.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The system I use, with a block screwed firmly into the pocket, allows you to create a cheap "ram mount". By leaving the PVC shaft (3") unglued, you can pop on the sonar and it will rotate in all directions...and up and down using the adjustments on the mounting bracket. Quick and easy to set it for your preferred viewing angle.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I used to run the wire through the PVC of the transducer shaft. But, now I use white duct tape. It works fine, looks okay and makes it easier to remove if you need to replace a broken PVC part or something. I also put a small 1/2" anchor screw on each of the PVC connections to prevent problems if a glued connection comes loose. [/#0000ff]
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I have mine set up a little different. I like it because I can unclip the whole thing and take it off to put away the tube, or put it on a different tube. I have not found clips the length I want yet. In this picture the mount leans in after I sit down just a little bit. My rod holder leans in too. SO it needs different clips. Other than that I like it. The battery has it's own box, and nothing takes up pocket space. Everything is solid and rides good. After I get the clips right I think I will like the mount a lot.
Ron
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Ron I was trying to figure out what that white box was in your pic from this weekend. I thought it was your lunch box, or a live bait box. LOL Do you and TD agree that the 300 shows good structure on the bottom with the occasional fish blip?
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[cool][#0000ff]I will need a couple more trips to different waters to formulate a definitive opinion. But, so far I like what I see.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]I had a trip planned for today but Mama Nature had a hissy fit last night and is still huffing and puffing this morning.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It will probably be next week before I can give my new toy a good test on deeper water, looking for bottom hugging perch, smallies and wallies. I have some tests lined up for it.[/#0000ff]
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I just got my Cuda 300 all set up on my tube, but now I have no idea how to run it. I've never had a sonar before any suggestions on how to set it up or settings you know work?? I've read through the manual, but still have no clue.
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[cool][#0000ff]Hook up your sonar to a 12 volt battery and keep pressing the Menu Up button until you come to the demo mode. Then play around with it until you see how it works.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Each time you come to a menu option you can press the up arrow or down arrow to select what you want. The first option is backlight. That will be a yes during low light conditions or when you are fishing in very cold weather. Helps to keep things a bit warmer inside.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The Fish display mode is something you will have to decide for yourself. I prefer the fish ID mode, which displays the small fishy icons. Otherwise, when fishing from a tube you don't move fast enough to make the inverted V show up on fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]If you are getting too many "false fish" on your screen...because of bubbles or debris in the water...or because of tree branches or whatever...advance the menu to sensitivity and set it for manual...and then drop it down a few points at a time until you can see REAL fish but not a lot of clutter. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Scroll speed is another one to check. At 100% the info runs off the edge of the display screen fairly quickly. I set mine at 50% so I can look away for a minute without missing something.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Get familiar with the options and then take it out and play with it. It does not take long to get an idea of what each option is for and how to set it for your fishing style.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The good news is that there are factory defaults set, and they will work fine if you just turn the unit on. Oh yeah, you have to hold the Power button down for a few seconds to turn the unit on. Then, when you are ready to turn it off you hold the power button down while the numbers on the screen count down from 5 -4 -3 - 2 - 1 and then off. Those features cut down on the accident turning on and off.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Does that help?[/#0000ff]
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Thanks for the help. I'll be taking it out for a two day camp out tomorrow.
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I've been using an Eagle Cuda on my U-boat this spring and I guess I don't have it adjusted right yet. I get a series of verticle lines an eighth inch apart moving across the screen. So it doesn't do a good job of picturing bottom structure. Still, it shows little and big fish, gives me depth and water temp. My problem may be power -- I use 8 rechargeable AAs, which are supposed to add up to 12. But the unit shows around 10V recharged. Hummmm.
However I just grabbed a new Creek Company ODC 420 off eBay, mainly to keep my butt dry during Virginia's frosty winters. Coming from Texas I'm used to fishing most every weekend. Anyway, I'll soon be reworking the Cuda for the new float and looking at your pics for ideas.
I mounted the unit on a wooden block and attacked it to an aluminum bar that runs across my lap and bends around to put the transducer under water. I don't think that'll work, or at least there must be a better way to make it easy to enter and exit the craft. I'll also will be refiguring rod holders, but the new float has welcome rear storage.
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[cool][#0000ff]If you could add two more small batteries to your rig the sonar would work. But, why not just get a good small 12 volt? Most 12 volt systems will not work at less then about 11.5 volts.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Keep working on your design setup. It takes some time to get it the way you want it for your style of fishing. Not a one size fits all thing.[/#0000ff]
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Big thank you to Tube Dude for thoughtfully sharing these installation procedures!!
My son's old Fish Cat#4 is pretty much trashed so I gifted him with my extra newer one I grabbed up when BPS had a short $100 sale on them.
We will be tricking it out with pole holders and a new Eagle 320C finder. These installation instructions are beyond helpfull. Thanks again, ole giller
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[cool][#0000ff]Good luck with the project.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]The procedures will work for almost any sonar system. The only differences might be in the type of display mount. The 320 has the wider screen and wider base. No problem with bolting on the PVC connector. Might have to drill a hole or two.[/#0000ff]
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Used my Cuda 300 this last weekend, and loved it everything seemed to work right. I need to shorten my transducer pipe, it sticks a little to far down in the water.
My only question is the sonar is looking down right so how far out dose it look from the transducer?? Like in a circle. I would see fish showing up in Fish ID, but how do i know if there in front or back of me?? Or is that just a unknown.
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[cool]The main reason for keeping the transducer close to your tube is to reduce the problem with snagging on weeds or banging on rocks as you launch and beach...if you forget to raise it up. It does not hurt or create that much of a false reading on depth by being a little deeper.
The beam from the transducer travels downward in a cone...about a 20 degree angle on the 300. For the first 5 or 6 feet there is a very small "footprint" and the fishy icons you see are usually false readings...from particles in the water, etc. You can adjust your sensitivity down a bit to reduce the false readings.
With a 20 degree cone, the round circle will have a diameter of roughly 1/3 the depth. In other words, at 24 feet, the cone will be about 8 feet across.
Anything that is not in the downward cone will not show up. There are units on the market with "sidefinder" options that shoot a beam out in a directional path.
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[quote TubeDude][cool]The main reason for keeping the transducer close to your tube is to reduce the problem with snagging on weeds or banging on rocks as you launch and beach...if you forget to raise it up. [b]It does not hurt or create that much of a false reading on depth by being a little deeper.[/quote]
Respectfully disagree. In my deep nymphing 2" can put me out of a zone.
For ever inch the transducer is in the water, you loose that inch from the overall depth. As I said before...fish don't look down.
You fish allot of bottom dwellers, but I fish the species that are suspended. They can be suspended 4" on up, and I need to know this.
I have fished with several others with sonar. Their sonar was also deep and they would raise when coming to shore. Mine is about 1/2" from level ground so I don't need to raise mine or lower it. With toon in the water it is at least 2" in the water and if it says fish at 18'....they are at 18'. I measure 18' of line and I am into fish. If I measure 19'...no, if I measure 17' sometimes.
If you are going to use electronics, get them as accurate as you can. It isn't that hard.
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I also want to correct myself and verify what Tube Dude did write, that this is more important on calm water. I realize on choppy water that transducer is also going up and down.
This is just my style of fishing and it works for me.
But, TD, is it not possible to damage the eye on a transducer if you hit something?
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