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I have purchased 3 different bottom line fish finders.
Problem I have had is being able to read my downrigger ball under the boat while we are trolling which I think is important. And gives me a better idea as to exactly where my lure is.
I have been able to read the ball off and on with the latest bottom line. I talked with the bottom line manufacture and they have made several updates to the finders and it has seemed to have helped but not that great. Any one have any advice. I have tried different tranducers and locations. Still with not much luck. Will Any other fish finder
Work better as far as being able to see my downrigger ball?.
Thanks alot
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One quick reminder,, when traveling with your weight down it lags behind you. And depending on the speed your trolling and depth of the ball it so its point more in the direaction your may be a lot father behind your boat than you would imagine. My suggestion is to simply start changing the angle of your transducer slightly so its pointing back towards the ball as your trolling rather than straight below your boat..
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Try loosening up the mounting bolts or screws on your transducer so you can adjust it by hand. Take the boat out and lower the ball down to the depth you like to fish. Move the transducer from side to side and front to back carefully until you can see the ball on the screen. Try to keep it pointed straight down as much as possible and still see the ball. Tighten up the mounting bolts again after you get it adjusted. Remember, your ball will sway back when under way and may move out of the sonar cone angle. Vary your speed some to see how fast you can go before the ball disappears from the screen. You may have to adjust the transducer degree or two to look back a little more or use a heavier ball. Good Luck!
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If I remember right, Bottom Line uses a 9* cone of angle. Most other finders have a wider cone. If you follow the tips that the others have just posted, it will help.
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I too bought one of Bottomline's new fish finders, the 480 Max. I've also had problems and the last time I called them they offered to buy it back or upgrade to a better unit, the tournament 5100. I'm going to take them up on that offer but one of the things that they told me about trolling and seeing the ball was, use a bigger ball. The one they recommend is shaped like a fish and weights around 12 lbs. Of course the methods the other guys recommended are a lot cheaper. WH2
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Apparently all downriggers don't have a guage on them letting one know how much cable has been let out? That is one thing I have enjoyed about using a downrigger is to be able to look at the guage to determine the depth. I realize there can be some swing on the cable that will raise the ball some, but I believe I have gotten pretty good at compensating for that, or if I am trolling faster or deeper I will switch to one of my heavier balls. My fishfinder almost always shows the ball, and frankly I would just as soon that it didn't. It can be confusing knowing whether one is seeing fish or the downrigger ball -- so be careful what one wishes for.
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Thanks for all the advice I'll do some more experimenting.
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When my cannonball shows up on the graph it swamps out everything else and makes it very hard to see fish. I'd just as soon it didn't show up.
Hopper
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]I don't think I've seen a downrigger without a line counter? The problem with believing your line counter, as said earlier, is the ball tend to drift back from boat while moving. Your line counter may say 60 ft but in acuallity you are at a shallower depth. Sometimes by more than 10 ft![/size][/black][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][black][size 3]Go to a bigger cone angle on the tranducer and use a heavier ball, as stated earlier. My 20 deg lowrance finders sees my rigger balls just fine and defintely shows that the line counter is just a guage and not very accurate at the real depth when moving.[/size][/black][/font]
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