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I finally got some time to take out the new ProAngler, which I bought back in January. Ok, ok, so a lot of time went into rigging and into work this spring. However, I must say it was worth the time and effort. It was a rough day with much wind, so I thought this would be a good test. I did troll two lines, with no fish, but today was not really about fishing. It was more about getting everything adjusted. The Torqueedo works just fine. I got some more speed than with my former trolling motor, topped out at about 5.5mph. Most of the day I was pushing against the wind and chop, so the motor was pushed a bit. That may be the reason that I was not overly impressed with the run time of the battery. I have two more batteries on order, so it was what I expected. However, with better conditions, I expect better run times. I used full throttle to get out to where I start trolling. That really uses up some power. When trolling at 3.3mph the battery drain was much better. Again, with the wind and waves, I had to push the battery in order to maintain trolling speed. All in all it is a great set up.
I did get more contour lines with the Fish N' Chip, than what I had gotten with my 385. Possibly that is due to the larger screen on the 597. I used the down imaging for a while and was not that impressed. The bay is essentially like a flat waste land on the bottom. So the DI was not in its best environment. It is pretty much what I expected. I went back to the older view. I am used to reading the fish and images that way. All in all the 597 CiDI is very nice. However, as with the 385, the 597, with the Fish N' Chip will be great for trolling along contour lines. There is no guess work, you just follow right along the drop off.
The gear track by YakAttack is also very nice. I can get into the kayak and then move front trolling rod holders back to the rear in easy reach. A very nice rig.
With all the talk of through the hull mounting of transducers, I was very happy with Liberator drop down arm for the transducer. It worked great. I had installed it as a temporary set up, until deciding on a permanent mount, but hey, it may now be permanent. Everything worked out great. The ProAngler is a very comfortable boat. There is so much room for tackle, gear and beer. The last two hours, I just floated around Duvall Creek drinking beer. I kind of wished I had taken some bait out with me.
I had installed the bunks that Hobie makes for the Trailex trailer. It made launching and retrieving the boat so much easier, just haul it up.
Anyway, enough about my 3 hour tour. Now that things have been tested, I think tomorrow I am heading out to Harpers Ferry for some smallmouth fishing. I just needed some time to get started. For me fishing the bay is a brief spring event, then some fresh water fishing, some chumming, some crabbing and then the real fishing in the fall. With this little fishing machine, it should be a good year.
I did get more contour lines with the Fish N' Chip, than what I had gotten with my 385. Possibly that is due to the larger screen on the 597. I used the down imaging for a while and was not that impressed. The bay is essentially like a flat waste land on the bottom. So the DI was not in its best environment. It is pretty much what I expected. I went back to the older view. I am used to reading the fish and images that way. All in all the 597 CiDI is very nice. However, as with the 385, the 597, with the Fish N' Chip will be great for trolling along contour lines. There is no guess work, you just follow right along the drop off.
The gear track by YakAttack is also very nice. I can get into the kayak and then move front trolling rod holders back to the rear in easy reach. A very nice rig.
With all the talk of through the hull mounting of transducers, I was very happy with Liberator drop down arm for the transducer. It worked great. I had installed it as a temporary set up, until deciding on a permanent mount, but hey, it may now be permanent. Everything worked out great. The ProAngler is a very comfortable boat. There is so much room for tackle, gear and beer. The last two hours, I just floated around Duvall Creek drinking beer. I kind of wished I had taken some bait out with me.
I had installed the bunks that Hobie makes for the Trailex trailer. It made launching and retrieving the boat so much easier, just haul it up.
Anyway, enough about my 3 hour tour. Now that things have been tested, I think tomorrow I am heading out to Harpers Ferry for some smallmouth fishing. I just needed some time to get started. For me fishing the bay is a brief spring event, then some fresh water fishing, some chumming, some crabbing and then the real fishing in the fall. With this little fishing machine, it should be a good year.
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