I am a newbee to deep dropping

[OSPREY II]

I am looking forward to deep dropping in the Bahamas. I will be fishing out of Treasuer Cay, Abacos. Having never deep dropped, I have been working in the blind but have picked up a lot of info on this fourm. One? I have. Is a depth finder nessary or can you go by Lat/Lon on GPS? If finder is needed who's works at 2000'+ depths? I will be using a Kristal 621 w/180#. braded

Bob

[islandshark633]

depth finders that read that deep are lovely to have but far from necessary, GPS to re-locate a hot drop is far more valuable to me.

use charts to locate likely areas or better ask locally for GPS numbers, Bahamians can be cagey about giving out the real honey holes though.

I use a carpet bombing technique where I will make a string of drops from shallow to deep, if nothing after 5 mins on the bottom, move a ways down the drop off and try again.

read my article in the latest SFSF mag

[jerry]

Not sure about the Bahamas but here in Jamaica a good depth finder is a MUST. Not only do we target different species at different depths, but if fish are biting in a certain depth, we use that same depth when we change spots.
Granted our fish may not be as plentiful as the Bahamas but I would be lost without my depth recorder for trolling as well as deep dropping. We are not fishing an edge but fish offshore banks that are pretty much vertical.
On my boat I have a Furuno 582L. It may not show the fish as more powerful machines will but I read depths up to 3000ft.
I would not fish without it.

[wackme]

i have a furno 1100 cc it reads up to 3000 like jerrys, but if you really want to get techniqual look into a transducer that will really give you what you need. i think 3000 is the most you can get for a recreational fishfinder.

[OSPREY II]

I have been looking at the SIMRAD ES60 Split Beam w/ 3kw ducer. Its all starting to get a little crazy. The GPS and a standard fishfinder is looking better all the time.

Bob

Way to much equipment involved. Going the Furuno route.

[quack quack]

Get a sounder that will work to at least 1500ft. Gps#s are a good starting point but most of my really good spots I found with a fish finder.When I fish someone Else's#s for the first time I always make a lot of big circles in the area looking for other productive bottom. It does not matter which machine you use as much as good transducer mounting. No prop wash or hull drag is very important. A good combo unit with proper transducer mounting should get the job done.

[jerry]

The power of the unit all depends on what you want. A 1kw unit with a 1kw ducer will not mark fish in deep water nor on bumpy days in my experience.
Thats the power of my unit and ducer and I can only mark fish with reliabilty in shallow drops, 2-400ft. Anything over that and its drop and see what happens.
To reallly mark fish I would recomend a 2-3kw.
What QQ said about ducer placement is not only dead on but critical to the performance of any combination.

[OSPREY II]

Thanks for the input. My electronics guy has talked me into a Furuno & 2KW ducer. He is telling me 2500+ no problem. All his work in the past has been dead on.
We'll see!!

BB irat:

Well the 2kw will work but the cost to install is over the top. Back to the drawing board.

It would be great if WC could lay one up during the sponson construction. irat: