Eagle Cuda 168

[blackhawkmt]

busu, i only have a 13ft boat so i guess i will never exceed the limit of the cuda (or so i hope)   but thanks for your input.

Ciappinu,  i have now bought this fish finder and will try to install it tonight and see how it goes.....    thanks for you help mate!

[busumark]

i also have a 14ft boat but sometimes i fish in 400mtrs

[blackhawkmt]

400m   wow!!!  how far out? and where...if i may ask?

[bigboy]

Very Happy and yes, still working fine perfectly fine. For speed however you will need a GPS. All the fish finder shows you is depth and Temperature. It also gives you an indication of what it looks like below your boat, such as bottom, fish, etc....

I have an Raymarine Apelco 350 fish finder and it also gives me the speed of the boat a it has a paddle wheel at the back. It reads up to 250Fa.

[ciappinu]

Although I do occasionaly fish in waters deeper than 200 metres (Western side is very deep, 2 miles away from filfla area is 400 metres), I would not be bottom fishing, so depth would not interest me much. When fishing for dentex, I fish reef edges, and would rarely venture more than 100 metres.

I fixed my eagle cuda on a 13 foot scorpion, which is like a bahri. The transducer I fitted at the back outside, in line with the bottom of the boat, half way between the side of the boat and the prop.

Take care of the transducer as if you damage it, its quite expensive.

[suffrun]

GPS.

Am interested to buy a hand held GPS with Maltese islands marine chart. Any kind of information regarding hand held GPS  will be appreciated as I'm totally ignorant on the subject! Would it be a good idea to buy one over the internet?

[skip]

From Garmin, B/W GPSMAP 76 or colour GPSMAP 76Cx

I can recommend www.jgtech.co.uk

But when you start wanting mapping on a hand held unit the price goes up and choice is relatively restricted. If you buy from the UK/Europe the basemap will at least be European not USA.

Lowrance H20 b/w or H20 C Colour, seems to accept Navionics maps as well. The H20 C is ?229 !!
Both these models take Navionics Gold and Classic Maps on MMC format

Or the Lowrance iFinder Expedition C (Colour) seems to be better reviewed that the H20C

[busumark]

on the west side from 6 mls out it becomes very deep

[ciappinu]

With regards to GPS, I bought a Garmin Etrex Legend a couple of years ago. I haven't loaded Blue Chart on yet, and I doubt I will. I am very happy as I am. I have a base map of Malta, so at any time I can know how far out from land I am. It gives me location, speed, saved locations, track back to a spot, etc... For Lm65 it was a bargain.

[suffrun]

Hi Skip and Ciappinu,

Thanks for your prompt reply (and link).

One other question I would like to add is what is a Base map? Does a base map show the different levels of the bottom of the sea? Excuse me but I'm not a technical person and this subject is totally foreign to me.

regards,

suffrun.

[blackhawkmt]

i am also very new to gps but as far as i know a base map is the map that is shipped built in to the gps device.

however i am sure that skip or anyone else who is into this kind of stuff can explain in further detail.

[ciappinu]

Thats right, for example the eTrex Legen comes with a basemap that just outlines the coast of malta, showing names of main cities such as Valletta, Rabat, etc.... For more details, such as depth and reefs, you will need to purchase the charts extra and load them on the unit. Garmin have Blue Chart, which uploads on the GPS.

So if you are buying a GPS, make sure that you can load Blue Chart (If its a garmin). I personally suggest Garmin for a boat.

[busumark]

i think only garmin have the blue chart. i dont know exactly what it is. i think it gives more accurate readings of the bottom or it gives you 3D view of the bottom. maybe someone knows and can explain to us

[DJS]

I have a Garmin and bought the blue chart add-on (which is a small chip that you can plug into the unit). I believe you can also by it on CD and download it directly from a PC.

The blue chart is very useful and full of information such as land and sea place names, sea bed levels, contours, reefs, locsation of fishfarms, cardinal buoys, protected areas etc. Interesting to note that when I transferred the coordinates of some of my fishing 'hotspots' from another GPS which doesn't have a chart feature, I realised that most of them are located right on the edge of a reef. 

[skip]

Garmin do the Bluemap, others use Navionics, their Gold series considered to be some of the best electronic charts.

They are simply electronic charts, Navionics classic has basic details, gold is like a std chart, and platinum contains lots of additional info, 3D bottom views etc.

Don't think std bluechart contains 3D bottom.