Attaching A Smartcast To A Bait Boat

[mpbdsnu]

I have a mate who installed one in his microcat, and increased the range to nearer 100 metres!!! Done by extending the aerial???

 

I could put a link up, but it will be to another site, so if Elton okays it, I'll put it up.

[Jim Gibbinson]

There is an adjustment on the fish-sensor by which you can choose large, large and medium or all. Not sure what constitutes large in this context, but I would imagine that on such a setting individual small fish would be eliminated from the equation - doubtful about shoals, though.

[Polly]

Jim Gibbinson:

Re. Smartcast range. If the receiver unit is elevated a couple of feet or more above the water surface, and turned sideways on to the water (left-hand side of the unit facing the water), you'll get about 50 metres range with fresh batteries (I learned this from my son, Peter, who has a lot of experience with the Smartcast).

 

Incidentally, I mount my transducer on a short wire trace to eliminate the risk of 25 quid's worth of orange "bung" disappearing down a pike's throat! I've not had the transducer grabbed yet, but it's a risk I would imagine. The wire trace does not affect the signal.

 

It should be legal to blow bait-boats out of the water with a 12 bore.

Couldn't agree more Jim, well said mate, but I think an Excerset Missile would be better. How about creating a remote controlled Submarine with Anti Bait Boat Torpedos???

Interested to hear about extra range, now make the investment a bit more viable. Thinking about getting one for next Winter's pike campaign

[Polly]

Steve Burke:

I echo what Jim says about raising the Smartcast. I'd add that in most cases if you then lower the unit to chair height you retain the signal.

 

You definitely need to use a wire trace on the transducer if pike are present - especially in the warmer months when pike are active on the surface!

 

Steve, I don't use my Smartcast for finding fish (which of course it does do). You can't tell the species, but you can often work this out from your knowledge of the fish. BTW, if you turn the fish symbols off the raw echoes are displayed on the screen. These show a lot more detail and are more accurate, but need a bit of practice to interpret.

 

I use mine for feature finding. Here a Smartcast is invaluable, being extremely quick and easy compared with a plummet or marker float. This also means that there's less disturbance.

 

In fact, I reckoned I knew Wingham well from often being out with a boat and conventional Hummingbird fishfinder. I didn't! In an area that I thought was pretty flat I discovered a wealth of deep bars. I'd missed them from the boat because then you're on a moving platform and it's hard to visualise where features are in relation to the bank. With a Smartcast it's dead easy though!

 

I was so impressed with the Smartcasts that I bought a batch recently and sold them all almost immediately. I've just one RF10 left if anyone is interested at £160 plus post to AN members (no offers please as I can sell them very easily!). This is the European spec model and so is legal in the UK, and comes with a full warranty.

Cheaper in the States, so why do I need a European Version to be legal????????? My mate's going over next Xmas and though he might be able to bring me one back. However dont want to to break any laws.

[Steve Burke]

The wavelength of the radio control unit is different, and it's illegal to use a US model in the UK. To differentiate them, the transducers (the bit you cast) are orange on the European model, yellow/green on the US model.

[Kevin Hackett]

I've been using one for the past 6 months. The range is fine for my fishing as 50-60 metres works well with the unit raised. Its great for finding features, but it can be a little depressing if you try to use it to find fish. Most of the waters that I fish seem to have no fish in at all according to the fish finder. The problem is that the sensor beam is narrow and you have to be right over a fish for it to pick it up.

Only problem is it does not work too well in a wind as the waves rock the sensor too much.

All in all it does add a new interest to the days fishing and it has made me try surface lure fishing now as the amount of strikes by pike to the sensor is high even over 10 feet of water.

[Severn Wolf]

I love the Smartcast. Only last week I was bringing it back over a deep hole on a local lake when all of a sudden there was a splash and a swirl as a pike made a lunge for the worlds most expensive plug. Two seconds later the unit `bipped` as it informed me there was a fish right next to the sensor. Oh, the marvels of modern science! I`d have never guessed that one!!!!

 

[ 25. April 2005, 02:53 PM: Message edited by: Severn Wolf ]

[Jim Gibbinson]

Like Kevin, I'd heard that the beam was narrow and you had to pass directly over a fish for it to register - the instruction leaflet, however, says the beam is 90 degrees, which means its spread is approximately twice the depth. Notwithstanding that fact, I've found that few fish register on the scanner. Thus far I've used it on the "large and medium fish" setting - I'll try the "all fish" setting and see if that makes a difference. Not that I'm unduly concerned, the Smartcast is a superb "electronic plummet" used, as Steve recommends, in conjunction with our knowledge of fish behaviour.

 

True, it doesn't like big waves on the water - works okay in a "chop", though.

[Severn Wolf]

Jim, I had a swim on the Severn buzzing with barbel. Just as an experiment I was running the Smartcast over the area and it showed no fish whatsoever regardless of the sensitivity settings! I quite like that though, to me they are feature finders not fish finders!

[rabster]

Polly:

Polly:

 

 

It should be legal to blow bait-boats out of the water with a 12 bore.

Couldn't agree more Jim, well said mate, but I think an Excerset Missile would be better. How about creating a remote controlled Submarine with Anti Bait Boat Torpedos???

It's interesting to read the anti-baitboat comments.

 

Can you guys explain why you resent them when it would seem you use/accept another of the gadgets available in the Smartcast?

 

I don't have a baitboat or a smartcast & at the moment have no desire to own either. However, my pal has both & I've found it interesting having a dabble with them.

 

For my money I see them both as slightly unnecessary, almost like cheating (a bit like pole fishing ) but each to their own etc.

 

But why pick on one gadget & not the other????

 

(BTW Polly, that would be Exocet Oh & Jim, it probably is legal, if it's your own baitboat & you've got the appropriate licence. )

 

[ 26. April 2005, 10:14 PM: Message edited by: rabster ]