Forum | When things go wrong #2

I think they all have some glitches,my scout would sometimes pick up a stump or other structure,yet more often than not something was sitting on it.One of my very first depth finders (it came with the boat)was a paper graph,it never ever saw grass possibly due to its frequency,so replaced it,new one saw grass not was underneath it so the old one bacck on as well as it never saw the grass and gave me bottom contour and structure or cover such as a log underneath,turned out one of my best hotspots on a grass bed that was topped and very thick had a log underneath.

So a lot is how they are desinged to work,amd sometimes by accident they work better than others or in conjuction with.So can see how grass would confuse its bottom track,think then shore track would be better if one could see an actual grass line.But would love to have one,naturally it wouldnt be the only one have two up front always,one on console,and several times had three up front one being a sidefinder the other two depth,and still prfer them seperate to some degree,it is nice to straddle a feature and see the two different dpeths displayed on a screenmodern sidefinder,have one that does that now along with a total sidefinder for shallow schoolers.once found however generally turn it off as the whole screen is nothing but bliips.Sometimes they are 5 to 7 ft under the surface and not visable so it comes in handy.

Would i replace my old scout no as no modern sidefinder picks up fish 50 ft behind a barge under the lip edge or for that matter fish 5 ft deep in 60 ft of water,unless one runs over them scattering them as a result.

Biut would love a pinpoint.

I looked at those pinpoints back when…. Loved the concept but as you said motor reliability "steered" me away from'em. When I bought my new motor guide I looked at the MK that auto troll or something like that. I'm not sure how it worked GPS or sonar but I talked to the local repair guy at Fishing Tackle Unlimited and he said for what I wanted to do I wouldn't be happy with it. "IF" you have it in auto track and have to correct manually seems it kicked it out of auto track and had to be reset – among other things. When they come out with one that has "Locate feeding fish" on it AND that feature works – I'm buying one!

Yes pinpoint is the actual name,it took many years for me to find out what such improvement is,it eliminates the competetion one then incorporates what they desire out of the patents,up the price of the unit since now can be bought only there,and evenautally the brand name is completely gone.Example bottom line 5 deg sidefinder now hummingbird 20 deg and bottom line gone.

I did stock up some units like the scout ,love those things for schoolers,or stripers or finding fish way back behind a structure be a barge or dock.

Lemmie guess it went when a boat did.

Ive only had one mg do thiis,and found the large screwdriver as a pry bar did the trick along with pressing down on the motor at the same time,didnt take much to free it,and only did it a few times.

However since then have been using mk,hand control units only,also found out the mg seemed to wollow out the shear pin hole after useage,thus on that same old mg that locked up ended up drilling them even and making my own shear pins,and one control board went out,another reason im running mk anymore.

Had had quite a few brands on other boats many no longer made and outdated like 12 v,but the only other brand(once I settled on mk) ive wanted to try but could never afford is the creek track,programable,or a  remote unit ,with a nice lil pad that straps on the rod or even on a lanyard.

But since the $ is out of my area doubt if I ever get the chance,nowdays any 24 v troller that can move a 20 ft boat around is almost 1,000 bucks,creek tracks are double that.

I'm on Lake Amistad near Del Rio, Texas. I'm fishing main lake points and the wind it howling. Not enjoying much success I decide to try another location. I reach down to lift the trolling motor and it won't budge. The locking pin had shifted, again, and would not release. Having had this happen before I knew what to do. I pulled the trolling motor from the bracket and layed it on the front deck. I'm on the Mexican side of the lake and the only calm water is on the U. S. side. Sooo… I fire up and run over there.

I had some tools on the boat but I didn't have a pry bar. I encounter a couple of anglers in the cove but they didn't have anything either. Seems this shifting pin problem on MotorGuide trolling motors is a rather common problem. One of the guys in the other boat told me he had drilled holes in the plastic housing so he could center the pin when it happens.

I eventually get the pin centered using an adjustable wrench. Re-install the trolling motor and head back to the Mexican side. I fish several points, moving each time from one location to another. Then preparing to move again… the trolling motor locks down - again. Not wanting to make the trip back to the U. S. again I fire up the big engine and point to the boat out towards open water and start working to center the pin. Checking my course often I see the boat keeps heading back towards the rocky shoreline. Ka'rap….. Then I figure out what I can do… I idle the boat out into deeper water and put it into a hard left hand turn. Now I'm circling over deeper water while working to release the pin.

All told the trolling motor locked down more than a dozen times over the course of 5 days. After the first day the problem popped up I put the tire iron from my truck in the boat. This made freeing up the trolling motor bracket a much easier job by allowing me to pry the plastic shroud out enough to clear the pin and raise the bracket. Once I raised the bracket I could re-center the pin. It seems the rougher the water the more prone this problem is to crop up. I have a plan to eliminate this problem that "should" work just fine. Of course… I ain't doing it on this hunk'a'junk loaner boat. But…. While returning home on Monday I received a call from Florida informing me… my boat is ready!