DeepSouthTX
Furuno Fan
I am doing some research for a boat purchase. Fishing the Gulf of Mexico. 40 to 50 miles to the continental shelf. Flat sand/mud/clay bottom with small rock formations and wrecks. Both rock formations and wrecks can be anywhere from 5 to 25 feet in height off of the bottom and in depths from 50ft out to 400ft after than drops off quickly. When running out I am always looking for unknown structure and fish. Alot of area. In the past I had a Garmin GT51M (sidescan) thru hull in a little express. At a 20knt cruise I could identify larger rocks and wrecks. And also rock or hard bottom would be somewhat identifiable given the strength of the return. Didn't mark fish for Sh** but thats known given the frequency. At a 7 to 8 knot troll it gave a clear picture of the bottom out to a little over 300ft. Also at the time (5 or 6 years ago) the Garmin system was unable to actually mark structure from the sidescan screen. you could put the crosshairs on the structure out to port side for instance but the mark always just marked right under the boat like hitting MOB. After many calls and emails they reluctantly told me that feature was not enabled because NAVICO (cant remember exactly but believe thats what they told me) had a patent on it and their was litigation or something along those lines. I read the other day that this is not longer the case. If someone here could confirm that would be nice, read it in a forum, nothing official. All that being said here is the question. A chirp HW transducer seems a little redundant to me if you had a DFF3D. Or is there some advantages to something like a 275HW or 175HW? For the type of prospecting I referenced above what would experienced users suggest? I would think the combo of a DFF3D along with something like a 265LH would be the ticket. But that depends. Is the DFF3D able to mark moderate size schools of fish and or rocks and wrecks at a 20knot cruise? Or even at an 8knt troll? I read the other thread but these users were looking for small 1ft ledges I believe. And I get that wider cones are not good at illuminating these small bottom reliefs. This is a different scenario. Any experience or suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you