Minnkota ipilot humminbird GPS trolling

[eric2381]

Hello.

I have a Lund 1650 Fisherman and a Marathon 18' sport lite river boat. Both of my fish finders/depth finders in the two boats aren't working and I'd like to upgrade them. What I'd like to do is spend the money on a good Humminbird and bounce the head unit between my two boats.

I fish southern Ab in the reservoirs and the south sask river. I like bottom bouncing for walleye in the reservoirs and I also like to troll for pike.

I'm tired of constantly fighting the wind in the boat and going out of the depth I want to be in.

I understand with the 800 series and up humminbird finders and the Ipilot system, and Navionics and if your waterbody is on Navionics, I could set it to troll at a certain depth and a certain speed and it'll just go on its own, leaving me free to drink coffee and talk to my kids or buddies instead of fighting the boat and wind all the time. And it's got an anchor feature that I could engage once a fish is on.

How many guys run this set up?

I don't have to be able to bounce the motor over to the river boat, but it would be nice. Bottom bounce a few eddies in the river. And Lindy rigging.

Do I need the Ipilot or the Ipilot Link?

Any help or advice would be great.

Thanks, Eric.

[Winch101]

But the rig you speak of Bird -I pilot etc is the greatest invention
Since the pickerel rig lol.

I fish with a guy on here who has that exact set up
And when and if I buy another boat I wouldn't have
Anything else . Fantastic for south ab river fishing .

Likely he will see this and comment .

[bwackwabbit]

I am in the process of setting this up right now.

This document has been very helpful...

http://www.minnkotamotors.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=1490

Also as you can see it must be a Humminbird Lakemaster or Autochart card rather than Navionics. Can anyone confirm this?

[stob]

agreed to all of the above .. also consider a program-able cannon downrigger

[PerchBuster]

I run the this whole set up on my boat and I can tell you it's fantastic. You need iPilot Link to have full capability. You buy Autochart Pro and then you can start mapping and creating your own bottom contour maps of any uncharted waters. Once you do that you can start locking on and following specific depths hands free. It also has iTracks in which you can repeat a trolling path of up to like maybe 3 km or so over and over again. You can store some iTracks so that you can come back to the lake a number of times and use the same trolling paths again. Autopilot is basically just point the boat on your desired heading and iPilot will stay on it. Spot lock is a great feature to use when you mark fish or bait or structure and then you can mark it as a waypoint on your GPS Humminbird unit. If you buy 2 motor mounts, 2 gimble brackets, 2 transducers and sets of cables you can easily set it up so that you can run the motor and head unit on 2 different boats. I am in the process of adding this to a second boat also. You also have the handheld remote and foot pedal up front to Use to make any steering corrections while in any of those modes.

[deschambault]

I agree with all of this. It took me a while to get it all working together but it is fantastic. You can set a route on another type of map but the most exciting way to use this unit is after you have created an autochart map of your reservoir. You can then follow contours or build routes on screen and follow them. By the way, Navionics coverage is quite spotty for southern reservoirs. They finally have an outline map only of Crawling Valley - last year it was still 2 little blobs of Barkenhouse Lake.

[RavYak]

Don't rely on navionics etc, those maps are practically useless here.

Nothing is more frustrating to me then my horribly inaccurate navionics maps... How they ever mapped these lakes so poorly I will never understand.

[cube]

Hello.



I fish southern Ab in the reservoirs and the south sask river. I like bottom bouncing for walleye in the reservoirs and I also like to troll for pike.

I'm tired of constantly fighting the wind in the boat and going out of the depth I want to be in.

I understand with the 800 series and up humminbird finders and the Ipilot system, and Navionics and if your waterbody is on Navionics, I could set it to troll at a certain depth and a certain speed and it'll just go on its own, leaving me free to drink coffee and talk to my kids or buddies instead of fighting the boat and wind all the time. And it's got an anchor feature that I could engage once a fish is on.

How many guys run this set up?

I don't have to be able to bounce the motor over to the river boat, but it would be nice. Bottom bounce a few eddies in the river. And Lindy rigging.

Do I need the Ipilot or the Ipilot Link?

Any help or advice would be great.

Thanks, Eric.

Moving the motor over to your river boat would probably be a bit of a pain and depending on the level of current might not work for as long as you expect/want. If it has lots of current or wind you would probably want the 36 volt (3 battery system) both for fighting the current and also for lasting more than just a couple of hours.

It takes a lot of juice to fight current so that means you would have to move over not only the motor but also 3 batteries ,hence, the weight and time would not be insignificant.

That being said I would get the Ipilot Link and the software to do my own mapping.

[eric2381]

Thanks everybody.

So what I'm gathering, is I have to have the Ipilot Link, not just the Ipilot. And Navionics is pretty much useless??

Am I going to have to do a troll manually, save it and keep trolling that line? Or is it possible to just set it for depth and speed and away it goes? Say I'm trolling at 30' at 1.5mph, and I'm not catching fish but I'm marking them at 26', can I change my setting to 26' and 1.5mph and away it goes for me??

Thanks.

[eric2381]

http://www.humminbird.com/Category/Technology/Autochart/


With the autochart, I should be able to travel my favorite holes on the river and load that data into my PC and then into my humminbird and it'll be able to auto troll the eddies I like to fish? And the same for lakes that may not be listed on the Navionics??





Thanks again

[eric2381]

Moving the motor over to your river boat would probably be a bit of a pain and depending on the level of current might not work for as long as you expect/want. If it has lots of current or wind you would probably want the 36 volt (3 battery system) both for fighting the current and also for lasting more than just a couple of hours.

It takes a lot of juice to fight current so that means you would have to move over not only the motor but also 3 batteries ,hence, the weight and time would not be insignificant.

That being said I would get the Ipilot Link and the software to do my own mapping.


Thanks. This makes good sense. If the mounts are available for the motor and I would have to move the peddle and motor and batteries a few times to see if I like it on the river or not, if it is a pain in the ass, I could maybe use the same mount and get a second motor in the future and just keep bouncing my finder unit head back and forth.

Thanks

[dodger]

I run the this whole set up on my boat and I can tell you it's fantastic. You need iPilot Link to have full capability. You buy Autochart Pro and then you can start mapping and creating your own bottom contour maps of any uncharted waters. Once you do that you can start locking on and following specific depths hands free. It also has iTracks in which you can repeat a trolling path of up to like maybe 3 km or so over and over again. You can store some iTracks so that you can come back to the lake a number of times and use the same trolling paths again. Autopilot is basically just point the boat on your desired heading and iPilot will stay on it. Spot lock is a great feature to use when you mark fish or bait or structure and then you can mark it as a waypoint on your GPS Humminbird unit. If you buy 2 motor mounts, 2 gimble brackets, 2 transducers and sets of cables you can easily set it up so that you can run the motor and head unit on 2 different boats. I am in the process of adding this to a second boat also. You also have the handheld remote and foot pedal up front to Use to make any steering corrections while in any of those modes.

This says it all.
Dodger.

[RavYak]

Navionics isn't completely useless, it will give you an idea of the odd interesting spot to try out. That said it isn't much more useful then printing out a paper version before going out because often times the humps/dropoffs are not shown in right spots and the depths are all out of whack making follow the contour impossible.

Autochart or insight genesis seem to be the only ways to get accurate charts here in AB.

[EZM]

I have this set up - I would not own a boat without it.

It is the cat's meow.

Pair that up with Autochart PRO and you can map your routes along structure - another "I can't live without" gadget.

[RavYak]

Just to make people aware there is actually a better setup now available. Use i-pilot link and a Humminbird Onix fish finder with their new autochart live.

It is similar to autochart but creates the maps automatically while you fish instead of having to take the data home and process it.

Self mapping seems like the only way to go now a days if you want true coverage. Only issue is that you have to map an entire lake if you want to find all its hidden gems.

[PerchBuster]

Just to make people aware there is actually a better setup now available. Use i-pilot link and a Humminbird Onix fish finder with their new autochart live.

It is similar to autochart but creates the maps automatically while you fish instead of having to take the data home and process it.

Self mapping seems like the only way to go now a days if you want true coverage. Only issue is that you have to map an entire lake if you want to find all its hidden gems.

Agreed! Still pretty expensive though in comparison. Maybe in a couple seasons price will be down and I will get a chance to upgrade to Onix.

[deschambault]

Absolutely, I have the Onix and have spent the summer on several lakes doing the live mapping and won't ever now give it up. I wondered about the capacity on the card and now believe I could map every spot I fish without coming close to max out.

[EZM]

Absolutely, I have the Onix and have spent the summer on several lakes doing the live mapping and won't ever now give it up. I wondered about the capacity on the card and now believe I could map every spot I fish without coming close to max out.

I also run a few head units including a ONIX 10 and some 858's - You can store lakes on a SD card by geographical areas, names, whatever. You can really ever run out of space. I was thinking of *(when the time comes) to get a $200 (solid state) mass storage drive and mount it up in the glove box or tucked under the dash.

I use the 858 on the console beside the ONIX to give me visibility to Navionics charts so I can get close to the structure so that I can find/map new areas. The zero lines, of course, don't give you that when starting out your maps.

The space on the internal card is huge - as I've done a whole summer of mapping on 20-30 trips and have plenty of space. I think, based on how it compresses and stores the data it, we figured it out to about 5000 hours of mapping.

So - we will probably not need to add a card for a few years yet.

Really, the point is mapping the shoreline and general mid lake structure. I don't try and map the miles of featureless middle of the lake areas - there really is no point in my mind.

[eric2381]

To use autochart to chart your fishing areas, you don't have to do the lake shore to shore for it to be accurate? Just the shorelines and areas you want to fish and it'll auto troll for you once it's set up??

Thanks.

[PerchBuster]

To use autochart to chart your fishing areas, you don't have to do the lake shore to shore for it to be accurate? Just the shorelines and areas you want to fish and it'll auto troll for you once it's set up??

Thanks.

Correct.....you can simply map the areas you like to fish or areas you may be interested in fishing you do not have to map the entire lake. It's also possible that if a few guys got together and mapped different portions of the lake all with Autochart you could share the data and end up with a fully mapped lake for all to use. Cool huh?

[eric2381]

Yes. I like the sounds of this.

[bwackwabbit]

I plan to use my existing navionics chip to "suggest" interesting structure points and then Autochart Pro to accurately map them.

Then I can use the contour feature to allow me to focus on presentation and speed variance to maximize my catch rate.

But I love all the gadgets so it'll be fun no matter what.

[Legend Boats]

The 800 series from Humminbird will do the trick if it’s tied into a iPilot and i-Pilot Link. This will give you the best of both worlds. You can track a course and reply that info to the Trolling motor or select a waypoint to head to. My recommendation for your Lund is a 55lb. trust but if you can swing it. The 80lb. 60” shaft is the cream of the crop for your boat. But make sure your wiring can handle the 24V system. I believe Minn Kota does sell the iPilot Link with the Terrova units pre installed. Happy Installing
Cheers, Henry Nguyen - Legend Boats

[huntsfurfish]

Go 80lb thrust, you wont regret it.

You might also want to consider an xi5 from motorguide and lowrance finders.:)

[EZM]

The 800 series from Humminbird will do the trick if it’s tied into a iPilot and i-Pilot Link. This will give you the best of both worlds. You can track a course and reply that info to the Trolling motor or select a waypoint to head to. My recommendation for your Lund is a 55lb. trust but if you can swing it. The 80lb. 60” shaft is the cream of the crop for your boat. But make sure your wiring can handle the 24V system. I believe Minn Kota does sell the iPilot Link with the Terrova units pre installed. Happy Installing
Cheers, Henry Nguyen - Legend Boats

I wouldn't bother with a 55 thrust on a nice deep v boat like the Lund.

The 55 thrust units are ok for smooth water only on a boat like that. The 55 thrust models - are simply not capable of keeping you on track in with a little chop, and will suck your 12v battery dry in 6 hours.

Go to a 80 thrust - 24 v system and don't look back and have no regrets.

Regarding wiring - Going up to a 24v system is no issues in a Lund. You will have a harness capable of running a 24v system on board (unlike cheaper boat brands who use cheap crap under every hatch and you have to be concerned with wiring in any accessory beyond a $50 fish finder).