u/Teh_BabaOriley

Just upgraded to an HDS 9 Pro from an Elite FS 9, and used it for the first time yesterday on Lake Pepin. Seemed to work great, but saw something I'd never seen with the Elite FS. All day I noticed fish stacked in a vertical line. It didn't seem to do it with every fish, but sometimes there would be 4-5 perfectly vertical stacks of 4-6 fish on screen, with other fish just shown as singles.

Am I seeing the same fish being shown multiple times? Wind was probably 8-10 and pretty steady. The widest part of the lake had some pretty good chop, like just before white caps were about to appear. I considered maybe the rocking of the boat might be capturing multiples of the same fish. I verified scan rate was set to max. I also think I may have turned on "overlay downscan" but don't remember when. Could that cause this?

Another possibility is I discovered a small leak in my boat, and and noticed I didn't get the transducer mounted very tightly using the same board the old transducer. It wasn't necessarily flopping around loose, but there's a little flex to the board on the transom. I'll fix that before going out with it again.

Was also my first time ever using planer boards, so had a lot to focus on. It was me and another guy but only ran 2 boards to try it. It seems running 2 per side would be much more challenging, and 3 per side looks like it would be a nightmare, on Pepin at least. This guy and I probably have 40 hours trolling Pepin for Walleye since late June with only 2 Drum and A LOT of that time was spent clearing weeds. Not bottom weeds either, there's just a ton of junk floating down that river. Have tried Reefrunners, Flicker Shad, Flicker Minnows, Bandit Walleye Shad, and a few others. I'm almost wishing I'd stuck to leeches, minnows, and worms. Now I'm at a point where I'm not sure I should give up on crankbaits as the water cools down and they're supposed to move back shallower.

We tried drifting the stretch at the North end where the channel opens up to the lake with jigging raps for about an hour yesterday too with no bites.

Heard from several sources there's an overpopulation of shad this year leaving the Walleye stuffed full, but also hear some are catching Walleye just fine, so ?

Guy was hard core. 869 miles over 4 nights motocamping and riding trails in over 90 degrees. Finally someone not afraid to use it. I told him to ride it like he stole it, get it dirty, and I'd prefer to clean it myself. $6 at the carwash and still runs like a top! Thought some of you would like seeing it this way. Now go ride!

Edit: I really just posted this because I see so many pics posted of the same clean garage queen. I admit the title and pic were a bit click-baity, but I think I said enough to quell the assumption I was wronged in some way.

I've only rented it 6 times now, and always ask them not to wash it because as much as I can tell them not to put high pressure to my chain, bearings, controls, exhaust, seat, decals, etc, someone is bound to damage it. The hardest part about renting it out is consideration for damage I can't see, like clutch wear, which is why I ride it around the block when I get it back. I tell them that to get much power out of it, they'll have to be over 5000rpm, and it'll be fine all day at 8000rpm, but please not to run 8500+ down an interstate for 90 miles at a crack. I show them how the fuel cap works so they don't break the key off in it. It has a 91 octane tune, so I ask them to pump 91 no ethanol or 92 if it's all got ethanol. One of my biggest concerns is not being able to tell if they ran 87 in it, because I think it would survive it, but run hot and ping. I had to top off half a tank of 91 with 87 once to get through a stretch, and it felt like it gave me an extra 2hp, but that isn't necessarily a good thing.

Damage:

1. Someone may have used a faulty charging cable on their phone, because the usb port/volt meter came back dead. $10 on Amazon and 10 minute repair. I told them no worries, it could have just died because it was cheap.

2. Someone put a deep 3" scratch on top of the fender that I think may have been caused by another bike on the trailer. I didn't notice it for a week and probably wouldn't have mentioned it if I had.

3. This last renter stripped the cap threads on a 32oz MSR spare fuel bottle I always send with them. I think he may have muscled it off not knowing you need to press it down as you turn the cap, like a pill bottle. He gave me a muddy $20 bill and I let him keep the bottle.

I'm conscious of the cost of tire wear, but I think it evens out in the end. One renter might only put on 100 miles, another might put on 500.

Damage... If it's apparent engine damage, clutch, bent bars, forks, frame, or anything major, the insurance covers it. Yeah, it would suck to deal with, but I have refused to rent to 2 people that just came across in their profile or communication as idiots or "carefree crazy-super-awesome-fast" riders. A 21yo first time renter asking how far it'll jump gets a NO. A couple renters have just been wanting to try a 300L because they're considering buying one and only took it out for 4 hours.

As far as renting something. I was wondering if I should consider renting out my 7x14 enclosed trailer which would keep me from just letting it sit and storing crap in it, but saw on marketplace people are only charging as little as $40/day, and without having full coverage insurance on it, that isn't worth it. Chances for someone to cause damage seem even higher than with the motorcycle, repairs would most likely be more than I would want to tackle, and I don't want to have to pay commercial insurance rates. I won't be renting out my boat. Like the trailer, there's too many simple things for people to screw up on.

Funny thought I'll share on this last rental. He booked it a month before. Said he learned on an xr150 while living in Guatemala. He's rented bikes in Vietnam I think? He's a teacher in Mexico now and has a klx300 down there. He's visiting his family in Minnesota for the whole month of July. A 5 day rental to motocamp up North with about a 4 hour ride to get up there. I mentioned I probably wouldn't want to take this bike on interstate all the way up there, but figured he'd do what he's comfortable with. I asked for pics of his adventure, and he said he'd send some. On the 3rd day, with no pics yet, I wondered how things were going for him. There's wildfires up there, and it was over 90F all week. It also occured to me that when I dropped the bike off, his father came around the house and we were introduced, but I didn't remember actually seeing either of them come out of the house. After days without any updates on his trip, the thought crossed my mind, "Maybe I met this guy at a vacant house and my bike is now deep in Mexico, never to be seen again." Had to figure NO WAY, but I guess we could see how this RS insurance works lol. Turns out his iPhone camera died in the Ram mount, and signal was spotty up there. He was a really nice guy, and invited me to ride in Mexico someday.

You do meet the nicest people renting them your Honda.

Really like the idea of this but need an 8" deep version : (

I see similar ones but the footprint gets too big when they hold 60 or 72. I like the slide out cups idea on this one. Got any other ideas?

Thought this might make some druel...

Really wishing it had the SportTrak. Tried the plastic clamp-on style rod holders with the rubber on one side of the clamp, but they twist and come off with much less force than they could see hitting a snag while trolling. Losing one rod to that would have paid for better rod holders.

I see the ones with aluminum clamp surfaces, and they'd probably hold, but I imagine scratching the heck out of the gunnel with them.

I look at the better plastic versions by Cannon and Scotty. Unless I bolt/rivet their base to the hull, which would also start out with them leaned towards the outside of the boat, I'm looking at bolting those bases to the side storage. That would start them out vertically, but then I'd need the extension posts to get them up to gunnel level, and they'd be 3-5" from the outside edge. Still not ideal, and it seems like they lose a lot of strength putting a 10" extension on such a small base, but I see people do it.

Am I really going to have to drill into the hull to get something strong? I don't even know for sure where I'd want them yet, so to drill holes to mount a rod holder base doesn't sound too good. I'm surprised there isn't a clamping rod holder base that fits a standard Lund gunnel. If one was made in two pieces that fit it like a glove, it seems like it would be plenty strong. 3d printer anyone?

I guess I'm looking for your recommendations on the best solution with this gunnel. I've looked for aftermarket track, and at least with that I'd have something strong, but the prices I see for even a 3' section of extruded T track are outrageous, and there's no standard!

Ideas? Trying to avoid buying a 2nd and 3rd time to get this right.

Thanks!