To nice weather and meeting new people!

 This winter has been pretty crazy with record snow falls and temperature drops. The brutal cold has been detrimental to the residential speckled trout and redfish in the surrounding inlets and bays. Since the two times I went out in the salt I didn’t get a bite or see any active fish so during the two warm spells we had I decided to hit fresh water in hopes of catching some yellow perch, crappie, bass, or whatever bites.

My first outing after installing the fish finder was out to West Neck Creek. I met Tim from TKAA/POL out on the water. There was 2 inches of ice from the ramp to 30 yards out but it was sunny and little to no wind when I got to the ramp at Westneck Marina. There was 2 vehicles with trailers and you could see where the ice was thinner where people had launched earlier in the day. I unloaded the kayak and slid out on the ice, a few yards out and it broke and I pushed through the slush to open water. I met Tim at the bridge and we started targeting whatever was biting. Unfortunately my bad luck started out my first trip of the year with a skunk. It was a nice paddle and a lot of fun exploring a new area.  The fish finder kept going from zero feet to 300 feet in depth and wasnt showing any fish or marking contours on the bottom, I dont know if it was a low battery or a lose cable.

Pretty nice paddle.

Water was like glass with no wind.

Two days this month have been in the 60s. The first day me and BB headed out on a small local lake that has reported to have a good yellow perch bite. We got some bait from Oceans East and paddled out on Little Creek Reservoir looking for suspended fish. Yet again my bad luck was the victor and we were not able to locate any fish, and after talking to several other kayakers and boaters not a fish was caught that day on the whole lake. I don’t know if the cold freeze had any effect on this lake, the deepest part I marked on the depth finder was 10 feet, and the majority of the lake was in the four to five foot range.  The depth finder wasnt jumping and was displaying the contours of the bottom and structure so hopefully charging the battery was the fix!
 

BB being goofy with a self photo (she thought she looked cool with sunglasses on.)

BB really liked this pic of her Werner Camano reflected off the water.

The second outing was with a few Pirates of Lynnhaven anglers. I got a few tips from a local guru and headed down to Lake Meade in Suffolk hoping to find some yellow perch for the fryer. I met Joe, Joe, and Ski out in Chesapeake and we caravanned to the lake. Once we got to the bait shop I met Joe from TKAA and we unloaded the kayaks. The weather was amazing and all of our hopes were up for a good day of fishing. Paddle over here, paddle over there, casting near, and casting far not a fish was caught except a small pickerel by Ski. I wasn’t close enough to see how big it measured, and im sure by the time im writing this it has quadrupled in size so ill leave him to tell the tail of catch. Luckily I enjoy paddling as much as I do fishing or I would be pursuing the wrong hobby. I just hope my bad luck and skunk smell isn’t rubbing off on people I fish with, as I do enjoy the company!

Yar! The Pirate Fleet rolls out!

Ski and Joe got their kayaks unloaded and ready to go.

There are two many Joes in this picture.

The damn between lake Cahoon and Meade is pretty awesome.

Gorgeous day on the water.

One final try at the dam before we called it a day.

Ocean Kayak Trident 13 Fish Finder Install.

The weather lately has been terrible. Temperatures dropping into the teens and wind gusts up to 20 mph have kept me inside and not on the water. I reorganized my tackle boxes and then decided to do something constructive. I have been waiting on drilling any holes into my kayak until I was sure where I liked everything and since the Trident came with rod holders and storage I didnt really need to. I did alot of research on different locations and ways to install a fish finder on a kayak and decided that the standard and designed way would be best. I started out by getting the correct transducer for the Trident series. Luckily the fish finder I already had for use on jon boats and rental boats was compatible, Humminbird PiranhaMAX 175 which came with the standard transom mount transducer. I could have installed it in the hull and got accurate readings of depth and structure but I wanted to take full advantage of the different features like temperature so I purchased the thru hull transducer that fits directly in the port side scupper hole and is secured with a plastic nut. Also ill still have the ability to use the standard transducer should I go out on a jon boat or rental boat in the future.
Materials I used and made sure I had handy.
1 tube of marine grade Goop
Antiseize grease
Cordless drill +bit set
Exacto knife
Zip ties
Shrink wrap
Wire strippers/cutters
Lighter
Solid core copper wire 20
Battery terminal clips M/F

The first thing I needed to do was install the bracket for the head unit of the fish finder. The Trident series kayaks have a compartment designed with a splash guard at the bow and after playing around with different positions I decided this is where I would install mine. I started out by tracing the base centered and marking where the holes would be. I drilled the 4 screw holes smaller than the bolts for a tighter fit. Then I put a drop of goop on each screw hole, and around the base to create a seal, to keep any water out of the kayak. I then installed the 4 stainless screws. On the back side I coated the bolts with antiseize grease and tightened down nuts with lock washers. This will keep the bolts from corroding in the future. 

Fish finder mount under splash guard.

Once the bracket was installed I began drilling for the cords, I was trying to fit both of them in 1 hole in the center of the mount but this didnt allow free movement of the display so I drilled 2 holes about 2 inches away from the base. Once the holes were drilled I cleaned them up with an exacto knife.

I had to take a break here to build a power cable for the fish finder. The original cable was designed for the batter to be right beside the unit, and I wanted to use the battery box in the hull of the kayak so I had to add about 3 feet of wire. Luckily as an electronics technician this was a pretty simple task.
 First I got the wire adapters that fit on the batter and the existing power cord. I measured the necessary distance and cut the 2 pieces of wire. I slid shrink wrap onto the wire and crimped on the adapters. Then I slid the shrink wrap over and melted it with a lighter.
Once the cable was built I continued by installing the transducer and tightening down the plastic nut. Unfortunately this transducer is also used on power boats so it includes a very long cable. I routed the cable through the hole drilled and wrapped up the excess and secured it with zip ties above the battery box. I next routed the power cord and zip tied it out of the way of the hatch.
With the cables routed and secured I installed the head unit and connected the cables. I then applied goop to the holes to seal them. I didnt do a pretty job on the sealant but its water tight and thats all that matters!

Power cord construction.

Sealed and shrink wrapped.

Not too pretty but it gets the job done.

Transducer installed in conveniently designed scupper.

Extra cable stowed away.

Power cable tucked away and secured.

All sealed up.

Under the splash guard with full movement to stow.