5/29 BBI on a jetski

copperz

Did not want to deal with the crowd so waited till 5pm to go out for a few hours on my ski.
Cleared the inlet and sucked up seaweed into the jet. Had to limp back to beach and clear it.
Ran east and used my phone go kind of figure out where I was. Dropped vertical jig and got a small BFT on first drop.
The current was ripping and the 2nd drop, the jig did not come up correctly. 3rd drop got some kind of jack. I tried to go back to my original spot but the phone app was acting up, showing that I was not moving. By this point I was discombobulated so just went south east into deeper water. First drop in new spot and another BFT but way bigger. By the time I got it into the ski I already moved a lot and it seemed like I was in 60ft of water based on my jig hitting the bottom very fast. Took me 2 drops to figure that out and then I hooked up to the bottom and lost my jig.
Wish the ski had a depth sounder :USA

gmcc

I fish from a jet ski on a lake up north with the same problem. I have looked at the Bobber wireless depth/fish finder but have not picked one up yet. Anyone have any experience with one?

JIMinPB

That's pretty good action for a guy working off a jet ski with no bottom finder. What kind of jig were you using?

As for those bobber type depth finder things, I had one back about 15 years ago. It worked OK if you kept it in flat water. When the waves knocked it around, it just didn't know where it was anymore.

copperz

It was the 3rd one from the left 4oz

gmcc

Good info about the waves, thanks

b1gdog83

I use a hand held depth finder on my inflatable boat. I used it for 3 years and it works great up until 200 ft. $75 at West Marine. NORCROSS MARINE
H22PX Handheld Depthfinder

brianb

Good job.
I recommend the next thing you do after reading this post is purchase the Navionics app for your phone.

copperz

When your on a ski in 1- 2 ft chop wet hands and covered in fish blood and slime, the last thing you want to do is handle your phone. I have the garmin app and Navionics app. I think Im going to install one of those 4 inch garmin units. However, I am worried about the battery drain.

I must say thought to clean the ski it took me 10 -15 mins. To clean the boat it takes hours. So I will probably be taking out the ski more often.

JIMinPB

3" depth finders can be found for about $100. A 4" unit with both bottom reading & navigation can be found for as little as $200 on sale. Those small units generally only draw around 1-2 amps unless you swap out the original transducer for something that is honking powerful. I can't imagine needing a big transducer on a jet ski. The standard transducers are usually good out to around 500-700 feet, depending on conditions.

A 7 amp-hour gel cell battery was enough to power a 3" unit for an average day of fishing on my kayak. I tried a smaller battery before that & was limited to only a few hours of use. I don't remember the size of the smaller battery that I tried first.

I don't know how much DC power the average jet ski puts out or how big of a battery they normally carry. I'd actually be interested to know that if you happen to have that info handy. I would be surprised if they didn't have an extra 2 amps available for accessories, but that is just an unfounded expectation on my part.

JIMinPB

A 4" Garmin ecomap draws 5 watts ( 1/2 amp) according to their spec sheet - https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/577149#specs They come from the factory with a 3-amp fuse installed.

copperz

This is the battery that is in my ski:
https://www.batteriesplus.com/battery/personal-watercraft/yamaha/gp-1300r/1300/1300cc/2007/cyl10017

I was looking at the 4" garmin echo map, that states 5 watts. not sure how to compute that though.

JIMinPB

A 16L-BS is usually a 14 amp-hour battery. That is plenty to keep a 5 watt load going all day, even if the ski isn't running.

Watts = volts x amps

watts/volts = amps

5 watts / 12 volts = 0.42 amps

Expect a 0.42 amp draw if the 5 watt number is accurate. A 0.42 amp draw should be no problem.

The battery you listed is an AGM type. Those have a very high acceptance rate & are known to beat the snot out of charging systems that were designed for normal flooded type lead/acid batteries. If the AGM was standard from the factory, then your ski probably has a pretty beefy charging system.

JIMinPB

copperz wrote: »

I was looking at the 4" garmin echo map

Those are on sale today & tomorrow at West for like 1/3 off regular price.

copperz

Great info, thank you very much Jim. Unfortunately I did not see the sale.