Author Topic: Garmin Striker Questions  (Read 2532 times)

Offline DerekF_17

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Garmin Striker Questions
« on: Feb 13, 2018, 04:39 PM »
Hi all, especially those with experience ice fishing deeper water.

I have the Garmin Striker 4,  and I've had success using it as a flasher in waters up to 40 feet deep. This weekend I tried jigging up some lakers in 80 fow, and my jig disappears after about 45 feet deep. I had the gain up as high as it could go, 200 MHz, and was using some sizable jigs (.75 oz Swedish pimples).  Any suggestions on what I might be doing wrong? Or is it just a limitation of this unit? Would a dedicated ice flasher (ie Vexilar) easily pick up this jig at this depth?

Perhaps related, perhaps not, but I have another question for this unit: I've noticed the surface noise seems very bad, with a ton of red for the first 6-9 feet. I can knock most of it out with the surface noise option, but then I'm worried I'm missing fish suspended near the ice.  Any suggestions here?

Thanks in advance,
Derek

Offline Stickhick86

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #1 on: Feb 13, 2018, 04:41 PM »
Try switching the MHz. The 200 is to wide of a cone for that depth
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to ice fish, have his wife mad for ever.

Offline Stickhick86

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #2 on: Feb 13, 2018, 04:52 PM »
Also are you running on flasher mode or traditional. I have found with my striker 4, I prefer to just run on traditional so you have a brief history of what is going on down there. Move the scroll speed to ultra and you should be good to go.
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to ice fish, have his wife mad for ever.

Offline Piltzviller

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #3 on: Feb 13, 2018, 07:29 PM »
On mine, I use the tradtional mode, but with the side flasher on the screen, Which has helped a lot

Offline DerekF_17

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #4 on: Feb 13, 2018, 07:33 PM »
The only options are 80khz and 200. 80 would be wider

And I tried both flasher and traditional. I too like the history, but still don’t see my jig below 45

Offline nickd

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #5 on: Feb 13, 2018, 07:37 PM »
I've only had mine for a couple weeks, and no deeper than 30 feet yet, but is it possible the transducer is not completely flat? I've found that just one click one way or the other makes a large difference with mine with how clear the jig shows up. 

Offline Stickhick86

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #6 on: Feb 13, 2018, 07:43 PM »
Mine is 75 and 200 and in the manual I printed off the internet, it said to use the 75 in deeper water
Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to ice fish, have his wife mad for ever.

Offline stripernut

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #7 on: Feb 13, 2018, 08:13 PM »
Make sure your transducer is level, if not you can miss your jig. I use a Garmin 300C and watch my jigs (3-4 ozs) in 200-300 feet of water...

Offline porkpiehat

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #8 on: Feb 13, 2018, 10:33 PM »
my buddy has the striker 4 which he used last weekend. I have a humminbird decicated ice 35. Mine performed much better regardless of the settings he used. I think there are limitations to the open water ff regardless of their ice fishing modes.

Mine still has problems performing well at depths over 60 ft. I will probably upgrade to the vex fl-18 as it works great vertical jigging in august for lakers while my humminbird is useless.

Of note I bought the deeper pro sonar bobber for other uses and it's flasher mode works just as well as my ice 35 up to 50 ft haven't tried deeper

Offline RapShack

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #9 on: Feb 14, 2018, 01:02 AM »
The Striker 4 is a little anemic when it comes to deep water but you should be able to see a 3/4oz Pimple that deep.  My first thought would be your transducer isn't hanging quite right. Easiest way to test it is to switch it over to the wide beam and see if you can see the jig then.  If there's any sort of current that can blow the jig outside the coverage area as well.  Can't say I've ever had any real problems with surface clutter like you're describing but it will increase with gain so if you've got it maxed it will be worse.  As to a cure I would drop the transducer down to even with or just below bottom of ice if it's not already and see if it makes any difference. 
I'm a man, but I can change, If I have to, I guess.

Offline fatboy8

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #10 on: Feb 14, 2018, 08:56 AM »
Which transducer are you running?

Offline DerekF_17

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #11 on: Feb 15, 2018, 07:50 AM »
Thanks All for he comments. I’ve got the regular transducer on it and I’m sure it’s below the ice. I think it was straight down but I’ll give it the eagle eye next time.

Offline fatboy8

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #12 on: Feb 15, 2018, 07:59 AM »
Thanks All for he comments. I’ve got the regular transducer on it and I’m sure it’s below the ice. I think it was straight down but I’ll give it the eagle eye next time.

Think about upgrading to the ice transducer you wont have to worry about adjusting your transducer again. Fished up to 50FOW can see the smallest tungsten jigs no problem.

Offline rilobsterman

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #13 on: Feb 15, 2018, 08:26 AM »
Get your self the ICE transducer BIG difference over the transom mount and turn on your 'A' scope.

Offline RapShack

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #14 on: Feb 15, 2018, 11:33 AM »
Thanks All for he comments. I’ve got the regular transducer on it and I’m sure it’s below the ice. I think it was straight down but I’ll give it the eagle eye next time.

Some things to watch out for: When it's real cold the cable gets stiff and since the skimmer transducers aren't weighted that can throw it off.  If the transducer or mount is riding against the side of the hole that can cause issues as well.  If you don't normally you can try drilling a second hole for the transducer so it's out of the way and not up against the edge and see if you can get it worked out. 
I'm a man, but I can change, If I have to, I guess.

Offline bwhuntnfish

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Re: Garmin Striker Questions
« Reply #15 on: Feb 15, 2018, 05:47 PM »
You might want to try a lure that hangs horizontally which gives more surface area for the sonar signal to bounce off of.  Lures that hang straight down have very little surface area to reflect the sonar signal.

 



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