Knowing the changes in the contour of the lake bottom can greatly enhance your chances of catching fish. It takes a lot of hours on a specific lake to learn all the good fishing locations by trial and error. Reading the lake contours with a fish finder can minimize the time required to find the best fishing locations. Mounting a fish finder close to the trolling motor enables you to watch your graph as you troll without straining you neck back to the console and gives you the ability to make adjustments to sensitivity, etc without haveing to move about the boat.  The only drawback to a trolling motor mounted transducer is that you can now not use it as a depthfinder while the trolling motor is stowed and the boat is moving.

Lowrance and Humminbird offer a transducer for trolling motor attachment and generally include all that is required for installation. If you already have an extra  puck or skimmer transducer then it is a very simple procedure for installing those to your trolling motor.

First, locate the transducer directly behind the fin on the bottom of the trolling motor. Clamp the transducer to the trolling motor with a stainless steel hose clamp. These hose clamps can be purchased from any automotive supply house. Be sure t measure the circumference of your trolling motor housing so you can determine the proper size of the clamp required.

Puck transducers have a slot for the hose clamp, while skimmer transducer will require the clamp to be placed around the bracket that comes with the skimmer that is used for mounting to the transom. Make certain the transducer points straight down without tilting to either side before tightening your clamp.

Then route the transducer cable around the trolling motor housing and fasten it to the bottom of the trolling motor shaft with a nylon wire tie. Continue clamping the transducer cable up the trolling motor shaft by attaching a nylon wire tie every four to six inches stopping just under the indicator head at the top.  If the trolling motor is a bow mount be sure to allow enough slack in the cable to allow depth adjustment. With transom mount motors no slack is needed.

Once that is completed go back and trim the excess length from the wire ties to make it neat and tidy in appearance. Hopefully you have a fishfinder mounted close to the trolling motor to which you have just installed your transducer. If not, don't freak out!  Most transducer manufacturers or fish finder makers also offer an 10' - 20' extension cable for the transducer. Attach the transducer cable to the fish finder using the plug on the cable end.

You are done with the installation and ready to go catch some fish!  let us know if we can help with any of your marine electronic needs at DJs Marine Electronics.