Depth sounder limits?

[tuffr2]

I am planning to move to the east coast of Florida. Already have a boat type I will use on the ocean to fish...TwinVee is at the top of my list now.

I have heard that to really catch fish you need to get out to the gulf stream. I can see from Google Earth that as you move north you get further away from the Gulf Stream.

My question is, do the depth sounders work in 1000's of feet of water? And if so, what are their limits. If not, how does one know when they reach the Gulf Stream?


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[Wotname]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

My question is, do the depth sounders work in 1000's of feet of water? And if so, what are their limits. If not, how does one know when they reach the Gulf Stream?


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Most recreational boat sounders stop before 2 or 3 hundred metres, say 500 to 1,000ft.

Presumably you could use water temperature as an indicator of the Gulf Stream???

[Sailmonkey]

Water temp and current are dead giveaways.


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[tuffr2]

I have been on a large cruise ship out of Port Everglades. Not far from the Gulf Stream. I was trying to notice when we got to the Gulf Stream but did not notice any current, or water color change. The only thing I noticed was on the ships depth display. From 1000' to 2000' to 15,000'. Actually this was much much deeper than I would have guessed.

On a smaller 30' boat can you notice much more easily?

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[pete33458]

Actually, in this case, the Gulf Stream is loosely defined as "the edge", which is where the shelf starts to drop off rapidly at about the 100' line. On most days, you can figure this out without even having a sounder; there will be a line of boats. If you really want to know when you are inside what is officially the Gulf Stream, all you need is to watch your thermometer; the temperature climbs precipitously. But you don't really need to go out into the stream proper to catch a lot of fish, and it really depends on what type of fish you are talking about. Many fish are found in much shallower water, including cobia, snapper, grouper, tarpon, etc. Getting out to "the edge" adds other types of (generally larger) fish, such as dolphin, wahoo, sailfish, or marlin.

I know this doesn't address the question about how deep a recreational sounder can go (in my experience, less than 500-600 feet), but it seems this is what you are really asking about. Pete

[pete33458]

Originally Posted by tuffr2

I have been on a large cruise ship out of Port Everglades. Not far from the Gulf Stream. I was trying to notice when we got to the Gulf Stream but did not notice any current, or water color change. The only thing I noticed was on the ships depth display. From 1000' to 2000' to 15,000'. Actually this was much much deeper than I would have guessed.

On a smaller 30' boat can you notice much more easily?

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Technically the current would affect all vessels (and objects) to the same extent, but the surface flow is not always the same speed as deeper water, depending on recent wind conditions. As I mentioned in my other response, temperature is pretty reliable as an indicator.

Not sure where you saw 15,000' depths off Ft Lauderdale, though... Deepest I know of in that area is shy of 3000'. Maybe the cruise ship needs a new sounder too!

Pete

[tuffr2]

Thanks Pete...I do have my answers. I do have a brother and a few friends that will want to try to catch Wahoo. Those will be special trips 'out to the Gulf Stream'.

I need to research more once I relocate to Florida on how to fish the ocean but I am really looking forward to learning.

Again thanks for the fast replies.

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[tuffr2]

Sorry...the ship was far off the coast when the water depth was 15,000 feet. Not just off the coast.

The cruise was from Port Everglades to the Carribean. I saw the Max depth of 17,000' on that cruise a few hundred miles off the coast.

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[pete33458]

Go with a good charter captain a few times and you will learn a lot. BTW twin V is the only way to go for a fishing boat in that area. Pete