Kerry,
From your post, I think that $8.95 thermometer would do everything you want IF your just looking for temp/depth.
It would make a great stocking stuffer this X-Mas

You know me Kerry......I love talkin fishin. 

I learned a huge amount this past summer while on Basswood with my "ton" of tackle. Suffice to say I can do some "weeding" out.

Let me share some things which may or may not help you.......

I was surprised to find lakers in 30 ft on the bottom adjacent to deep water on a sloping breakline I would thought more suited to walleye including one laker at 15 lbs. They were not following schools of ciscos as I would of presumed.......(at least at that time)

I disliked using dipsys as they were a chore to pull and hung quite quickly as soon as they contacted bottom. I did catch some fish with them however.

I also pulled some in line weights which also tended to hang on bottom almost instantly upon contact with bottom.......not fun

What I did like to do was what I usually do....... pull crankbaits. This time however I used a linecounter reel and that was the single biggest advancement in terms of productivity and enjoyment that I found. With a little bit of experimenting I could find out EXACTLY how deep a lure was running. Let out 70' of line and lure "X" would bang bottom in 35'ft,.... adjust accordingly. This was very helpful.

One thing I did notice is how I tore the walleye up using mono on a reef and a week later using braid on the same reef with stable weather while marking fish I couldn't buy a strike. That in itself doesn't prove anything but my intention is to get the smallest line counter I can find and load it with 8ib mono and hope it doesn't get into the sides of the spool.

What was especially nice about the cranks is how snag resistant they really are........banging bottom is not usually a problem.

The only thing I truly regretted was not using the jigging spoons I brought.......I forgot. On the walleye reef I should of used them and on the smallys in 55 ft of water I REALLY should of broke them out, DUH! That probably would of been a riot since I was marking fish on the finder. What was I thinking.......?? Oh well, next time for sure. 

FWIW.......the night in August I spent on a sandbar next to the waters edge in WCPP after my knee broke was quite interesting......lots of humongous splashes from fish right outside my tent on the sloping sandbar......no smallies> had to be walleyes.

jaximus wrote on Dec 22^nd, 2012 at 1:35pm:


If one is not aware of it this very scenario can take place. I became aware of my propensity to have my eyes glued to a fishfinder from a friend.......we used to go to a fishcamp with a tin boat/motor up around Sioux Lookout Ontario every year......once while looking back through our pics we came across one of me while trolling.........Dan said, "that is how you looked every time I looked back".......what do you mean"......."well, you always had your eyes glued to the depth finder".........

Once you are aware that the pitfall is there it is easy enough to avoid. While I do dearly love to catch fish my depth finder is as much a "hassle eliminator" as a fish finder. I can happily troll along knowing my deep diver is trailing along out of harms way, be it a big log or a big rock pile. That way I can concentrate a bit more on my surroundings than constantly worrying about where my lure is. I go to canoe country to get away from hassles and complications and fishing can be prone to both if truth be told. The depth finder helps avoid both, preserving my blissful state    .........otherwise my nirvana is upset by the unexpected bending of my rod and another dadgummed snag