MotorGuide and Lowrance products are linked

to show visiting anglers what lies below

 

     MotorGuide and Lowrance Electronics, Tulsa-based companies and national sponsors of the CITGO BASS Federation Championship in town this week, won’t just be showing qualifying anglers a good time while fishing on nearby Keystone Lake; they will also be showing them what’s below the surface of the lake.

     MotorGuide makes the Tour Series Digital trolling motors, and Lowrance Electronics makes the sonar equipment, featured on the more than 50 Triton and Skeeter bass boats rigged specifically for the tournament.  And for the first time ever, the respective products from the two companies are being linked together to deliver a high-quality sonar image on the Lowrance display through a transducer built into the MotorGuide trolling motor.

     The compatibility of Lowrance sonar and the new MotorGuide Sonar Ready Tour motors has been made possible because of MotorGuide’s recent development as the industry's first and only line of digital trolling motors.  Digital’s simpler, cleaner and clearer communications offers a dramatic improvement in trolling motor reliability and dependability over the old analog system motors. 

     “Our digital, Sonar Ready motors enhance and optimize sonar signals to the fullest by keeping interference issues under control and out of the picture – literally” explained MotorGuide’s Dallas Hodges.  “What that means to anglers is a better, more detailed view of what’s underneath … and that’s what sonar is all about.”

     Sonar displays, commonly called “fish finders” on fishing boats, provide anglers with important information as to what is under the water’s surface – especially depth and contours.  The transducer is what sends and receives the signals being interpreted by the sonar display into usable information. 

     Transducers for bow-mounted trolling motors used on bass boats are typically separate items that must be mounted with clamps.  Such external mounting makes the transducer and its cables susceptible to damage from incidental run-ins with underwater obstacles like rocks and stumps. 

     BASS Federation anglers competing in this week’s event will be among the first to benefit from the new technology.

     All of the championship boats are equipped with MotorGuide Sonar Ready Tour Series trolling motors, model TR82P FB Digital, which are 24-volt, foot-control motors with 82 pounds of thrust.  The 200 kHz Sonar Ready transducer is built into stainless steel housing on the motor’s lower unit and works with most popular sonar displays.  All wires and cables are protected inside MotorGuide’s famous stainless steel shafts. 

     The MotorGuide Sonar Ready motors are linked to Lowrance X-135 sonar displays on the bows of the tournament’s boats. 

     Hodges said the trolling motor company worked closely with Lowrance to make sure the electronics company was pleased with the results, and that feedback has been extremely positive.

     Lowrance spokesperson, Bob Callaway, concurred.  “We’re looking forward to teaming with MotorGuide at the Federation championship to really show-off the full capabilities of our products,” he said.  “The fishermen will be impressed with what they see.”

      “Federation anglers are going to learn a lot about MotorGuide and Lowrance by being in our hometown this week,” Hodges added.  “And about Keystone Lake because of having our newest and finest products on their boats.”

      MotorGuide is BASS’ longest running sponsor and has been a supporter of the Federation ever since the program was first introduced.  The Federation anglers who qualify on Keystone Lake to compete in the 2004 CITGO Bassmaster Classic will also find MotorGuide Sonar Ready Tour motors on the Classic rigs – powerful 36-volt, 105 pound thrust models.  MotorGuide has been a Classic sponsor ever since the first one in 1971 on Lake Mead.

     MotorGuide is a part of Mercury Marine and proudly manufactures its MotorGuide trolling motors in Tulsa, Oklahoma.