I'll chime in...
While I don't have the 797, I believe the transducer and frequencies are on par if not better than my older 987. For my purposes of scanning relatively shallow water (less than 100') it does an awesome job attached to the transom. If you're in an area with frequent choppy water or are going to be scanning in deeper water, I'm sure that going with a towfish-mounted transducer would work better.
RGECY and SCUBAFINDER are the pro's at building the towfish for the Humminbird units. Do a search for their posts regarding "Towfish".
Good luck,
Pcola