fish finders - for finding features

andy_with_a_rod · Post by **andy_with_a_rod** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:49 pm

right, I know i'm going to get a whole heap of stick here but i'm ready for it.
im looking to buy a fish finder (i prefer the term feature finder - i know where the fish are, they're in the lake) to use only when pike fishing on very large reservoirs.
it's next to impossible to locate features like drop offs and ledges etc without one.
i guess i only need a budget one - what do i need to look out for? how would the sonar thing attach to a boat?
i know nothing!

totsy · Post by **totsy** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:38 pm

There's no shame in it Andy. I've got the cheapest hummingbird 110 I think it is. Just screw the clamp to the side of the boat switch it on and away you go. Gives depth and water temp. I didn't think I would believe the fish finder and originally wanted it for depth and features, but its really good to know that you are over shoaled up baitfish.

Ta, Lee.

jomeder · Post by **jomeder** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 10:38 pm

Hi Andy,

I have a feature finder :-) for my kayak. I have a Garmin Fishfinder 140. Not super expensive and it does the job:

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=344

It seems to do a pretty decent job of picking out weed beds as well as showing features. The screen is good (for what is is) and it's pretty easy to press the buttons with gloves on.

It comes with a transom mount bracket for the transducer but I'm not sure how that would work out for a boat which wasn't yours. My transducer is mounted to the inside bottom of the kayak in a big blob of silicone. The one Lee mentions look super convenient for mounting to random boats.

It has found fish for me, not that I've caught anything from the kayak yet :-/. In one notable case I was fishing a lake for the first time. I'd walked the edges without seeing much and there wasn't much rising. When I jumped in the kayak with the fish finder on I discovered all the fish were in the middle of the lake hanging out about 8 m down!

Mostly it's been useful for looking at structure and such. It helped explain to me why I'd never caught many fish along one part of a lake I'd fished a lot. Turns out the bank continued down at 45º to really quite deep and then flattened off into an abyssal plain. The areas either side where I had caught fish weren't quite so deep and had a lot more going on structure wise (terraces, weed beds etc.)

Regards,

Jo

Paul Arden · Post by **Paul Arden** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 12:59 am

If it's a reservoir you're fishing regularly you can also dig out old maps and plumb the area. For new waters a sonar would be fantastic. You still in London, Andy?

Cheers, Paul

Graeme_Hird · Post by **Graeme_Hird** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:35 am

I've got a higher end one on my kayak: the Humminbird 798cxi SI. It's a side imaging system, and if you're looking for structures, it's hard to beat. Looking 45-50m either side of the vessel and picking up the slightest drop-off or step, any submerged trees, rocks, etc is a breeze. It also has the standard down-looking sonar and a GPS on board.

With a standard cheapie, you must travel over the structure to find it. With a unit like mine, you need only travel within 50m to find the structure (or the fish!

)

Cheers,
Graeme

andy_with_a_rod · Post by **andy_with_a_rod** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:51 am

graeme, you should work in a tackle shop with patter like that! i do work in a tackle shop which means that i cant afford something as expensive as the one you're talking about which is a shame because it sounds awesome!
paul, i am still in london yes. we've still got that tweed jacket and plus four set you asked us to put to one side for you, i'll keep it until you can pop in next...

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 4:55 pm

Unless you have your own boat that you can permanently mount the transducer on, you should get one that is designed to be portable. Transducer mounting issues can really screw up how well the thing works!

I have used one of these a fair bit: http://store.humminbird.com/products/271365/120_Fishin%27_Buddy
It clamps on the side of the boat. Reliably shows features that you go over and the side finder actually works to show fish - as long as they are reasonably large fish and the water is clear of debris and algae blooms and the fish aren't sitting right on structure.

There is an art to interpreting what you see on a fish finder, but once you work it out, it can really increase the number of fish you catch!

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Wed Jun 13, 2012 5:54 pm

I am in the Lowrance pro-staff, so consider me biased. But you can do a lot worse than check out the lowrance X4 pro, portable version. Very clear image and good resolution. It does all you want it to do: find structure and drop-offs.

Cheers,
Jeroen

Graeme_Hird · Post by **Graeme_Hird** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:54 am

Nick wrote:Unless you have your own boat that you can permanently mount the transducer on, you should get one that is designed to be portable. Transducer mounting issues can really screw up how well the thing works!

I disagree to a certain degree. With a little ingenuity, you can make nearly any sounder a "portable" one.

Although this one is an older one than my current unit, this is how I've mounted mine to my yak. The Li-ion battery is inside the PVC tube, which drops into the yak's drink holder. The transducer is mounted on a piece of steel which "clips" to the side of the yak.

(On the yak, with an even earlier version of mounting with a magnet inside the yak's hull)

If I used a boat that wasn't mine on a regular basis, I'd come up with a different way to clamp the transducer to the boat's transom.

If I had to start again and my budget was tight, I'd probably go for a Garmin 300c (or 200 if money was really tight.) They are good sounders at reasonable prices.

Cheers,
Graeme

Nile Special · Post by **Nile Special** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 2:56 pm

https://www.tackleuk.co.uk/garmin-echo-300c-fishfinder-p-549236.html

Andy - Thoughts? I'll fund it if you can source it.

We need a handheld GPS unit as well though unless I can get the one on my phone working..

andy_with_a_rod · Post by **andy_with_a_rod** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:00 pm

ok, transducers. floating, fixed, what the heck and how and why?
anyone know anything about condor fish finders?
this is complicated stuff!

Jeroen · Post by **Jeroen** » Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:56 pm

It shouldn't be Andy. But stick to what you need. you don't need all the bells and whistles of high tech equimpment. For a small and not too fast craft, a small portable device and a suction cup transducer should do the trick. You could probably even get away with one of the wrist watch numbers like the Hummingbird smart cast.

Cheers,
Jeroen

Nile Special · Post by **Nile Special** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 9:03 am

No heard much about Condor, that Garmin one looks the shit...

Will · Post by **Will** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 4:20 pm

Whichever one you get Andy, make sure you set it up properly. Sometimes the factory settings mean you get absolutely no detail (huh? where are all the features?), but a little tweaking gets it working properly.

Beware though, watching that screen is mesmerising!

W.

andy_with_a_rod · Post by **andy_with_a_rod** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 7:57 pm

Tweaking?

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