Fish Finders

[Jonesdds]

Done some research but it is a bit overwhelming to decide which is best for what I will fish.

Largely in the beginning it’ll be freshwater lakes. I’m a fly fisher so not going deep. Not going to be hanging out close to the dams of large lakes, mostly near shore. Stripping streamers, maybe Stillwater type with midges as deep as 15 ft max. And possibly some occasional ocean bay and harbor.

But, I may decide in the future to take it deeper. Kayak will be in Utah most of time but may also bring home some years to Santa Barbara from Oct th May. Havent bass fished in awhile so maybe hit the central coast lakes, Castaic and desert lakes, maybe a mix of spin and fly.

So, I want to be prepared for all types of fishing wherever it leads.

Seems much if not all my freshwater fishing would benefit from a side imaging machine. But, deep imaging might also be useful at times. GPS is something I’d want built in I’d think but open to adding later as well, not sure how big that add on is. Also would consider the towable units initially to use with my phone, if cheap enough to be useful for a few years and help for future decisions.

[SoCalEDC]

Are you asking for input?

[jruiz]

During a non-pandemic year I would say go to the Fred Hall show in a couple months and visit the vendor booths and maybe leave with a great deal. In place of that you can go to the bass pro shop or a west marine and they'll take care of you. For those larger lakes, a unit with GPS would help if you ran into a school or some structure and wanted to drift over it multiple times or hit it at a following session. You'll really limit your selection when going with a dedicated FF. As an example, west marine has 8 models of dedicated FF and 53 combo FFs on their website.

[Jonesdds]

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

Are you asking for input?

Yes, please!

[SoCalEDC]

If you are bass fishing I would say side scan is a worth while investment. You will have to make sure you can mount the transducer on your kayak because it will have to have a 180° plane of visibility for it to work, i.e. it can not shoot through your hull.

Frequency matters. For traditional sonar go with something that has a high and a low/mid frequency, i.e. 83/200, 77/200. the lower frequency will serve you better in deep water but the high will be much better for detail in shallow water such as ponds and small bodies of water. Your DI and SI will likely be 455/800 which is a much higher resolution but it will show a tremendous amount of detail.

Consider how and where you will mount the unit. If you are going to mount it 3 feet in front of you a larger screen may be worth the investment, but if its going to be on one of the gunwales on your right or left just a foot or so away you may not need that (personal preference). Additionally choose how you want to interface with it i.e. touch screen vs buttons. Things to consider with touch screen is that if the ff is in an area where water can pool up in the screen it can be difficult to use, or if you are fishing in a cold climate it may not register your input as accurately or reliably, but if you do go with touch screen its typically going to yield you more screen relative to the over all size of the unit and has less entry points for water (less buttons).

IMO gps is invaluable on the water, especially on big water. Its tough to navigate in the fog and when you can't see any landmarks or hear any boats to indicate where land is having that gps will be VERY helpful. (you should also have standard nav tool like a compass for this reason).

Any of the big guys will have a unit that fits the parameters and is likely wiithin your budget.

Just my thoughts. Good luck.

[Jonesdds]

Originally Posted by SoCalEDC

If you are bass fishing I would say side scan is a worth while investment. You will have to make sure you can mount the transducer on your kayak because it will have to have a 180° plane of visibility for it to work, i.e. it can not shoot through your hull.

Frequency matters. For traditional sonar go with something that has a high and a low/mid frequency, i.e. 83/200, 77/200. the lower frequency will serve you better in deep water but the high will be much better for detail in shallow water such as ponds and small bodies of water. Your DI and SI will likely be 455/800 which is a much higher resolution but it will show a tremendous amount of detail.

Consider how and where you will mount the unit. If you are going to mount it 3 feet in front of you a larger screen may be worth the investment, but if its going to be on one of the gunwales on your right or left just a foot or so away you may not need that (personal preference). Additionally choose how you want to interface with it i.e. touch screen vs buttons. Things to consider with touch screen is that if the ff is in an area where water can pool up in the screen it can be difficult to use, or if you are fishing in a cold climate it may not register your input as accurately or reliably, but if you do go with touch screen its typically going to yield you more screen relative to the over all size of the unit and has less entry points for water (less buttons).

IMO gps is invaluable on the water, especially on big water. Its tough to navigate in the fog and when you can't see any landmarks or hear any boats to indicate where land is having that gps will be VERY helpful. (you should also have standard nav tool like a compass for this reason).

Any of the big guys will have a unit that fits the parameters and is likely wiithin your budget.

Just my thoughts. Good luck.

Thank you good info. The only real benefit of GPS for me at least initially is marking a sweet spot on a lake. For example, Crowley Lake near bishop. Pretty shallow most of the time, at least where the fish are. Depending on levels, weeds, etc they can move around but there’s spots where you are best positioned, even a few feet matter. But, you’re not fishing directly below you but ideally you’d find the spot, generally an extension of a creek bed in the lake where the water was a bit cooler. We are talking 8-15 feet down and Stillwater nyphing just above the bottom. Spent a number of days with Kent Rianda from Troutfitter there, mostly McGee bay, and his fish finder seemed to be for 3 things(if I understood):

Depth
Fish
Remembering the spot the last client was successful given the same conditions

There’s a few lakes relatively close to my place in Utah and a few in CA that this kind of fishing works, maybe a lot more that don’t get fished this way.

So for this type of fishing I assume Traditional sonar is just fine as you’re passing over the spot, at 10 ft give or take, correct. But then I could see casting into shallows towards shore with streamers or even dry flies, doesn’t sound too different than bass fishing so side imaging, although raising cost, could be very beneficial, am I correct?

[SoCalEDC]

Originally Posted by Jonesdds

Thank you good info. The only real benefit of GPS for me at least initially is marking a sweet spot on a lake. For example, Crowley Lake near bishop. Pretty shallow most of the time, at least where the fish are. Depending on levels, weeds, etc they can move around but there’s spots where you are best positioned, even a few feet matter. But, you’re not fishing directly below you but ideally you’d find the spot, generally an extension of a creek bed in the lake where the water was a bit cooler. We are talking 8-15 feet down and Stillwater nyphing just above the bottom. Spent a number of days with Kent Rianda from Troutfitter there, mostly McGee bay, and his fish finder seemed to be for 3 things(if I understood):

Depth
Fish
Remembering the spot the last client was successful given the same conditions

There’s a few lakes relatively close to my place in Utah and a few in CA that this kind of fishing works, maybe a lot more that don’t get fished this way.

So for this type of fishing I assume Traditional sonar is just fine as you’re passing over the spot, at 10 ft give or take, correct. But then I could see casting into shallows towards shore with streamers or even dry flies, doesn’t sound too different than bass fishing so side imaging, although raising cost, could be very beneficial, am I correct?

the sonar aiming down is going to be a cone. it comes out of your transducer and opens as it goes down. so if you are in shallow water and you are using a higher frequency with a smaller angle of projection your cone "base" or the diameter of your cone at the bottom will be much more narrow. the angle for each frequency is fixed based on your transducer, therefore the depth will determine the diameter of the cone base.

Side imaging will show you what is along the sides of your vessel. you will see bait, tree roots, shrubbery, etc.

When you are talking about fresh water fishing for the most part, you are looking for structure as your primary targets. This also relates to some salt water fishing, such as rockfishing or bass fishng in which case the fish relate to or orient themselves near structure. The name fish finder has a nice ring to it, but in reality its a depth finder that works by indicating the distance between your transducer and what ever is bouncing the signal back at it. when you go over hump, a rock, a branch, a fallen tree, grass, etc. it indicates a depth change, and depending on the material a level of "return". meaning it bounces off of something hard like a rock, or soft like mud. usually this strength is designated by color differences.

The reason gps would be handy in an application where you dont need navgation per se, is because you can mark those structure points like rocks, and fallen trees, stuff that doesnt move (generally speaking) so that you can find your way back to them quickly. If you find fish holding in a certain area, mark that spot and you can get back to it quickly, and you will also probably notice that there is some sort of structure there. The old saying that 90% of fish are in 10% of the water is fairly accurate, and most fish (primarily freshwater fish) are not just cruising around willy nilly with no relation to their surroundings.

look on youtube there is a ton of info on fish finders and other electronics for fishing.