Help in Buying a new Fish Finder!!

[Mikezilk]

Hey guys, I am going to be looking for a new finder for this spring and figured I would get a way better idea of what to buy from talking to my fellow fishermen.

Here is a list of what it MUST do.

Thru Hull Transducer
Accurate water temp (as best as can be through plastic hull)
Speed
Fish depth
not overly large as it will be mounted on a 13.5 foot sit on top kayak.

GO!!!

[Kim473]

If you can find a fish finder that can actualy find fish, let all of us know!
Just saying.
Not ment to be a smart ass.

[Mikezilk]

haha.. Ok I will rephrase that.. I want to know depths etc and if there happens to be fish I would like to know what depth they are at..

lol.

[dale7637]

I dont have a ton of info to add, but my new boat came with a Foruno (SP) finder on it, and i am more than impressed with it. It is very accurate for water temp, and does a great job of displaying bait balls and suspended fish.

[Walleyedude]

How much do you want to spend?

Theres almost endless options from $100 to $1000.

[Mikezilk]

Up to 400 lets say.. get a good range... Have 2 kayaks that I would like to be able to move the head unit between.

[BeeGuy]

Humminbird 581i HD DI

[Mudslide]

Humminbird makes a kayak version of their 385ci for around 400 bucks, maybe a bit more. It's a nice colour dualbeam FF and it has GPS as well

[mayuan]

The lowrance HDS-5 would be the perfect finder for you. I use one on my pontoon and would never consider anything else.'

Here is a link to help you.

http://www.lowrance.com/en-CA/Products/Paddlesports/

Thing with finders is they all do nothing at low to no speed. I wonder how fast this kayak is going to be. Make sure the model u get gives the flasher option.

I saw a decent unit in bw for about 300. Color wuld be alot easier to see given limited viewing positions on the kayak.

I mainly use mine to find depth or weed structure. Humingbird 728. I think. Decent readings but nothing special

Good luck and let us know what u find.

[fish gunner]

500 seires humminbird portables , less than four hundred . Water proof !! Scanner mode for the ice . 575 side scan may be more than 400.

[jkind]

Originally Posted by Mikezilk

Hey guys, I am going to be looking for a new finder for this spring and figured I would get a way better idea of what to buy from talking to my fellow fishermen.

Here is a list of what it MUST do.

Thru Hull Transducer
Accurate water temp (as best as can be through plastic hull)
Speed
Fish depth
not overly large as it will be mounted on a 13.5 foot sit on top kayak.

GO!!!

Hi Mike

I use a Humminbird 385 CI/DI on my yak and had it installed for through hull and it worked great...as for temp I never checked to see the temp difference between the sonar and the actual water temp.

This unit has gps for your speed and a flasher mode for ice fishing.

As for marking fish I have never really counted on any FF to accurately mark fish but while I was paddling around on Sylvan last summer I wasn't marking any fish for a couple hours and then started marking fish on or near the bottom so I dropped a minnow over the side and started catching a bunch of small walleye.

The 385 has a 3" screen so it is not too large on my yak and doesn't get in the way.

The unit is also Navionics capable if you have an extra $170 layin around.

I saw the unit for $399 recently which is $150 less than I paid for it last spring.

Hope this helps...

Jim

[Mudslide]

It's always the extra transducer and accessories that puts most units out of the price range, that's why I suggested the Kayak version of the 385ci It's in his price range and it's complete with a kayak specific transducer. I love my HDS but rigging an HDS combo for a kayak is going to cost north of 850 bucks, easy. HDS-5 combo $699.00 extra transducer 90 bucks, ram mount 45 bucks, 12 volt rechargeable battery 30 bucks. Then there's tax... It will be the same thing for any other unit you buy off the shelf.

[bobalong]

Originally Posted by Mikezilk

Hey guys, I am going to be looking for a new finder for this spring and figured I would get a way better idea of what to buy from talking to my fellow fishermen.

Here is a list of what it MUST do.

Thru Hull Transducer
Accurate water temp (as best as can be through plastic hull)
Speed
Fish depth
not overly large as it will be mounted on a 13.5 foot sit on top kayak.

GO!!!

If you want accurate speed I would go with a combo unit with GPS, there are numerous units with a 5" screen. I am partial to the Humminbird units, but Lowrance make units that would work well to.

Sonar units actually work excellent at slow speeds and even while your anchored, and if you are rigging it portable, you can use it for ice fishing as well.

[Bigdad013]

Originally Posted by pelada trochu

Thing with finders is they all do nothing at low to no speed. I wonder how fast this kayak is going to be. Make sure the model u get gives the flasher option.

I saw a decent unit in bw for about 300. Color wuld be alot easier to see given limited viewing positions on the kayak.

I mainly use mine to find depth or weed structure. Humingbird 728. I think. Decent readings but nothing special

Good luck and let us know what u find.

Not sure what you mean by they do nothing at low or no speed...We quite often sit motionless in 120 fow and jig for lakers, you can see them just fine on the finder, and actually see them follow the lure up on retrieval.

[Mikezilk]

I am thinking it might be a toss up between the Hummingbird 587ci HD DI and 386 CI DI. I like the bigger screen since this will be going in my new boat and I plan on standing alot in it.. 499 vs 429... might need to do a little more research... I definitely like the Navionics ability...

Jim is the finder on your Ocean still or in the Hobie? Might have to try to meet up with you when i get home and take a look at yours if possible.. Did you take my advice and use the Hobie seat out ice fishing?