Or…
A snorkel mask 
Won’t work in the waters I fish.
Inexpensive Fish Finder
I found, by accident, Humminbird’s Smartcast.
We have three large bodies of water and a large creek that surround our property and had to bring out an expert in water management.
She had the Smartcast from Humminbird to take depth readings; I thought that it was ingenious in that you cast the remote to where you wish for readings on depth or fish.
It’s very compact and they have monitors that attach to a rod or that you can wear on your wrist.
Take a look.
Had one, took it back after it went
belly up the third trip. That’s been the experience of about a dozen people I know who have used the samrtcast rod/wrist system. The screen is very small and really good only for structure. The may be better made now.
Smartcast
Had one, it was ok. However, it quit working in short order. Looking for a portable that uses double or triple A’s. Shoot thru the hull transducer?
Any finder will operate on 8 AA’s.
I’m told you can even use 8 rechargeable batteries, but it didn’t work when I tried, took 10. Just grab the long 8 battery holder and a snap on pig tail at Radio Shack and wire it in. I’ve put my battery pack in a section of PVC capped on both ends, don’t need to glue them. Drill a small hole in one end. Get some small bungies and attach to a thwart.
Fish Finder from Harbor Freight
SORRY I TOOK SO LONG!!! It has its own “bobber”…a round yellow donut thing about 5 inches across. I used the same batteries all summer this year. Just yesterday the indicator said they are going out. 2 AA batteries! Not bad. It isn’t wonderful, but you sure see where many of the fish are down to about 100 feet.
Harbor Freight FF
Ollie, thanks for the come back. I’ll have to check to see if that FF is still on sale. Do you know of other FFs that you could compare with that you feel it does just as well?
8 batteries
Yakcanfish, you may have given me a very good idea. I used 8 batteries for my fishfinder (Cuda 168), and it would not work. The dispaly worked great and I could hear the clicking from the transducer, but it would not read depth correctly. I will try using 10 batteries instead of the 8 to see if that is the problem. I have not purchased another FF as yet.
battery pack
how long does the battery pack last for? thanks and happy new year.
Its difficult to say. I’ve gotten four
trips…usually 6-8 hour trips…out of my fish finder. Lately, I’ve used heavy duty rather than alkaline batteries and see little difference in length of time.
batteries
yak.canfish, I had to go to 9 batteries. I meant to use 10, but eveidently, I couldn’t count. I was in a hurry and didn’t realize I had only 9 until I took them out later to make some changes. Our Cuda 168s can use up to 17 volts on the supply voltage, so we could use 11 for 16.5 volts. I don’t like to press things, so I would only use 10 like you. I found some gel cell battires and have mad ehem up to use now. I can keep them charged all the time until my next trip. I know you can buy them at Bass Pro Shops because i saw them at Pigeon Forge/Sevierville Tenn. They work great.
Cuda 168
yak.canfish, When I made up my 1st battery pack out of the 8 AA batteries, my 168 would not work. It had been close to 2 years since I’d used it, and I though it was on the blink. When I went to BPS I bought a new 168. I loved the old one. I’m still not convince my old one is OK. I don’t seem to be getting the fish symbols the way I used to at Kerr lake. I am fishing salt water now, in mostly shallow water. It was late this year the 1st time I got it going and the fish just weren’t there. I’ll know more about it later. I could put the new on on to see if there is a difference, but I feel it is just the new type of fishing and the time of year I am going. It Does great on depth. I know because one of the times I went, the water was crystal clear, and the depths it was reading were very close.
cheap ff
I have the Zebco (same as the Hawkeye) and it works great. Just float the transducer along beside the yak. It fits perfect on the bungee on my console in the Fisherman Pro 14. Batteries last for several trips.
It lies.
I turned the fish id off because it gives false readings and you have to reduce the sensitivity. Mine works much better with the id off and the sensitivity on auto. You get arches instead of fish symbols and the structure or bait balls reads much better. I have a 10 pack of sub c rechargeables in a pelican box. The xducer shoots through the hull and is attached with goop.
Found a gel battery simlar to deer
feeder type at a feed store, 12 volt. I may get it. I’ve a charger. Its less than what the big box store sells by about $5. Fry’s electronic store has some 12 volt rechargeable batteries that are small, 3 amps or so. Don’t know if its enough amperage, but light. They run about $20 though. The big advantage of the AA’s, though, has been light weight and not taking up much room.
In water less than about 4 ft you will
get false readings. The sound double bounces. Mine will give me fairly accurate depth readings (a 168) but it doesn’t seem as accurate for structure in shallow water. The best use I can see for a fishfinder in shallow waters like the salt bays around here…average 4 ft or less depth…is finding holes…very good to know when the water turns cold. I do not use the fish ID mode. It gives false readings. The instructions suggest it doesn’t work that well at identifying fish.
Agree about the fish ID not working well
If one has an Old Town Polylink or similar multi layered hull, shooting through the hull doesn’t work unless you are a brave soul and cut through the first two layers. I’m not that brave.
Great info
I’m so glad I saw this info on the 168. Somehow, I must have already done something to mine to give it the arches instead of the fish symbols. I thought something was wrong with it. Yak.canfish, you are so right about the shallow water thing. One question, do the arches get larger with larger fish like the fish symbols. When I used my 168 at Kerr Lake, I was thinking there were too many symbols to be true, but I did go in placed where there were no symbols at all in very deep water. The area I was in, in the deepest places was about 80 feet. Just a ways further toward the dam, it gets much deeper. I was told a long time ago, before I got my 1st fish finder, that trash and any small debris would make symbols on depth/fish finders. That was with the ones that looked like a wheel was turing inside. I feel that still hapens with the more modern ones.
168 sensitivity
Cut the sensitivity down in shallow water. Go to sensitivity on the menu, put it on manual and cut it down to 50%. Work up or down from there until you get what you want. Same goes for almost any ff.