How many use them in canoes,kayaks for fishing purposes?I just ordered a hummingbird portablr pirhana 10 and wondered if its more of a toy than
serious use.
I bought one of the small smartcast
humminbird systems…the watch one. It worked fine for about a week…trolled it one a steel leader beside my kayak, didn’t cast it. Then, the transducer went out…actually, wild is the word. Began telling me that two foot of water was 20 feet deep and stuff like that. Took it back to the sporting goods store and traded it for a Eagle Cuda 168, giving them another $20. It was worth it. I’m happy with the Eagle finder. The guys at the fishing counter told me that they get more Humminbird finders returned, especially those with the smartcast system, than all the other finders combined, and they carry a bunch. Its the castable transducer that’s the problem with most of them. When it goes out, you can only replace it with another at about $25, though H-bird is pretty good about working with you.
They’re worth it in finding depths, holes and structure underwater. Not so good for finding fish. Its especially helpful if I’m catfishing…can find humps along the bottom and holes.
Vexilar fl18
that i use for ice fishing works great for finding fish. I haven’t mounted it seperately yet but that is the plan. I still use it with it’s portable case. I bought a sperate transducer and a mounting bracket but just haven’t worked out the details on how i want it mounted or where to put the battery yet. It works great for finding schools of bluegill, walleye and perch. It’s a little pricey, but i use it year around so it makes it worth it.
More than a toy
A fun toy!
Great for finding the depths and underwater structure. I’m not sure what kind you have, graphic or flicker. I’ve seen the graphic ones and think I prefer the flicker kind. Too many processor assumptions on the graphics. That ping could be a fish, could be a clump of floating weeds, could be the tip of a submerged log and the transducer ping hasn’t hit the rest of the tree.
For finding fish, nothing beats finding the structure.
Maybe the problem I have in identifying
fish with my Eagle Cuda has a lot to do with the lake I primarily fish. Its full of hydrilla and some of that stuff will break off, float under the water and show up like a fish on the depthfinder.
My favorite fish finder
is a great big fat night crawler.
my vexilar is
a flasher type. Color flasher that lets you distinguish fish from weeds. I’m not familiar with the cuda, but i do know if it has the “fish ID”, you should be able to disable that feature and you will be able to see fish as an “arch”. But again you also need a finder that works well in shallow water if that is primarily where you fish.
The Cuda is a screen type. Inexpensive
at $88, but waterproof…so Lowrance says. The lake I fish averages 12 ft deep, but because it was built as an industrial water supply during WWII, and is on fairly flat terrain, its sides are mainly levees, making the shallow part of the lake about 3 ft deep. Not much water shallower than that. Most of the water I fish is 8-12 ft deep. But the hydrilla mats break off under water and float around. Some are catfish size. The depth finder is good to about 10" of water at its shallow reading. After that, it gives oddball readings, but my old flasher unit did that too.
HawkEye fish finder
Just got this item (a new product) to use in a float tube, but it is also useful from shore, or a dock. Works as advertised (see details at norcrossmarine.com web site). Has >100 foot range and pinpoints fish and bottom structure type (rocks, mud, weeds). Have used it to spot fish (both bass and trout), cast to them, and hook and land them. Only used three times, but am very pleased and have recommended it to other members of the Tahoe-Truckee Fly Fishers club.
I have no affiliation with Norcross or the HawkEye fish finder.
I’ve looked at Norcross fish finders on
the company’s website and also read a couple of reviews. They appear to be good quality.
Same thing happened to me with
– Last Updated: Sep-30-05 5:13 PM EST –
my smartcast watch thing. Sent it in for warranty work, they sent it back with a new transducer, it still doesn't work.
Reef, they’re real good about sending
them back with a new transducer, does that tell you something about the unit? Some people have good luck with them, for a while, but they don’t seem to last.