Northwest Fishing Reports

I am trying to decide on my first fish finder purchase. I have never used or owned a fish finder. I am leaning towards the portable units because of size and price. I have a 8ft livingston that I use to fish the smaller lakes in snohomish county. I have done some research and am thinking hard about the Hummingbird fishing buddy 110. But, there are a ton of other manufactures to choose from so I would like to hear from you guys before I make a purchase. Thanks.

Ted

There is a HUGE difference between the high end models and the way low end models. Think game boy original versus the matrix. Well, maybe not that much, but still. I started with a portable one, which was neat to tell the depth, and see snags and stuff, but the resolution was so poor that I couldn't tell what it was that I was looking at. Well, I figured it out and it was helpful, but my new finder is SOOO cool. It's color, so you can see different bottom densities and all those goodies. I'm still figuring it out. You get what you pay for. It's like buying a computer, spend as much as you can because it'll be outdated before you open the box. For a little more money you can have something that you can use for a lot longer, and won't have to replace when you get tired of it. Also get one that's water proof. The middle of the road models are so much better than the portable ones.

If you want something super easy to run right out of the box with no rigging, much like that clamp mount fishing buddy 110, have a look at the lineup that Eagle fishfinders has. They have 4 portable units with suction cup transducer mounts that run right to the unit that is mounted on a little stand, so no drilling or anything permanent on your Livingston.

The three models are:
Fishmark 320 Portable
FishEasy 350C Portable
Cuda 300 Portable
FishEasy 245 DS Portable

Here is a link to their site. I think Eagle is made by Lowrance.

Like natetreat said, the more you spend the more you get.

Fish finders don't act like a magic wand. Mines old, outdated. When I see fish on the screen I rarely catch them. My best fishing, the screen is usually blank, except for the bottom. As pointed out, other threads, they help you find structure where fresh water fish might be likely to hang out.

If I was serious about fishing but wanted a portable fishfinder I'd look at the Lowrance 5 inch DSI model out there. I found it on the lowrance website.

The low end units are good for surface temp and depth not much else. You can see mud and weedlines but you have to get used to the unit to tell the difference. When you see alot of fish its usually not fish lol. If your unit shows a pic of a fish its outdated lol.

My .02 cents,, any fish finder can be made portable. That being said. What I do is cut a piece of wood about 2-3" wide, seal it with any wood sealer. screw your transducer (the camera eye) on to the piece of wood. Wood should be cut to the length of the transom you are mounting it to)
When you want to use it, use a simple C-clamp or any wood clamp to attach it to the top of your transom. Easy on and off. The monitor itself can either be mounted permanently to a structure in your boat if you have something, or to be more portable still.... just connect the monitor to a piece of wood about 1' square. Then you can take the whole process off of your boat any time you want.

Ok, thanks for the info. I have also been looking at the Garmin fishfinder 160c. https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=292&ra=true

I would like one that is fairly accurate. Would be nice to get real readings for fish. But, most important I need something small for my cramped boat and best bang for buck.

Take a look at the transducers provided with the units also. The usual is a 200 hz or a dual 50/200 hz (I talk Lowrance as that's what I have). Neither of those are worth much in shallow freshwater lakes as all they will do is show bottom. The cone angle is a bit small.

Lowrance has a 83/200 available on the Hi-Def units and the 83 hz transducer has a pretty wide angle made for fresh water fishing.

Your Garmin page didn't specify the transducer details.

Personally I'd spend the most money I could on a fish finder as after 3 months of fishing you will have the fishfinder equivalent of "2 foot-itus".

Have been using an older similar model to the Humminbird PiranhaMAX 230 Portable, and it works fine for depth and spotting fish/ size. Basic stuff for an inexpensive price.

tnj8222 wrote: If your unit shows a pic of a fish its outdated lol.

Mine is that old but I usually run it with "Fish Tracker" off. LMAO If I get bored, I turn "Fish Tracker" on just to have a laugh and pretend I'm fishing..... LOL

A fishfinder should be set on "arches" as having it set for symbols and sizes is a waste of the users money. It's just a simple depth finder if that's done.

I played around with symbols years ago and bait if it's bunched thickly will give fish symbols and also underwater weeds may show as a school of fish.

I have a relatively cheap portable system, and I love it. I don't use it to identify fish as much as get depth and identify structure. I have both the smartcast castable transducer and the suction cup transducer. You only use one transducer or the other...
I take the smartcast with me when I fish from shore on lakes. I can find holes and structure and get a good idea if there's any dropoffs or if it stays shallow within casting range.
In lakes where I'm fishing from a boat it's cool because I'm typically renting a boat, so I can just stick the transducer in the right spot on the hull, and I'm good to go with depth/temp, etc.. I do use it to locate general areas of fish - I can tell if they're deep or mid-range or just under the surface - and that's all I usually need to get my gear in the right range.
Mine uses AA batteries.

I have a smart cast. But it didnt work for me and wind or slight chop would make it useless.

My last fishfinder on my bassboat was a really old lawrence that didnt have a arches setting. Only showed fish sometimes it would show a thermocline line as a long row of fish lol. It did show bottom structure pretty good though. I could tell the difference between rocks and weeds pretty good. The differece between weeds and mud wasnt very easy to see at all.

Thanks for all the info guys. I decided to spend the cash on another rod and reel. Later, when I do go to buy a fish finder this info will help me. I probably wont spend over $200, and use it for what its worth.

Ted

The Quadfather wrote:My .02 cents,, any fish finder can be made portable. That being said. What I do is cut a piece of wood about 2-3" wide, seal it with any wood sealer. screw your transducer (the camera eye) on to the piece of wood. Wood should be cut to the length of the transom you are mounting it to)
When you want to use it, use a simple C-clamp or any wood clamp to attach it to the top of your transom. Easy on and off. The monitor itself can either be mounted permanently to a structure in your boat if you have something, or to be more portable still.... just connect the monitor to a piece of wood about 1' square. Then you can take the whole process off of your boat any time you want.

That is what I did and it works great.

I have a big one that clamps to the side of the boat and is about the size of an electric trolling motor. Its called a Fishing Buddy or something similar. I don't recomend it because its size and it loves feasting on C batteries. It sees down 300ft and 150ft in front of the boat and was bought for crabbing.

I was having same questions earlier this year and went with one of the Eagle's ones.

It is a bit more cumbersome and had to figure out where and how to mount transducer.

I did not go with the hummingbird models because of their narrow cone angle of only 12 degrees.
The lake I wanted it for the most is only 12 to 14 feet deep at the deepest so I would not get much of a view of the structure and/or bottom.

I agree that any model can be adapted for any purpose or hull. What I did cannot be considered truly portable as the mount is permanent, but as you can see my situation was a tad more unique!

Mark T. wrote:I agree that any model can be adapted for any purpose or hull. What I did cannot be considered truly portable as the mount is permanent, but as you can see my situation was a tad more unique!

As far as the mount/monitor being portable, I just mounted my monitor to a piece of plywood about 10" square. Then velcro that piece of ply. to a place in the boat. Easy on and off.