Portable Fishfinders worth it?

[livinisfishin]

The cup on mine sticks really well. If you have somewhat of a fingernail it can be pryed off pretty easily. If not then just slide it to the side of the transom and it will have to come off. If you get one you will just have to play around with it and make it work for you!

[spinnerbaitking]

A buddy & I bought a Fishing Buddy side scan pole style for canoeing the Saugeen River we found a few holes that were 11' & over 20' deep that we never knew about, twice when kids were with us the side scan went off & I said there's a fish & I'll catch it & did they were impressed, biggest problem was while we were paddling you couldn't keep the unit in the holder good enough & it would vibrate the side of the canoe very annoying, we also had water get in the screen & cause it to put lines across the screen, Hummingbird always replaced it when it happened but they might have that problem fixed by now, I should check with my buddy to see were it is

Richard

[ontariofisherman]

hb 120

 

this one has side scan, which i think would be more helpful in knee deep weeds on a shallow lake. none of the other portables have this

[adempsey]

If you can hold off, this new Mark-5X DSI Portable unit from Lowrance looks nice: http://radioworld.ca/product_info.php?cPath=3_205&products_id=8005. Probably worth a look anyway.

[camillj]

Love mine ... HB 565X couldnt imagine life without it ... I replaced the cup early on with a clamp mount .. on the ice I clamp it to a 2 foot section of hockey stick ... it is SOOOO sensitive ... I can actually make out my two minnows AND the single splitshot at 65 feet... I can tell you which Minnow is being hit .. so of course you mark fish ... also it runs just fine on the little 12V rechargeable for about 20 hrs ... I just bring along a spare for the next day and recharge one while I am fishing with the other.

[tjsa]

I never go anywhere without Sonar. Even packing in a couple kilometers. I have an old Eagle SupraPro ID, and have 2 different styles of brackets for the transducer depending on if I am using my 12 ft. aluminum, my buds Scanoe, or my 18 ft. aluminum canoe. Using the Scanoe and my boat, the suction cup works well. I need to transfer it to a 15" stainless rod for my canoe. It does not decipher fish hooks that well, but we just use it for bottom depth, and we are the fishfinders. We make note of depth when we catch a fish we are targeting, and try to stay at that depth. If the fishing dies off, usually late morning, we generally move a few feet deeper to see where they have moved. This is our method for walleye fishing in small inland lakes.

[BillM]

Absolutely..

[Billy Bob]

Actually sonar units do NOT find fish, you do, they only detect and record them on the screen.

 

Almost any decent unit on the market now a days will record what's under your boat but the more you spend the better of a unit you get.

[scugpg]

I have the Lowrance X67c Ice machine and i love that thing ! i bought the transducer for it to mount on my tinner so all i do is plug in the transducer when i'm in the boat or plug in the Iceducer when on the Ice ! very happy with the unit itself too

 

The X67 would be a great investment is you're looking for something portable! Plus they are a great unit.

 

If you go bigger you can always get the ice kit as Terry mentioned.

[Guest Johnny Bass]

I have had a couple of them over the years (one Eagle, One Humminbird), they work well for the price. As a bonus, I used mine for ice fishing as well. My advice is to stay away from the ones that use "AA" batteries (usually 8 of them) - go for one that has a rechargeable battery pack of some sort. It will save you a pile of $ over time. Also, if it is a suction cup type, I prefer to rig up a C-clamp and mount the transducer to a piece of wood - still portable, but more stable giving better readings, and less chance of falling off and getting cut by the prop (been there, done that!)

 

Agreed! I had one that used 2 6V batteries and at $10 a piece it was expensive! Still it helped out quite a lot. I would use a long piece of wood. Drill a hole at the bottom with a bolt and butterfly nut to send threw the transducer. Then I would clamp the wood at the top. If it is not clamped on good? When you start moving it will fall in the water and there goes your clamp! There is also the suction cup method, but that falls off also.