In my area there are a number of public lakes and ponds. So my preferred method of fishing is from a canoe. I have slowly outfitted my canoe for fishing.
In an effort to speed up the learning curve of figuring out what the bottom looks like in all these lakes/ponds, I was thinking about adding a portable depth finder to my canoe. Are any of you canoe fishers using depthfinders? Is anyone else using these Fishin’ Buddy type sonars? Do you find them helpful?
The last thing I want to do is add more weight and junk to my canoe when I go fishing but it seems like something, if used correctly, that could really help me find the breaklines. I’m sure I could do soundings with my anchors but that could take years on a 650 Ac. lake.
Seems to me the weight would be negligible compared to the value of finding fish and structure… my fall/winter project… find a fish-finder for the FishCat:)
I have a portable sonar unit (Fishin’ Buddy Model 1101 with a fixed transducer) that has a clamp/sleeve. I use it to find water temperature, depth, and structure. While it does show fish, I have found that it is more valuable to me for the other info it gives me.
I went on-line and looked at your canoe’s specs. That I can tell, your boat’s “Poly Link” hull is not one of those sandwich-type hulls (where two plastic sheets are bonded against both sides of a sheet of foam).
However, the Old Town site claims the boat has “built-in flotation” – which means either the hull material floats or else flotation tanks have been encapsulated (usually in the bow and stern ends).
The question of whether the canoe’s hull material contains trapped air is relevant. I wanted to suggest that you install a portable fish finder whose transducer is mounted INSIDE the boat and shoots its ultrasonic beam through your boat’s hull. But if your boat’s hull uses a layer of trapped-air foam then that suggestion will not work. It might be you need to go with an externally mounted transducer, or one that’s hand-held, or something cast-able.
I will soon be writing a Warm Water story that describes (with photos) how a “through the hull” transducer can be inexpensively mounted on suitable boats. Meantime, I submitted a new story Saturday about a recent trip in which I used my canoe’s portable fish finder to do exactly what you want to do – find out what’s down there. Fish finders, even the very cheapest ones, give us a lot of information we’d be hard pressed to acquire by other means.
I have been using an older Fishing Buddy II model for 10 years on my float tubes, rental boats, and others boats in both fresh and saltwater. It would be perfect for a canoe I think. Like the other responders noted, I use it primarily for looking at depth, bottom composition, and temperature. The one I have has a sidefinder along with the look down capability, which is sometimes useful but not essential. The lookdown angle is fairly narrow at 9 degrees on my model so I do not rely on it as a fish finder per se, but just the ability to look at the bottom is a great advantage.
Meantime, I submitted a new story Saturday about a recent trip in which I used my canoe’s portable fish finder to do exactly what you want to do – find out what’s down there. Fish finders, even the very cheapest ones, give us a lot of information we’d be hard pressed to acquire by other means.
Hi Joe,
Where can I find this article?
Thanks,
Tom
Maybe i can help,i have a creekboat,thats the name of it,a one man boat that i had a aluminum frame built and added a padded bassboat seat on and mounted a lowrance depthfinder up front running the wire under the gunnal and securing out of the way.It is powered by a small yuasa 12 volt 7 amp battery and will run a long time on each charge,really 5-6 trips and the lowrance has a battery reading to let me know when it gets low.I am going to try and paste a link picture of it here so here it goes!
WOW, Thomas! That is one cool-looking rig! And I’m talking about not just your fish finder mount but also your boat and that seating arrangement you put together, too. Excellent!
Thanks,should have contact cemented the transducer cup a inch or two lower but it still reads and the water line sits right over the top so it will have to do.I had thought of getting a 5" screen but it would draw more and possibly get in my way up front.The one thing about depth finders,the more pixels the better the display will be mine is 240/168 and i wouldn’t get anything less.
I use paddle power on mine!I was given the boat by a gentleman that won it at a DU banquet and the seat frame i had made is heavier duty and the seat swivels on mine.
I have been using a Fishing Buddy 2250 on a canoe for about 10 years. I really miss it when I do not mount it on the canoe when I go out. If I want to travel light, however, I have the option of leaving it at home. As others note knowing the depth and under water features is the biggest single benefit. My finder does detect fish though it won’t tell me what kind-carp or bass, shad or crappie, sucker or perch. So I really don’t take it out to find fish as much a the structure where they might be.
If I have it right the “Buddy” models are now made by Hummingbird, and some feature larger screens and color displays.
With a little research on Basspro, I found out the following:
The proper spellins’ for Hummin’ Bird and Fishin’ Buddy are just like Sarah sez it.
The Hummin’ Bird Fishin’ Buddies use 6 AA batteries.
The older model Canon Fishin’ Buddies use 3 C cells. (Try to say that 3 times.) Mine did not seem to be battery hog though I did not use the lighted screen feature much and seldom used it in cold weather. The manual warns about those and battery life.
