Kayak Fish Finder
 

Fish finders are sonar devices that can help everyone from the weekend angler to a tournament pro be a more productive fisherman (or woman).

Using a kayak fish finder can help you spend more time catching fish and less time looking for them. And catching fish is why you're out there in the first place, right?

A fish finder isn't going to make fish jump on your hook, of course, but they can make locating them a whole lot easier (by reducing much of the guesswork). Fresh water, salt water, beginner or serious angler, it doesn't matter, a good kayak fish finder will soon be your best friend when it comes to tracking down that next big catch.

Okay, so how do fish finders work? These devices use sonar technology to scan beneath your kayak and determine the bottom structure and composition, water depth, locate where schools of

Garmin Waterproof Fish Finder

fish could be hiding, locate reefs, shipwrecks, and other large underwater objects. They can even help identify thermal changes in the water where fish are likely to congregate.

Low to medium priced kayak fish finders can be purchased from Hummingbird, Garmin, Eagle, Lawrence, and others. They generally consist of an LCD display panel that's mounted topside and a sensor or "puck" that's fixed to the bottom of kayak. This sensor is the "eye" of the unit, and is normally attached to the hull using epoxy or some other type of marine adhesive.

The fish finder display is usually mounted in a strategic and visible place topside, by velcro or epoxy. Many paddlers prefer a removable mounting so that the unit can be taking off during boat storage, portage, and launchings and landings.

Another consideration when mounting is the fact that most of these units aren't waterproof: you can get them wet, but you definitely don't want to immerse them in water. One way to keep your fish finder safe and dry is to store it in a dry bag when not in use.

Most kayak fish finders use re-chargable batteries that are good for 10-16 hours of use. You might want to bring along a spare set of batteries just in case.

Finally, you'll want to read the instructions carefully and test the unit out on the water a few times. Like most electronic devices, these fish finders can take a while to get used to, and to understand what you're looking at on the display. But be patient, learn how to read those underwater features, and pretty soon you'll be catching more fish than ever before.

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