Portable Sonar

[MrSchrute]

What does everyone use for a portable fishfinder for their canoes? I was looking at getting a Garmin fishfinder on the cheap and hooking it up to a vexilar battery.

[gn83tm]

There was some discussion on this topic last fall: Kayak Sonar

The Vex I have was also available in a "Boundary Waters" version and it had the battery pack in the base to make it very portable. The series was discontinued but I think they may have an updated model at this point. Here's a link to the Consumer Reviews thread: Vexilar LCD

[Duffman]

I've ditched the LX5 and vexilar battery and now use the lighter Showdown Troller with 6 AA's. I've had it out a couple times, I'm curious to see how long the batteries last. So far, so good, it's a nice little unit.

[Dark Cloud]

Hey Duffman, what kind of holder do you have that thing in. Im looking around at options to mount my Showdown troller om my kayak. I was thinking some kind of "ram" style gps mount?

[Duffman]

Hey DC, this is the set-up I used on my canoe. It's Ram's Universal Finger Grip Holder and a ATV round bar mount. It's pretty solid in the holder, it comes with three different sized "fingers", the biggest ones work the best. I'll try and get some better pics for you tomorrow when I'm out in the canoe. I ordered from Amazon.

[TooTallTom]

I just use the ice rig I set up for my Humminbird 788ci. I set the bag down and go to town.

I've just been tossing the 'ducer over the side (with the float attached), but I should probably figure a more stable system.

[little kid]

Duffman, great looking rig - where do you mount the transducer for the showdown?

[Duffman]

The transducer just sits on the floor/bottom of the canoe, it has no problem reading the signal right thru the hull.

[Dr Thunder]

The transducer just sits on the floor/bottom of the canoe, it has no problem reading the signal right thru the hull.

Will it read through aluminum also???

[Duffman]

It should, I used to use my Vex transducer the same way in the bottom of a 14' aluminum boat.

[Duffman]

I finally replaced the batteries in my Showdown Troller, three trips on the ice and ten canoe outings on the first set of AA's. Granted, I didn't use the backlight feature much, that is, if I remembered to turn it off in the bright sunshine.

But I'm impressed, there will be no need to even bring spare batteries on my typical 4 day BWCA trip.

[Chode2235]

Those AA units are great. I used a HB Pirhana portable for a number of years, that thing was rock solid and laster forever on a charge.

[mainbutter]

One of my birthday presents was a humminbird 385ci

It's a great unit and comes with a rechargeable battery.

[tolle141]

Not sure if this is still going, but the fish finder really does do wonders for you. Last summer I didn't have one and went off memory. I did fine, but last fall I bought a PirahnaMAX 160 portable for like 120. I didn't get out with it so this spring after I bought my Trident 13 I called up Humminbird and they swapped my transducer with the scupper-hole one and let's just say that this has been an incredible year. Especially on clear lakes when you almost need to target those deep weedlines.

Highly recommended. They also make transducers that you glue inside your hull. Haven't tried them yet, but if you have an OK definitely go the scupper hole route.

[MN BassFisher]

I will second the Humminbird and the Ocean Kayak combo. The scupper hole is a nice easy place to mount.