Fish Finders?

[HandGunner]

how does a fish finder work? I understand flashers for ice fishing but fish finders in open water I get confused. What do the numbers on the fish represent? Are fish finders for open water like flashers were the water is being read from directly under the boat? Planing on trying to get a cheap fish finder for the kayak I just baught and kind of thaught whats the point of seeing fish just under me when I need to know whats ahead of me. If so Either I would get a hummingbird fishin buddy 110 or more of a traditional mounted fish finder.

[Nhamm]

Personally think you are better off watching some videos on youtube or elsewhere to find this information. Waaaaay too much information to put into text form, and to actually see it in use visually may help you to learn as well. Here is one video to start you off, or I know Humminbird has some really good videos as well just go to their HSOforum.

[PerchJerker]

Traditional sonars (ie. fishfinders) shoot a beam of sound out of the transducer. The beam of sound looks just like the beam of light coming out of a flashlight .... it's a cone shape, and the farther away it gets the bigger the cone gets. You see what is directly under the transducer, and the deeper it is the bigger the area you see.

As the sound reflects off objects ..... the bottom, weeds, fish, baitfish, your bait, etc. ...... it bounces back to the transducer. The amount of time it takes to leave the transducer, reflect off an object, and return to the transducer tells the sonar how far away (ie. how deep) it is. The bottom might be 20 feet deep, weeds might come up 3 feet above the bottom, and there might be fish schooled from 14-17 feet over the tops of the weeds. You can see all of this on a good sonar unit.

Flashers and graphs show the same thing, just in a different way. The flasher is a circular display and shows you only what is below you at that instant, whereas a graph is a horizontal display and shows you what is below you at that instant, plus some history scrolling across the screen.

The only way to see what's in front of you is to have the sonar on the bow ..... but that is only going to show you what's under the bow, it's not going to look ahead of the boat or anything like that.

Hope that helps.

[mainbutter]

Not 100% accurate, particularly regarding the newest ways of listening and displaying input, but close enough to get the idea across:

Sonar clicks multiple times every second.

Listen for echos.

Time of the echo gives you a depth for hitting an object.

The list of depths for return signals is your data.

You can graph that data in any way you want. Flashers display it in real time using a circle. Why a circle, I don't know.

Fish finders display that data as a graph over time using a display, generally to the benefit of someone moving at slow speeds. This "draws" a reading of where it heard return signals, which can be analyzed essentially as a photo capture of what was below the transducer at that point in time.

[HandGunner]

I get how they work using sonar but I guess what im really asking is how is it that it can size up and id fish and how is it used for fishing if its reading directly under you but your casting in a different direction?

[Esox_Magnum]

Use the finder to learn the structure then back off and use the GPS to keep you in the zone when casting....

[aanderud]

I get how they work using sonar but I guess what im really asking is how is it that it can size up and id fish and how is it used for fishing if its reading directly under you but your casting in a different direction?

Sonars work great when trolling -- mark a fish, and then depending on your speed and how long of a line you have out, wait for 5, 10, or 20 seconds and then hold on as the fish you just marked smacks your presented bait.

Or, you can use a side imaging system to see what's off to the sides if you're casting off to the side of the boat.

[PerchJerker]

I guess what im really asking is how is it that it can size up and id fish

If you have the fish id feature turned on, your graph will draw fish icons on the screen. If that's what you have happening, turn the fish id feature OFF and leave it OFF. That is the unit interpreting the return signals and displaying what it thinks it's seeing.

You're far better off letting the sonar returns display on the screen and learning to interpret what you are seeing. If you spend some time working on this and practicing it you will be able to interpret fish (most of them will not show as perfect fish arches), multiple fish, baitfish, weeds, hard bottom, soft bottom, etc. Using your sonar in this way will give you a much, much better understanding of what's going on below you.

Then, use what you're seeing and learning about the water you're in, and adjust and react as necessary. Troll over what you have just seen. Find a spot on a spot and sit over it or back off and fish it. Follow outside weedlines, follow inside weedlines, follow dropoffs, work the tips of points or the inside turns of breaklines, fish the hard bottom spots surrounded by mud, fish sunken islands and reefs, etc.

[mainbutter]

I get how they work using sonar but I guess what im really asking is how is it that it can size up and id fish and how is it used for fishing if its reading directly under you but your casting in a different direction?

Sizing up fish: A bigger fish will return a stronger echo, a "taller" echo, and for more clicks on the sonar.

Use for fishing: I use it to look at structure. Hard bottoms return a different signal than soft bottoms, you can clearly make out weeds as well. When I'm trolling, I can spot bait balls, and individual fish. This gives me a clue as to how much line to have out to run my lures at the right depth.

You're not targeting specific fish with a "fish finder", you're using it to see what the structure is and where many fish are congregating, so you can eliminate unproductive water. If you troll your favorite break, and don't see any "hooks" (general shape of a fish sonar return), and you're not catching anything, it's pretty easy to eliminate that kind of structure and move on to a hump or shallow water or weeds or something different.

I like sonar fishing out in the ocean while drifting/slow moving. Cappy can drive and read the sonar, call out a depth when a big school is passing by. Drop your jig/bait/whatever to that depth and hammer away with some bouncing or other motion to grab some attention.

Also I agree with perchjerker, don't have the "fish ID" feature turned on. That's just the sonar making a guess that what it heard was a fish, instead of displaying EXACTLY what it heard.

[HandGunner]

so what if I got one of the cheap harbor freight fish finders? or the look alikes portables and some even have the castable wireless transducer. there's an ad up for the hummingbird smartcast wrist watch fish finder.

[h8go4s]

so what if I got one of the cheap harbor freight fish finders? or the look alikes portables and some even have the castable wireless transducer. there's an ad up for the hummingbird smartcast wrist watch fish finder.

You will be disappointed if you buy any of those. Buy quality. Also, what you want is a depth finder, not a fish finder. Fish finder is a marketing phrase to suck in the gullible. Yes, depth finders can display fish returns, but not in the way you seem to want. Your goal should be to find the depth and structure where fish are likely to feed and use the depth finder to stay on that structure. Then you need to learn what species of fish are likely to be on that structure and what bait or lure they are likely to bite on. With experience and a good depth finder, you will learn to distinguish rock, weeds, wood and soft or hard bottom, baitfish schools, and even game fish. There are no easy answers. Read fishing magazines and books, watch videos and even the Saturday morning TV fishing shows. Then with a lot of experience and time on the water, you might become a good fisherman. I'm in my 60's and still learning. Good luck.

[mojogunter]

If you are running a humminbird with a dual transducer then I would disagree with your advice to shut off the fish ID feature. The reason is that the fish id will tell you if the object is in wide 83 or narrow 200 cone. If the fish color id is orange then you know that it is on the 200 and is closer to the boat. If it shows in blue the it is from the 83 and it is further out to the side. It could be frustrating seeing what appears to to fish but not being able to get the fish to bite, all along not knowing that the fish may be to far off to the side for them to see your bait giving you a chance to catch them. This is one of the many times to have SI that way you can pull that up and see what side the fish are on and adjust your position accordingly. I know that the person that asked the question will not buying a dual transducer sonar let alone a SI unit, but I still think that it was worth mentioning to others that may already have a better sonar unit, but would IMO be getting less than stellar advice shutting off the ID. Back when I still used Lowrance I never ran with the fish ID on, but as technology changes we as fisherman need to use as much of the sonars capability as we can to give us the best chance to figure out where and what the fish may want on any given day.

If you have the fish id feature turned on, your graph will draw fish icons on the screen. If that's what you have happening, turn the fish id feature OFF and leave it OFF. That is the unit interpreting the return signals and displaying what it thinks it's seeing.

You're far better off letting the sonar returns display on the screen and learning to interpret what you are seeing. If you spend some time working on this and practicing it you will be able to interpret fish (most of them will not show as perfect fish arches), multiple fish, baitfish, weeds, hard bottom, soft bottom, etc. Using your sonar in this way will give you a much, much better understanding of what's going on below you.

Then, use what you're seeing and learning about the water you're in, and adjust and react as necessary. Troll over what you have just seen. Find a spot on a spot and sit over it or back off and fish it. Follow outside weedlines, follow inside weedlines, follow dropoffs, work the tips of points or the inside turns of breaklines, fish the hard bottom spots surrounded by mud, fish sunken islands and reefs, etc.

[aanderud]

Fish finder is a marketing phrase to suck in the gullible. Yes, depth finders can display fish returns, but not in the way you seem to want. Your goal should be to find the depth and structure where fish are likely to feed and use the depth finder to stay on that structure. Then you need to learn what species of fish are likely to be on that structure and what bait or lure they are likely to bite on.

Never understimate the importance of using your sonar to find fish in addition to depth. If there are no fish on the structure you're on, you will know it. You can guess at what species is likely to be where, and try to put yourself on the right kind of structure, and try to put a likely lure in front of them, but if they're not present, they won't bite no matter what lure you put down there. Use the sonar to mark depth, bottom content, and the presence of fish, and you'll be able to rule out TONS of unproductive water.

[HandGunner]

I guess the hummingbird fishin buddy would be tje best option to go with. I don't want to go with a rig were I'm going to have to drill holes and buy big ol batteries I like the ones that run on double a and such.

[Comit 2]

Some people call me a fish finder.

Depth finders are only as good as the operator. The key is to learn what fish like at what time of the year. Behavior, how fish relate to what is in there environment. Then use the depth finder to locate the key areas. Drop offs, rock bottoms, transition areas, boulders, and so on.

If your catching fish use the depth finder to see what is in the area that is holding the fish. It may be current or an old Christmas tree but how would you know if you don't have a way to see what is down there.

I use a flasher most of the time. Just turn it up so you just barely see a second bottom (so in 10 f,o,w you'll see a mark at the 20 foot mark) Then if the line at the 20 foot mark gets brighter you know the bottom is harder. If it fades away it's softer. If you look away, it won't store the information. Most people look at there depth finder like a TV, the middle of the screen. That is old news and no help when trying to stay on a fish holding area.

Fish finder?