Depth finder/Shallow water/Do I need bells and whistles?

[#fishhunt#]

I am looking at getting a depth finder. 99% of my fishing is on a lake that the deepest I ever catch fish is 12 feet and mostly fish 7-9 feet. The lake is relatively weedy and soft bottom. Am I wasting money with Side Imaging and Down scan? Is chirp a better option? I was looking at the Lowrance HDS7 with structure transducer package deal with Insight for 1200.00 at CABEL. Is this unit overkill for my purposes? Thanks for your input.

[ClownColor]

I am looking at getting a depth finder. 99% of my fishing is on a lake that the deepest I ever catch fish is 12 feet and mostly fish 7-9 feet. The lake is relatively weedy and soft bottom. Am I wasting money with Side Imaging and Down scan? Is chirp a better option? I was looking at the Lowrance HDS7 with structure transducer package deal with Insight for 1200.00 at CABEL. Is this unit overkill for my purposes? Thanks for your input.

In a nut shell...YES! IMO you would be wasting money.  Sounds like you fish one lake and know it well.  I'm guessing it's a small lake?  Than 100% yes.  SI is good for searching for new spots while looking for structure.  Yes, it can pull up schools of bait fish and you can even pick up fish with a good eye.  I wouldn't buy SI for locating fish.  Also, are you panfishing most of the time?  IMO, if on a small lake and panfishing, a cheap unit that shows depth only is really all you need. I don't even think I'd by GPS regarding my last assumption.

 

Howver, if you got a few bucks to waste, a descent sonar with DI can be fun (I'm not a big user of DI, I think it's for show a lot of the times) to see what you have below you like finding submerged weed lines and maybe sunken trees for bass/northerns...but being able to read traditional 2D allows that as well but with a much wider cone or veiwing area.

 

All that said I love HDS untis and I love my HDS8 with SS/DS but I fish lakes like mille lacs and leech quit a bit.  I also target walleye 99% of the time. unlike the smaller panfish,northern/bass lakes I fish, I need to find new areas while searching for structure, weed growth, bait fish, and when I'm lucky, I can pick up eyes off the bottom.

 

 

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[#fishhunt#]

Thank you for the reply CC. I appreciate the info and will take careful consideration of your points. That is what I was thinking. I have fished the lake for many years.  4,000 acre lake 23 feet is the deepest. It is a very shallow weedy lake but has some rock reefs that go from  14 feet up to 7 feet this I would like to explore a little better. Walleye is what I target 95% of the time. I have a Lowrance x85 now that the transducer got torn off which works OK but it is upgrade time.

[ClownColor]

Thank you for the reply CC. I appreciate the info and will take careful consideration of your points. That is what I was thinking. I have fished the lake for many years.  4,000 acre lake 23 feet is the deepest. It is a very shallow weedy lake but has some rock reefs that go from  14 feet up to 7 feet this I would like to explore a little better. Walleye is what I target 95% of the time. I have a Lowrance x85 now that the transducer got torn off which works OK but it is upgrade time.

4000 acres is a nice size lake. Since you target walleye, structure is key. This changes my first response under assumption it was a small lake.  Well...that is a tough call. I guess if fishing was your passion and money isn't tight, it may be a worth while investment to really get to know the lake and what's down there.

[delmuts]

On that size lake and being a walleye guy; you mite find a S.I. unit helpful, but if you don't  want to spend the extra money? I purchased a basic Garmin color unit this summer. I was a left over with a 5 in screen, and love it! ( can't tell you model right now)  This  unit that has great clarity. I do love my HB. with S.I. and GPS, but  very happy with the Garmin.

[delcecchi]

A 5 inch color combo gps/sonar will be very helpful.  A HDS series has networking and stuff that you probably won't use, so you might consider a more budget series like elite, or bird equivalent.