For those of you that use fish finders in your kayaks, what do you recommend? I have been thinking about investing in one.

~gober

I've a got an eagle cuda 168 and it works great for me.

Mutt

I have a Eagle Cuda 168. No problems with it either. I set up the transducer to shoot thru the hull.

No joke the transducer will shoot through the hull. Any special setup required. I was looking at the Cuda 168, I found it for 78 bucks online. What kind of power does it need?

I also have an Eagle Cuda 168 and it shoots through the hull without a problem. Just need to make sure there are no bubbles trapped below the transducer. (can be a problem with some methods.) I set mine up with a semi permanant mount made from a 4" PVC cleanout and it's working great. Here's a thread on another forum that has pics of the PVC method.
http://www.reddrumtackle.com/forums/show...goto=nextoldest

There are advantages and disadvantages to each method. You just have to decide which is best for you.

PVC Mount
Permanant fixture on the inside of your hull. Can come loose with enough flexing of the kayak's plastic. Can easily move it between kayaks if you own more then one.

Foam blocks and Vasaline mount.
More chance of bubbles forming under the transducer throwing off the signal. Vasaline can melt all over the inside of the Yak on hot days, leaving you a big mess to deal with. Can easily move it between kayaks if you own more then one.


Scupper hole mount.
Depending on the hole placement can be a pain with wires underfoot etc. more chance of water getting in. Can get signal interferance from bubbles.

Hang it over the side without mounting.
Chance of it getting hung on debris. Exposed wires, etc

For power, a lot of Yakers use a standard 6 volt deer feeder battery. I went with a bigger batter so I can run a light and fish at night.

I use a 12 volt battery and just hang it in a mesh bag that came mounted inside of my dry hatch. I use the vaseline method for the transducer, but I will probably swith to another method or epoxy it down when it gets warmer due to the issue mentioned above. It took me a bit to get my transducer set right the first couple of times, but now it works great. Another great website for kayak rigging is www.texaskayakfisherman.com Good luck!

Gober,

On my Cuda 168 I have the shoot through the hull mount. I use a 8 AA battery holder from Radio Shack. This provides the 12 V power supply. I think it was about 2 bucks. The batteries have lasted me three trips so far and when they die you can buy them anywhere or carry extras.

Justin

I don't know about any of those. I love the idea of a fishfinder on your yak, man that's great. But all these ones that you guys use only find mysterious boomerangs. My dad had one that would find fish, it was real neat. You knew they were fish because they looked like fish on the screen, and if it was a gar it would have a pointy nose coming out of the little fish looking image. It had a pause button on it that was nifty, one time my brother jumped off the side of the boat, swam down 6 ft and swam under the boat. You wouldn't believe the perfect image of him that we captured on the fishfinder! I paused the screen and we all examined it for quite a while, you could tell it was a person easily, feet, hands, head and body were all clearly distinguishable. I need to find out what kind of fishfinder that was.

Check out the new Hummingbird if you are looking to find fish, you have a 3D view. It runs about 2k. I dont think it would be necessary on a 1k dollar kayak though. I might need something like that on a sport fisher, but surely dont see the need on a plastic boat.

I have an Eagle Fisheasy 320 C (color screen is much easier on the eyes). It shows me everything I need to see. Here is a pic of how I have it mounted on the deck of my yak. The transducer is epoxied to the inside of the hull using marine goo. It has been working great for over a year and I promise you, I have caught quite a few fish...

FYI - There is no need to "over do" it.