Fishfinders

[minnowmuncher]

HI , Any advice on fishfinders welcomed. I have seen them for as little as £30 up tp £300. Basically Im after a basic model , dont need whistles and bells. Probably just gonna use on small venues ,canals ect and for locating shoaling fish to locate Pike.
Thanks in advance

 

[rd115]

The popular choice would be a Deeper variant (Pro, Plus, Chirp etc).

But Pike aren't too hard to find on small venues, once you know the depths and can see the features it's just a bit of guesswork to know where the baitfish and pike will likely be.

Marker float to map the depths would be cheapest option.

 

[ukzero1]

I have to agree with that. Should you want to still go down the fishfinder route though, a couple of my Carp fishing buddies have one of these, castable and up to 100 range on the sensor. They map the bottom, show water temp etc. and colour screen. They really rate them.

Colour Wireless Fish Finder - 100 Metre Range, Depth, Features, Carp, boat, rod | eBay

The Unit can be used in Ocean, River or Lake and is fantastic for detecting schools of fish in any PARTICULAR area. Fish finder (Main Unit). 1 x Coloured LCD Fish finder. Wireless Sensor w/ 90° beam angle.

rover.ebay.com

 

[nickg]

Hm in all honesty I dont think you need a fish finder in a canal to find the pike...

 

[gingert76]

only have experience of Deep Pro and FF on my bait boats and have to say deeper was great for the money though have to agree i am not sure on the benefit on the canal for finding shoals of fish if you are mobile in your pike fishing (sorry but only type of pike fishing i have seen though never done it myself) but entirely your choice as its your money

 

[DAMFLASK CHRIS]

I bought the deeper pro last year to find fish in winter in deep reservoir if I could see fish on finder which last winter was when the depth over 27ft deep gave me an idea I might get a bite in a swim didn't always work
no good in water less then 3ft deep not cheap though payed 200 pounds for it and store map on phone to look at when home

 

[nickg]

Id honestly say that stood on a tow path of a canal you're probably within 30 ft of at least 1 pike.

 

[minnowmuncher]

Hm in all honesty I dont think you need a fish finder in a canal to find the pike...

Yep they are pretty uniform in depth etc and suppose nothing gonna beat observation for small fish shoals. I may be fishing up to 50 + acres so well see. Thanks for the info

 

[Silverfisher]

The deeper is certainly the market leader in this country I don't think you'd go far wrong with one.

An alternative is lowlance 3D fish hunter which seems very good by all accounts as well. It's made by the world leading company in the fish finder market so it's of a quality that you'd expect.

 

[nickg]

Yep they are pretty uniform in depth etc and suppose nothing gonna beat observation for small fish shoals. I may be fishing up to 50 + acres so well see. Thanks for the info

You don't even need to do that. Any area with reeds/cover is likely to be a hotspot.

My dad has a narrowboat on the canal and I spent virtually every holiday / weekend on the boat/canals when I was younger.

The canals are more full of pike than you'd believe and they are everywhere.

From a long time ago

 

[TimFB]

I have used “fishfinders” on boats in saltwater since the mid eighties. Mostly they are not that great in finding fish but are awesome in finding fish holding features and with practice you can figure out if there are any fish present. Every now and then (as in once of twice a year) you might see something like this, which is a mixed shoal of bass and pollack feeding on mackerel and other baitfish...mostly you just see the bottom which in a canal is likely to be pretty uninteresting.