Good fish/depth finder and what power source?

[Glenn MacGrady]

Someone asked me about this, but not being a fisherman I had no idea. What are good current depth/fish finder products and how do you power them? Lithium batteries, car batteries, rechargeable batteries? I'm clueless but will tell him to look here if you guys have some ideas, and maybe I can recruit him to the site.

 

[Blukanu]

Fishing kayaks created

 

[Blukanu]

…a market for small marine electronics and mounts. Garmin Striker series are popular (4 or 5 in screens). Powered with a rechargeable 12V battery like the size of a motorcycle battery.

 

[Blukanu]

I contemplated getting set up with someone as it seemed like it would be cool exploring some back country lakes with one.

Ultimately chose against it. Seemed like some cumbersome extra gear to lug along, useless for 80% of the fishing I do from a canoe and concerns about how long the battery would last.

 

[Jmharrick]

I agree the Garmin Striker system is a good budget friendly ($199) portable sonar unit. You’d likely have to buy a suction cup mount for it. You can power it with a small 12V battery. Buying lithium would cut the battery weight by 60% and increase run time. This unit can also double as an ice flasher.

https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/garmin-striker-4-portable-fishfinder-and-gps-plotter?ds_e=GOOGLE&ds_c=Cabelas%7CShopping%7CPMax%7CBoating%7CGeneral%7CNAud%7CNVol%7CNMT&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA8YyuBhBSEiwA5R3-E5OHO8NM-kWqKAZNuj1jMPLgpEqrLrmQFZpOJRyQPoXTA_82ZzQD8BoCioMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[VernAK]

There's also a magnetic transducer mount available,

 

[EL Tripper]

Here's my setup in my SRC 16' Quetico.
There's a hardwood board strapped to the yoke with two Clutch Straps (brand name, and very handy straps).
There are three Scotty Mount bases attached to the board.
From left to right inserted in the mounts are; Scotty Transducer Mount, then two Scotty rod holders.
Underneath is a Garmin Striker 4 Ice Fishing Bundle, this is a convenient bag with the fish finder, battery, and transducer all inside. I use it for ice fishing also and it can easily be moved to other boats. The transducer came with a suction mount, really for transoms, I found it came off the side of the canoe too often, so I added the Scotty Transducer Mount.
The Clutch Strap allow me to remove the whole thing in seconds, but keep it firmly in place when fishing.

Oh, in Ontario I can only fish with one rod. So only one is in the water at a time. I usually have one rigged for trolling, and the other for jigging.

 

[DougK]

Here's my setup in my SRC 16' Quetico.
There's a hardwood board strapped to the yoke with two Clutch Straps (brand name, and very handy straps).
There are three Scotty Mount bases attached to the board.
From left to right inserted in the mounts are; Scotty Transducer Mount, then two Scotty rod holders.

that's a really neat setup.. very nice, thank you for showing..

I had a small Garmin, with a little lead-acid 12V which would last for my season before needing a recharge, typically an outing a week for 2-3 months. A piece of Velcro glued to the bottom of the boat worked to hold the transducer. The whole lot travelled in a canvas grocery bag. This worked great until I sold that canoe, decided I needed a better setup, and have been fussing around without actually getting it set up for several years now ;-)