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Fishing with Electronics: Sonars

Fishing with Electronics: Sonars

On the ODJ Radio Podcast episode 155 there was a great discussion stemming from a fan question regarding sonars and livescopes and the best solution for new anglers to get on the water, that would increase their capabilities and success rates.

Ang, Pete and Dean covered this topic with expertise and provided a lot of great insight, and I would love to help provide some extra clarity and advice.

I can tell you from my own experience the first fish finder I owned was particularly intended to help me with my Ice fishing adventures. I ended up with a Traditional HB Wide 100. I honestly don't think this thing helped me mark a single fish, but it certainly helped keep me interested and on the ice.

When my old sonar frustrated me for the final time I made the decision to upgrade my unit. Ice fishing was primarily all I had the time to do during this time. In the warmer months I had access to boats, but at that time didn't own one or have any time for open water fishing.

 I was primarily focused on the all in one Ice fishing kits, researching between different flasher options and traditional units. It really took me a while to make a final decision.

After lots of research I landed on and really felt that the Garmin Striker 4 Plus Ice fishing Edition was a fantastic solution for me. As a hunter, I still use Garmin Inreach and Garmin Etrex for GPS and waypoint management and feel very confident with their software. I equally liked the features the Garmin's Fish Finder mapping included.

That Ice Fishing season was different than my past experiences. I caught my first whitefish that I could confidently say was assisted by technology! That particular season we caught whitefish we observed chasing vibratos then darting down to minnows on a spreader. We caught lake trout by fishing low and seeing them coming in high and reeling up to their depth and continuing PAST. Experiencing the fish chase up and smash the hook really provided more awareness under the hole.

The spring of the season, I decided to pull the trigger and buy a boat. At first I was cruising around and jigging on locations with my Ice transducer. I was happy, but started looking at the option of adding a transducer to the boat to allow for better clarity.

A couple days after I bought my new boat my father also picked up a new boat that came with a Garmin Echomap 63cv. After a few trips with him on the water learning and then teaching him how to use his new fishfinder, I quickly realized how the ClearVu adds significant detail for structure. At the same time the Echomap system having Navionics was a feature that I put significant extra value on. Naturally, my wheels started spinning.

I finished the season out with no boat transducer. Come Boxing day, Cabelas had the Garmin Echomap 75sv on sale for $799 with a transducer. I decided to pull the trigger. My thought was I already have the ice kit with my Striker.. so the transducer would have been another $100 for the striker and I would be limited to traditional fish finding. Alternatively, I could upgrade and get a much bigger and better unit with panoptix capabilities if I chose to add the ps22 in the future. The boat transducer was included and navionics for the additional $ it was worth the upgrade for me, and has increased my odds catching fish tenfold. I love this unit!

So as mentioned from my experience for a new ice fisherman, the Garmin Striker Ice Edition is a wonderful kit and will likely suit your needs with the capabilities of working portably with ice and open water transducer solutions. If you want to add better mapping and the sought after livescope or downgrade panoptix the jump to the 55cv or 75sv might be worth consideration. As a good friend of mine always says, buy once cry once.

Now that thats been discussed, being an avid Ice fisherman, I am still in possession of a Striker 4 system that I have built into a Ammo box for trips that are longer in nature or for a more portable solution.

In the past 2 years particularly I have tested a Lowrance units and Humminbird Helix' as well and do believe that regardless of the choice as long as you get yourself one that works within your lifestyle needs you will be happy. For me, I love the compatibility between Garmin products, as Garmin units are backwards compatible with transducers. For example I went to Chaudiere Lodge with a group and was happy to find they provide Garmin Strikers installed on the lodge boats, which allowed me to plug my Echomap in and use it instead of using the striker on the boat utilizing my built in Navionics and waypoints, granted you are restricted to the max capabilities of the transducer (traditional mode only in that scenario) but its nice to ensure you can use your preferred unit when traveling utilizing the appropriate the 12pin to 8 or 12pin to 4pin adapter.

 

Summary: For someone looking to add a system to your gear, lets look at some options:

 

Recommended System for Ice Fishing:


Good: Garmin Striker 4 Plus Ice Edition (you can purchase the 4pin boat transducer in the future)

Better: Garmin 55CV Ice edition (8 pin transducer or 4pin with adapter)

Best: Garmin 75sv w/ Portable Ice Kit (Comes with 12 pin transducer, you can get 12-4 or 12-8 for applicable Ice Transducer)

 

Recommended System for Boats:

 

Good: Garmin Striker 4cv

Better: Garmin 55cv

Best: Garmin Echomap Series 75sv or 75sv works great for me but talk to your local expert you may see the value in the larger units.

The moral of my story is if you're looking for a unit.. on the ice, kayak, boat or shore, Garmin has something for everyone in every budget that from my experience will increase your odds when you learn how to use the tool.