Fish Finder alternatives

[gliebig]

I was looking to add a fish finder to my yak but not sure if I want to go through the trouble of mounting the unit/transducer/battery. These castable units send feedback to your smartphone. What's everyone's thoughts on just pulling one of these things close behind the yak and having the ff display on your phone?

There are several brands to choose from. Something like one of these...
https://buydeeper.com/deeper

[ES Fisherman]

You could go with one of these if there's a way to attach it to your kayak http://www.humminbird.com/Freshwater.../Fishin-Buddy/

[wfauby]

I have to admit i didnt look at the links or have any idea of the products you are asking about, but simpy by the description; How sensitive are you to the idea of loosing your phone over the side? It would seem to me you have to have the phone in your hand or on your lap to see the screen...Also, a phone is a small screen, not sure how much detail it can show. There are lots of creative ways to rig a true FF on your yak without having chords running everywhere, drilling holes, investing in mounts etc...my unit is not hard mounted, i simply place the molded base under some factory installed bungees (placed there for storage by manufacturer) that are out in front of me, between my knees. My transducer is hung over the side on a piece of pvc pipe, not mounted, works like a charm.

[Memory Maker]

Just buy a decent DF and then get a Yakattack Cell block and a arm then you can take a decent depfinder on and off as a unit. The only thing you will be mounting is the gear track. Those DFrs are not very powerful etc and you will be spending more money to get something that is powerful enough.

[OVERBOARD]

Not to hijack the thread, but I have a basically brand new Lowrance Elite 5 DSI Gold for sale.... pm if interested

[Turtle135]

Interesting concept but I think if you used one on a kayak eventually you would grow tired of deploying the unit, keeping an eye on it so that it did not get hung up and having to have your cell phone out to view the reading. There are some ways to mount a fish finder with no drilling involved. I believe you would get much more functional use of the fish finder mounted and ready to use.

[Yak Fish]

Yah, kinda sounds like a nightmare. My fishfinder head unit comes off with the transducer attached to it. I made a bracket and it attaches to a ram ball. The battery is inside and all I run is a single wire. It's simple. I can't imagine a float along thing would be of good quality compared to having something solid mounted on your yak. As you pull it, it will tilt backwards and you'll never get a reading so you'd end up mounting it solid anyway. Just my thoughts...I haven't seen these in use before but I could see them being nice to have at a place like conowingo dam where you can't access the water.

[Buzzy.i.am]

I bought a bottom of the line garmin ran the transducer through a scupper hole, if you want pics I can send. The average depth of the Chesapeake and its tributaries is 21 ft. Take out the shipping channels and it is much less. I use my fishfinder for three things....depth, water temp, and looking for structure....you can use your smart phone for everything else, wind, radar, way point, gps, etc. http://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/mynoaacharts/

This is a great app to take care of everything else an expensive fish finder may have, and it's free. Just sayin.

Also, your going to loose that float along thing with a bad tie, or snag...