Understanding fish finders and the meaning of power

The second boat I owned came with an old Lowrance fish/depth finder. Now, four boats and five kayaks later, I am beginning to figure out these wonderful devices.

My recent epiphany came when my Lowrance X85 finder got a significant amount of water inside and shorted out. I had struggled with this finder for about a year. It's very powerful but the technology is old and replacement parts are expensive. After its failure I started looking around at various finders with the goal of spending about $125 for a finder, cover or case and a speed sensor. I settled on the Humminbird 560 (middle photo) and was able to accomplish my goal within budget by finding a fabulous deal Thanksgiving Day. I mounted the transducer inside the hull on my sled and took it out for a test drive. The unit worked great at slower speeds but lost the bottom at higher speeds. I did some test to see if the problem was the location of the transducer, the voltage interference and or the adhesive. No matter what I did, I had the same results. So I started doing more research. I soon realized that the X85 had an RMS (watt) rating of 375, while the 560 has a RMS rating of 250. I thought back to the X85 transducer I had put in the hull of the sled  and remembered the loud tapping sound, something that was missing from the 560 transducer. 

Currently, my two kayaks both have Hawkeye finders. The Hawkeye (see left photo) on my Redfish came with the kayak and is a magical unit. On several occasions I have marked fish on the finder and within minutes I got a bite. Although it only goes to 100 feet, it always works and marks fish even though the transducer shoots through the hull. The other finder is also a Hawkeye (right photo). It's older but it has a temperature gauge, fish alarm, is able to measure to 120 feet and distinguishes between large and small fish. However, it stops working intermittently, usually at the worst possible time. Needless to say this model is no longer manufactured.

So what does all this mean? Well as you are looking for a fish finder, pay close attention to the peak-to-peak wattage and the RMS. In a nutshell, the best advice I can give you is that the faster you plan on going in your kayak or boat, the higher the RMS you will need. In a later post I will discuss resolution and options.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Starting The Season With A New Fleet

Image
The blog has received little love over the past year, so it was time to write a post. It's not that I have been fishing less, it's that I haven't taken the time to post and work on the videos. The 2022 salmon season was not nearly as epic as the 2021 season especially with the limited fall salmon season. This was mainly due to a unique hatchery Tule Chinook salmon return where the Spring Creek Hatchery upstream of Bonneville Dam had about 100,000 Chinook return - twice the average. The Tule is an endangered species in the rivers below Bonneville Dam and due to some complicated issues,  caused a closure in the lower Columbia River during the height of the season. Hobie PA17t The 2023 salmon season is off to an unseasonably cold start with winter holding on and March coming in like a lion and going out like a lion. No lambs this year. Hopefully better days await in April and beyond. I did reorganize my fleet buying and selling some kayaks while still ending up with a tandem,
Read more

A Productive Salmon Season in a Year of Low Returns

Image
This year has proven one of my best yet for putting salmon in the kayak. After a slow start in March and April, I hooked eight and landed six spring Chinook "Springers" on the Willamette River. All were hatchery fish and most were 30-plus inches. They were all caught with my red and orange hand-tied spinners and Pro-Troll 360 flashers. The Springers were caught in May and June, typically the end of the season. These two months seem to be my most productive. Two years ago, I landed six, and had two, two-fish days. This year, I never hooked two fish on the same day, although I had more days catching fish. Most days were spent focusing on the tide changes, and I was usually off the water by noon. I was fortunate because the run was about 25 percent lower than expected and many anglers had a rough season. I spent July fishing for smallmouth bass in the Willamette and Columbia, and spent a few days in August anchored in the Columbia fishing for fall kings. The fall season p
Read more

The 2021 Fishing Season Recap

Image
Welcome to the 2021 kayak fishing season recap. Last season was exceptional with lots of salmon on the kayak, a few trout on the fly rod, and a nice halibut on the boat.  I spent most of my time fishing the Willamette and Columbia rivers with my friend Mark. Fishing less than 30 minutes from home in a kayak also reduced my carbon footprint, especially when transporting the kayak on my 16-year-old Ford Escape hybrid.  Fishing close to home also allowed fishing trips before and after work, which were key to my success in 2021. The season highlights included fishing in five different Hobie kayaks and catching salmon in four of them and hooking salmon in all five. This season also included two friends and my brother catching their first salmon in the kayak, fishing a new area with new techniques, and earning a limit of a king and a coho before noon.  Although I would hook more than 30 fish this season, I only landed 24 and tagged 19, falling just one short of filling my salmon tag. Most
Read more