[da_teacher]

Has anyone ever used the floating fish finder...the one that's like a bobber?

 

[Thought Criminal]

Yes. It might work for you depending on what you need. I used it in Spinney and suspected that it was always reporting fish even when they were not there. This could be due to the weeds however. The one I had was the size of a watch and the resolution was not very good. It was fine at reporting water depth.

I ended up returning it to the store I bought it from mainly because I did not need or want an extra thing to keep track of when I fish.

 

[Walking Eagle]

I haven't used one myself, but I watched over a guy's shoulder as he demonstrated his. I don't think anyone really expects those things to find fish, but if you're shore fishing they'll tell you the depth of the water where you're casting.

The guy that showed me his, would cast it out from shore, measure the depth, and then set his slip bobber to place the hook just about a foot off the bottom. It worked very well for that.

For efficiency's sake, it works best to just keep one rod rigged up with the depth finder. It ties up a rod, but saves time in the long run. Besides, we all have lots of rods, don't we? ;D

 

[michael in parker]

I bought one a few years ago. When I had it fish finder, I would cast it out and reel it back in very slowly. When I saw a school of fish I would then cast my lure several feet past the transducer and would usually get a fish (trout mainly). Like Walking Eagle said, it is good for reading the depth.

The pixels are pretty low, however, you can tell if you are over rocks and weeds. I ended up taking back the unit only because I felt it was more of a hassle and was not worth the money.

 

[bobwall]

I'm curious too. I have been looking at the smartcast 15 and want to use it for my pontoon and for shore fishing. Anyone else have experiance w/ these? other sujestions for the pontoon?

 

[polpd]

I have a HAWKEYE Portable Fish Finder that i use with my float tube..... it works well

 

[CaptHook]

I bought one a couple of years ago and tried it out while ice-fishing. I was sitting on about fifteen feet of clear water and could see the bottom. I could not see any fish and the thing kept reporting fish. As said it worked for depth. I still have it and will try it again some more off the boat this year to give it a fair shot. But I was not all that impressed.

 

[CaptHook]

BTW it is a smartcast. I don't remember which model but it is the one with the screen that hooks on to your pole.

 

[michael in parker]

Anyone else have experiance w/ these? other sujestions for the pontoon?

I have an Eagle Cuda 168 that I picked up from sportsmans for $70. I then bought a ram mount to attach the fish finder to a round bar. PM me and I will email you pictures of the set up.

 

[Spin Dr.]

I have a smart cast, the model that has stand alone receiver - not the wrist or rod style. It works ok for depth, can't tell much about the false fish readings...how do you know if you can't see them? I have had success using it with my float tube, I tie the transducer on a short piece of braided line and then clip it to a D-ring and let it trail along close by. When I mark a fish - or think I do - I try to drift on past and then dropshot my bait or lure. Works OK. One thing I found is that the thing practically eats the AA batteries, so always carry some spares.