From: rdi@cci632.cci.com (Rick Inzero)
Subject: Re: (fish,depth)finders and Canoes? (Was: Re: Eagle 3-D)
Organization: Northern Telecom LTD, Rochester, NY
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 15:41:04 GMT

In article <1993Jan24.214353.22027@uvm.edu> jmc@moose.uvm.edu (John M. Connors) writes:
>From article <1993Jan21.000925.4124@rose.com>, by marv.bloom@rose.com (marv bloom):
>> 
>> Date Entered: 01-20-93 19:07
>> M(:From: mjk11@po.CWRU.Edu (Mary J. Knowles)
>> 
>> M(:I am looking for a fish finder to use on NE Ohio inland lakes, mostly
>> M(:fairly shallow, for my canoe.  A previous post emphasized the importance
>I am in sort of the same boat. (pun intended) 
>
>Are there other economy-minded anglers out there who fish from canoes
>using depth finders?  Any advice?  Any stories?

Yep; I've got a 17' AlumaCraft canoe, and I routinely use
a depth finder on it, and sometimes a 1970s vintage electric trolling 
motor on a side mount, too.

I first used a flasher (1960s circuit design), but upgraded 
to a MUCH more sensitive modern-design LCD last year.
(Being a flasher wasn't the problem, the problem was it just
didn't have very high power, and had trouble marking fish.)
I have made this LCD portable by copying/building a carrying box
that I saw pictured in the In-Fisherman book "Ice Fishing Secrets".
It's a wood box with a handle, a space in back for a motorcycle
battery, and a space under the LCD to store the cable and transducer.

>I really enjoy fishing from my 17' squareback.  There are places where
>I would have thought a depth finder who have helped a great deal.   

Yep, and it's a ready source of entertainment when the fish aren't
biting!  :-)  I went out about 6 hours after a strong front moved
through last summer, and couldn't get a bite, but still had TONS
of fun playing with the depth finder; the fish were there, just
tight-lipped.

>To be perfectly honest, I don't think I will in water over fifty feet in 
>depth.  Is a fish/depth finder still practical device in my situation?  

Sure!  The modern ones still show a good display in less than a few feet
of water.  All the fish I saw on the aforementioned trip were suspended
at 7' down over 15' of water.  I'd suggest an LCD.  When in a canoe, 
you're busy paddling and looking where you're going and where the wind 
is pushing you, and with a flasher, it may flash to indicate a fish and 
be gone before you look back at it.  At least with an LCD, it stores 
information a little bit before the mark scrolls off the edge.

To mount the transducer, I have an old portable/temporary aluminum 
transducer mount that is essentially a C clamp with a ~3 foot long 
hollow 1/2" aluminum tube on it, with a flat metal piece on the bottom 
that you screw the transducer to.  This is pretty hard to describe in 
words.  The long tube is adjustable up and down to allow for different 
drafts of water craft, and the flat metal piece also swivels in 2 
dimensions so that you can get the transducer parallel to the surface of
the water.  I've seen the for sale for about $30.  
Heathkit used to sell them; mine came from an old Ray-Jeff flasher.  
Because this is only a temporary mount, I can use this not only on my 
canoe, but on all my friends rowboats, or on rental boats.
You could easily make one yourself (if only you could figure out
what it looks like from my description).
You just have to remember to pull it up when you go to beach the boat
(oops, there goes ANOTHER aluminum tube bent at 45 degrees!).

---
Rick "My tackle box weighs 38 pounds" Inzero	rochester!cci632!rdi
Computer Consoles Inc. (CCI)			uunet!ccicpg!cci632!rdi
Rochester, NY					rdi@cci.com

Dual .sig:

"I KNEW I should've bought a CATCHING license instead of a 
FISHING license!!"  -Rod-n-Reel show, 1992

"Well, right now, I'm actually water skiing behind a largemouth bass!!"
                -radio ad for Keystone Beer Fishing Hotline, 1992

Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.fishing