# sounders: yes or no



## rodrocket (Apr 24, 2012)

Hi,
I understand what you're saying, and agree with you, though I guess it depends on what you target and where you fish.
I tend to fish near shore, sometimes in reef/rock areas with a lure out back. It's really handy to pick up a "bommie" and wind in b4 I lose my lure on said menace  
In open territory fishing flatties, it is good to see changing bank contours where dinner may be waiting, but is not all that necessary.
Fishing lakes and rivers, it's great to see submerged structure which otherwise would be overlooked.
There are some relatively small units that don't interfere too much with overall efficiency of fishing process i.e. getting in the way.
Having to sort out a battery etc can be a hassle sometimes, but is a one off procedure and obviously a necessity. 
Finally, the cost of them is so low, especially if it's a GPS/FF combo, or $120 for FF only, and about $30 for a suitable battery, so why not ???
I really would feel a bit "blind" without one, even a cheapie  
Cheers, Rod


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## bildad (Jun 20, 2011)

Definitely yes for me.
I do a lot of trolling and the species I generally target hold close to the bottom, I know what depth my lures run at so with FF I can keep them in that bottom 2 feet of water, plus its good for finding drop offs or structure.
I have a Garmin 300C.


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## scater (Nov 24, 2007)

Salti, give the connections a hose with inox after every trip in the salt. My sounder is 5 years old now and looks like new despite copping a heap of briny in its time. With that said, I'm thinking of getting a 475 this year as a trolling machine for offshore Noosa and if I do it will be bare bones, no sounder.


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## RedPhoenix (Jun 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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## avayak (May 23, 2007)

Very helpful for locating kings as they tend to be patchy. The alternative is to cover a lot of ground and bump into a patch. Both methods work but are suited to different fishing techniques eg jigging or downrigging. I tend to watch the screen too much rather than look around me sometimes but I enjoy seeing what is down there. I have a boat and two yaks so I share the head unit and just buy additional transducers.


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## cheaterparts (Jul 3, 2010)

it's almost inpossable to fish a lot of the area I fish without one - a lot of the time you cant see the end of a paddle blade
so finding drop offs and channels just cant be done 
Even a Gps is only good for finding an area as the channels move with every bit of bad weather

I have been using Inox MX6 grease in the plugs before inserting them to keep the salt off the pins - I also have gone through a few sounders 
the grease seams to be better than the Inox spay


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## Barrabundy (Sep 29, 2008)

I can see the benefit of being able to see depth and structure etc but my kayak has always been without one and part of it for me is simplicity. I catch what I can with a rod and a handfull of lures and that does it for me. Obviously if you want to find that drop-off or bit of reef, rocky bottom, sunken log, school of fish, whatever, you can't really do it by eye.


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## theGT58 (Nov 1, 2011)

For me it is vital. I fish ALOT of different and new locations and need to know the depth for lure choice, trolling lure depth etc. I also use it to find drop offs, holes and structure, useful to avoid snags etc too. For some species as well it is also useful to be able to mark their depth on the sounder (trout in summer eg, schools of yellowbelly/redfin). There are occasions and also locations I commonly fish where I no longer take the sounder as I know where I want to fish, the depth etc and don't want to lug the extra weight and spend time attaching it.

That said if I was fishing offshore (especially if I had gps markers) i'd be more inclined to go clean skin.


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## Zed (Sep 18, 2006)

No.


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## billpatt (Apr 12, 2010)

I have tried fitting one to my Stealth using the same method I have used on the prowler with the transducer glued to the bottom, however in my Superlite I can't find a flat surface to mount it to. The bottom of the yak is ribbed fibreglass so all I see on the sounder when it is going is this stange wavey pattern.

I wish I could get it going so I could see the bait schools the macks are harrassing, but I haven't really missed it at this point in time with the GPS on board.


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## exp2000 (Jul 9, 2011)

indiedog said:


> Lazybugger said:
> 
> 
> > Yes
> ...


What was the question? :lol: :lol: :lol: 
~


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## sunshiner (Feb 22, 2006)

Hi Paul

I've been using sounders for quite a few years, now, Noosa offshore. I tend to get the cheapest model around as they prove totally adequate for my purposes. I fish for snapper and sweetlip a lot and use the sounder mainly to confirm depth (which at Jew Shoal varies from 7m to 22m) but also to reveal the presence of baitfish. The terns generally will show you where surface baitfish are present, but they can't see the stuff which is 20m or so down. Knowledge of the depth is useful in avoiding hookups on the reef and in making judgements about how to fish the location. For example, deep trolling a Spaniard Special in water only 10m or so deep will result in expensive and time consuming snagging.

The cheap sounders I use clearly show the presence of deep-down baitfish, thus allowing judgements to be made about whether to continue fishing the location. I have adopted Red's practice of siliconing the cable into the display unit so that the two are almost never separated. All previous failures of sounders for me have been a result of continually plugging and unplugging the cable. I store the display unit inside the Supalite hatch during surf zone transits and have a simple mounting point permanently bolted to the outside wall of the fish hatch. When the unit is in use, I just run the cable out from under the hatch lid (with one strap at least fastened), finding that there is no danger of getting significant amounts of water into the hatch.

I use a cheap and compact 2ah battery which gives me 4-5 hours use, which is plenty for my needs. The transducer is mounted on the port side, internally, accessed by a sealable hatch cut into the fishbox wall.

If you are primarily interested in trolling for big pelagics on the Sunny Coast you probably won't get much use from a sounder, but it helps to know the location of the shallow spots around Jew Shoal. A GPS is far more useful in this area than a sounder, I reckon but you do need to mark the shallow areas.

I'm bringing the yak to Straddy so if you're there I can show you the sounder setup.

Kev


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## CET (Dec 19, 2012)

I've got one on my boat that indicates fish, when it's parked on the front lawn. So I have often wondered if the bottom, drop offs and fish aren't simply programmed into the sounder to keep people amused. :shock:


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## BIGKEV (Aug 18, 2007)

CET said:


> I've got one on my boat that indicates fish, when it's parked on the front lawn. So I have often wondered if the bottom, drop offs and fish aren't simply programmed into the sounder to keep people amused. :shock:


Hey CET, try turning your fish symbols off and learn how to use and read your sounder in manual mode. There is heaps of info about sounder use and reading in this and every other forum that has anything to do with fishing. Once you learn how to interpret what your sounder is trying to show, you will never look back.

Salti,

Although most are saying no to pelagic fishing without a sounder, the last couple of times that I have gone chasing macks I haven't put my sounder on and have felt a bit lost as others have been able to find mid water bait schools. Whilst on these occasions it didn't make a difference at other times these mid water schools of bait can often be the key to finding fish.


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## spork (Jan 21, 2012)

Digger said:


> Water temperature may prove useful for some styles of fishing too.


Are you doubting the accuracy of the TOS method?
(Toes over side)
:lol:


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## murd (Jan 27, 2008)

Many years ago (20) when i started yak fishing I never had a sounder or gps and I was able to get boatloads of fish just from the marks I knew from fishing in a tinnie. The gps came along in 1998 and that was a great help to find the marks without lining up the 'Bahai temple with North Head and the 2nd pine tree at Fisherman's Beach at Longy'! When I got the SounderGarmin ff80 with my 2nd yak (Loon SIK) I really don't think it helped me catch any more fish but it was a fun little toy to check out the bottom and mark interesting structures with the GPS.

Personally, I think we rely too much on sounders to catch fish. I used to drift off shore at Longy (still do) and when I got snagged it meant it was a reef and I marked it - you didn't need a sounder to find it. In the Gulf I don't use a sounder and I catch stacks of fish. But, I'll keep using using my sounder around here except if just chasing surface fish where a pair of eyes works better than a transducer.


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