Advice For Getting A First-Rate Portable Fish Finder

Tired of aimlessly trolling around your favorite fishing spot looking for pay dirt? A portable fish finder can save you hours of time and make every fishing trip successful. Whether you're a sport fisherman or you make your living on the waters, a fish finder can help you improve your catch every time. In this article, we'll tell you how electronic fish finders work and how to make this most of this helpful piece of marine technology.

Portable fish finders are a wonderful piece of equipment which can actually enable you to find fish when used properly. Before the invention of this piece of technology, fishermen used a depth finder that only indicated the deepness underneath the vessel. There was no exact display revealing the existence of schools of fish. Therefore, depth finders weren't useful to commercial fishermen. After that there were the sounders with printed graphs rolls that were very accurate if used properly. Yet the real breakthrough was the appearance of the LCD (liquid crystal display) sounder that indicated both fish and bottom contours. Today there is all kinds of these LCD fish finders.

Picking the best portable fish finder can be difficult as the market pricing is highly competitive and products are being updated all the time. High end styles can cost more than the average dinghy, however straightforward units can be completely affordable and cost as little as $300 from a discount fish finder store.

The technology has come some distance from the time when electronic fish finders first appeared on the market. Today's units are thinner, more lightweight and more menu-driven than their predecessors. The units have either color or black and white displays and the displays come in various sizes. The bigger display screens are well suited to bigger fishing boats where they can be stored out of the sun and elements. These are ideal for commercial fishing trawlers.

No portable fish finder will be effective without a well designed transducer. A good transducer should work in all water conditions, and at all boat speeds up to 100 kph. The transducer is what allows the machine to do a job. It sends a signal to the area beneath the boat and reads the area for objects like fish, weeds, and structures like rocks and debris. The signal is read on the screen that you see. The higher the wattage of your fish finder, the faster this process will occur. This is important because schools of fish can move quickly as they are batted around by waves and current.

Proper installation and maintenance are key to keeping your portable fish finder in working order. It should be in a convenient place that is out of direct sunlight and rain. A fish locator will be waterproof but prolonged exposure to sun and water will shrink and decay the neoprene casing. You should also make sure that the monitor is well placed. The pixels that make up the image can appear blurry if the angle isn't correct. If you don't have good vision, then you might want to spend a little more on a screen with a higher resolution. By doing your homework and making good choices when shopping, you'll definitely notice a marked volume in your catches.