Fishing Forum

Hi Guys and Gals,

I'm new to this forum and fairly new to fishing.

Help me find a fishfinder.

I just bought an old 14ft v bottom with a 20 hp. I am hoping to fish the river and some lakes in the area. I may go into Minnesota to fish a few times a year. The river is 4-20ft deep and the lakes are up to 40 ft deep. I will be fishing for catfish, bass, walleye and crappie.

I have been looking at the Humminbird 700 series. I'm not sure if I need a gps or not, but it sure looks interesting. I was hoping to spend $300-$400, but then I was sucked in by the larger screen, color and a gps.

What do you think?

Tom

Welcome to the BFT beenfishing.. its always good to get new memebers on the site..

As for your question Id suggest you post it in a couple of different boards. Here is a link to the [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/gforum.cgi?forum=2"]General Fishing[/url] board and the and the [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/forum/gforum.cgi?forum=28"]Iowa[/url] board and hopefully they can give you the advice that you need....

Again, welcome to the BFT and I do hope you enjoy your stay here as much as I do mine..

MacFly
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Welcome BeenFishing!

Congrats on your new boat!

The HB 700 series fish finder are great fish finders. If you have the dough I would suggest the gps, it's always nice to be able to get back to those hot spots time after time. Especially if you are fishing a water that you only fish a few times a year and may not be able to find those hot spots as easy as you would in spots you fish alot.
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Welcome to the site Tom, here is a link to a search I did on fishfinders on one of the most active BFT boards.
[url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=search_results&search_forum=forum_58&search_string=fishfinders+&search_type=AND&search_fields=sb&search_time=&search_user_username=&sb=score&mh=25"]http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?do=search_results&search_forum=forum_58&search_string=fishfinders+&search_type=AND&search_fields=sb&search_time=&search_user_username=&sb=score&mh=25[/url]
It goes back over 5 pages and there is a lot of info there on finders. I did not try to do one on the finder you are interested in but it might be worth a try. You also could ask your question on the utah board and see what the folks know about the Humminbird you are interested in. I have a Bottomline tournament series 5100 and it has the big wide screen, it sure is nice[]. Good luck on your quest, I hope you find the perfect finder for your needs. WH2
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Welcome aboard Tom and thanks for taking the time to register.

The extra features for a couple extra dollars are well worth it. Be sure to bring a hand held too. You might be back to some of those spots for ice fishing as well.[cool]
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Thanks for the help guys. I'm hoping to get out this weekend for some catfish on the river.

With a gps, is it better to have exterior or interior? Is a color screen worth the extra bucks?

Thanks a bunch, Tom
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Hi Beenfishing, and welcome, saw your question and fully agree, wish I had held off on my G'min GPS72 handheld, literally just a few bucks more some priceless features and color, which is really nice for "at a glance" viewing on the move and the like. Heck it's just cool.

One I want now is one of their GPSMAP units, cant find anything close second on my modest budget. and been my experience and especially with newer signal technology, IMO really don't need any ext antennas, but they're available as accessories. Many newer Fish finders have a GPS built right in, that's what I want for my fishing hole waypoints, but my handheld has become a priceless tool, goes with me everywhere just like the cell phone.

Make sure whatever you are looking at is WAAS enabled, accuracy is not only scary, it's consistent and will get some fixes you might not otherwise. and go With G'min , simply the best and by far the best value for cost vs. features. And make sure your getting a Barometric altimeter unit, useless feature on the ocean, but for us inland folks, it's priceless, elevation accuracies without within 30 to 50 feet, with, just a few. And unit will factor reading in it's corrections, especially important if your only hitting a few satellites.

Thus, depending on your budget, recommend keeping your Fish Finder and GPS separate, I use mine to run my fences, hiking , in vehicle etc. etc, and patches into laptop for topo program, really neat stuff. Tons of accessories, neat toys. Get a good one, and never rely on it is my personal philosophy, no substitute old school if it dies or ??

I live in Wa state so many of my journeys are through the woods, here to tell you, again lol, get a G'min, have thoroughly tested, (ok cussed) the competition, inadequate to no performance in the woods and tighter canyons etc.. my best, BFS

Excellent explanation of WAAS:

http://www8.garmin.com/aboutGPS/waas.html[/url]
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