fish finder questions

[wolfriver]

I am looking to get a fish finder, but not sure if it is worth it. I was wondering if it was a good idea to get a fish finder because I fish in only a foot to 5 feet of water. Is it worth it to get a fish finder and is there any good cheap fish finders for shallow water.
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[tlspyder13]

Unless you just need to know the depth it probably wouldn't help much. The cone angles would be so small you aren't looking at much at that depth.
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[tubeN2]

You may be better getting something with the sidefinder feature.

Check the Cabelas site. They have a few of them.[cool]
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[Tarpon4me]

I agree with spyder. If you're only going to be fishing in 5' of water, and you know this for sure, don't bother. I mean, what are you really going to figure out with a fish finder in shallow water that you can't already figure out by simply looking down in the water with a good pair of polarized sunglasses?

Like steve said though, if you're bent on getting a fish finder, you'll be better off with one that has a side view feature.

Sonar is great for anglers that need to find ledges/drop offs, find deep water structure, and navigate unpredicatable channels with large to medium sized boats. If you don't fall into one of those catagories, you don't need a sonar. Besides, sonar (fish finder) is not the magic piece of equipment that is going to put fish in the boat. A lot of times, depending on the water conditions, the sonar may not even show the fish, but they may still be there. Sonar is for locating structure and area only, atleast in my opinion. A very high quality sonar can also present the thermocline and also bait pods; which is wicked helpful to offshore saltwater anglers and deep water lake fisherman.

Buy yourself a good pair of shades and don't worry about the sonar. You'll be just fine. [cool]
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