searching bottom with fish finder??

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Gudmundur - 16 Jul 2006 22:53 GMT

Does anyone here have any input on a make/model of fish finder that
lends itself well to finding submerged trees/houses/boats etc. in
your favorite lake or river?

I live in an area where they built several dams and flooded lowlands
farmhouses and everything is still down there. I don't as of yet have
any gps fixes and I would like to at least get some idea of where to
begin looking as I gather information for some boat dives.

My depth sounder has already provided me with a location where the
bottom goes from 90ft to 20ft and back to 90ft in a very short area
and I believe this to be one of the silos from a submerged farm.

Thanks for any input/ideas you may have, and no I can't afford a
15,000 dollar side-scan array. I was thinking in the $400 buck 'used'
catagory.

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Dave C - 17 Jul 2006 00:14 GMT

> Does anyone here have any input on a make/model of fish finder that
> lends itself well to finding submerged trees/houses/boats etc. in
> your favorite lake or river?

I think there are many good liquid crystal graphical display sonars
good on the market that would suit you well, provided they have a
"zoom" feature or "range" feature that shows the bottom in a narrow
range, thereby increasing the detail. That extra detail may help you
differentiate a tree from a tower or a mound from a building.

I like my Lowrance LC X-15mt because it has a large screen, a large
number of pixels for detail, a nice zoom, and it accepts input from my
hand-held Garmin GPS which allows me to save a waypoint while viewing a
split-screen of both sonar and map.

That discontinued model is pretty inexpensive now (under $500, I
think).

Another thing to consider, is just using your present sonar and add a
drop camera to your search effort. It isn't expensive or hard to build
and it can verify a sonar hit as worth diving or not. There are models
out there you could buy off the shelf pretty reasonably, too.

Ed Bell has a webpage with pics and plans of a towed uw video camera he
built. I built a couple such cameras based around his plans. You can
build a very sensitive black and white video camera for under $150,
including 5 inch tv for a monitor.

http://www.charts-usa.com/uw_cam.html

My more sensitive camera will visualize objects with ambient light down
to about 70 ffw in our clear lakes, 100 fsw. I'm going to add a light
to it soon, just for fun.

> I live in an area where they built several dams and flooded lowlands
> farmhouses and everything is still down there. I don't as of yet have
[quoted text clipped - 4 lines]
> bottom goes from 90ft to 20ft and back to 90ft in a very short area
> and I believe this to be one of the silos from a submerged farm.

Sounds like your sonar is giving you adequate info for the task. Think
about a drop camera.

Dave C

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Capt. Bill - 17 Jul 2006 01:06 GMT

> Does anyone here have any input on a make/model of fish finder that
>lends itself well to finding submerged trees/houses/boats etc. in
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>15,000 dollar side-scan array. I was thinking in the $400 buck 'used'
>catagory.

Garmin, Raymarine, Lowrance, etc. all make fish finders that would
work. Take a look on Ebay. And if you get an LCD model get one with
lots of pixels for better resolution. And for the kind of money you're
talking you could get one with built in GPS.

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Lee Bell - 17 Jul 2006 02:14 GMT

(Gudmundur) wrote:

> Does anyone here have any input on a make/model of fish finder that
>lends itself well to finding submerged trees/houses/boats etc. in
>your favorite lake or river?

Any color depth finder will be better than a black and white one. The
colors help you spot more dense materials, like concrete and metal, that
send back a stronger reflected signal. You can probably get one for under
$400, but a good one, new, will likely cost more than that.

> I can't afford a 1,000 dollar side-scan array. I was thinking in the $400
> buck 'used catagory.

> Garmin, Raymarine, Lowrance, etc. all make fish finders that would
> work. Take a look on Ebay. And if you get an LCD model get one with
> lots of pixels for better resolution. And for the kind of money you're
> talking you could get one with built in GPS.

Garmin now makes a reasonably priced GPS/color fish finder. I forget the
designation, but you should be able to find one at pretty much any marine
store.

Lee

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rob - 27 Jul 2006 22:12 GMT

I think you will find that the problem with fish finders is that the
attenuation in the sand/soil bottom will be very high and will not
reveal a lot below the earth/water interface. Lower frequency (with much
less attenuation) units are used when sub bottom targets are the goal.
But of course this takes you out of the consumer box market. Perhaps you
will be able to get some useful data on very shallow targets with the
fish finder. Good luck.

> Does anyone here have any input on a make/model of fish finder that
> lends itself well to finding submerged trees/houses/boats etc. in
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> 15,000 dollar side-scan array. I was thinking in the $400 buck 'used'
> catagory.

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Scott W. - 28 Jul 2006 03:47 GMT

>> Does anyone here have any input on a make/model of fish finder that
>> lends itself well to finding submerged trees/houses/boats etc. in
>> your favorite lake or river?

I have had good luck with a Humminbird 3D Vision. A Humminbird
sponsored fishing pro once told me they were the best Humminbird made,
but they only made them for a short time.

Scott W.

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Star - 28 Jul 2006 03:46 GMT

> >> Does anyone here have any input on a make/model of fish finder that
> >> lends itself well to finding submerged trees/houses/boats etc. in
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> Scott W.

I saw 3 Humminbirds in my yard this afternoon, but there were no fish
anywhere. What am I doing wrong?

*

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