fish finder & depth meter for kayak fishing

Your cheapest option (as far as I can find) would be the Humminbird 535
portable. It runs on two lantern batteries. It's designed for ice fishing
but I would imagine if you got creative with the transducer mounting it
would suit your needs. This would be my choice considering the transducer
is hard-wired to the unit. You should be able to find one under $200.
I would stay away from the wrist watch screen SmartCast - it's really too
small to see any bottom detail. There are also two other versions with
rod-mountable screens. There is a version with a larger screen (Pirahna
Smartcast RF10 and RF15). They run about $150. You should be able to find
some good info on these systems at www.humminbird.com. Lowrance has their
X67C Ice Machine, but it's more in the $300 range, but you get a color
screen for your money. Unfortunatley all my recommendations are more
expensive than what you've already seen. If you think the small screen of
the SmartCast will suit you, that's most likely your best option.


wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi,

I am looking for a small, light, simple, and *cheap* fish finder/depth
meter for fishing on my kayak. I do *not* need fancy displays, only
something capable of telling me basically what the bottom looks like,
or maybe even locate fish.

Ideally, it would be battery-powered, totally portable (not rigged
permanently to the kayak). I have seen one model with two little
sensors which can be hooked to the fishing line and a wrist-watch with
a basic black & white display. The price was 80 bucks though. Are
these any good?

Is there anything cheaper out there?

I would use it in swamps, creeks, the Intercoastal River in
East-central Florida.
Any advice on models?

Many thanks in advance,

TN