Portable Fishfinders – Fish Finders on the Go

humminbird smartcast RF25 portable fish locator

Portable Fishfinders are convenient small devices, you can use anywhere you like. No mounting and installation procedures, no fretting over the placement of a the transducer, just switch the set on and you’re ready to go.

Is it that simple? Well sometimes depending on your intended use it is.

For an angler fishing from the shoreline a rod mounted sounder it’s a great option.
The angler himself is not moving, and all he wants to know about is movement underwater. Ideally he also would like to know the size, speed and depth of fish he’s after.

Much if not all can be accomplished with a rod or wrist mounted portable sounder with a simple single beam remote sonar sensor.

But it’s not only the casual angler who benefits from the ease of a portable fishfinder. Think about Ice Fishing, you drill a hole in the ice, lower your sensor and you can be fairly confident about the outcome this particular expedition.  Some tips on the usage of the portable fishfinder

And those kayaking or fishing from inflatable’s will also benefit from this type of fish depth finder.

Portable fishfinders gather information about water and bottom condition with a remote sonar sensor. Depend on type and brand these sensors can be either wired or wireless.

These transducers also come in various shapes and sizes, from simple single beam sounders or the more complicated dual and multi-beam versions.

You often see simple single beam 90 degree devices that will give you an operating range from about 1.5 to 200 ft. Together with accurate information about water temperature this will be completely acceptable for the more casual user.

Remote Sonar Sensors (RSS) are also available in dual channel versions that allow a wider viewing angle and are ideal to use on small boats and kayaks.

Humminbird SmartCast RF45 Advance Remote Sonar Sensor

Some people have reported connection problems between their wireless sensor and the fish depth finder, but as far as I can see those were usually caused by low battery power or a misinterpretation of the operating manual.

Because many units respond to Sensor connection problems by going into simulation mode, this is THE first thing you want to check when you get nonsense data.

You’ll find that most manufacturers of these fishing products like Humminbird, Garmin or eagle also have portable fishfinders in their catalogue.

As ever you can find these tools in many forms and à whole range of different capabilities.

For example have look at Norcross Hawkeye F33P. This portable sounder is ideal on the family vacation, or other events. With a 45 degree single sonar beam and gives you with a pretty good overview of bottom, debris and fish at range from about 1.5 to 90ft.

What makes this tool so neat is the clever programming of the embedded software in the system to minimize false readouts.

Then we have other more advanced portable fishfinders like the NorCross HawkEye F33P Fish Finder . It has dual beam capability has a 4 inch screen and is waterproof. As an added advantage and you can switch between compatible mounted or your own mounted transducer.

The Humminbird SmartCast RF45 and RF35 are good examples of remote sonar sensors that make using the portable fish finder so much fun.