Best Kayak Fish Finder And How To Find It-2019
Kayak has known to witness an unusual popularity surge in the last decade. They have become indispensable for all people as well as family who desire to spend maximum time in the water.
However, a kayak angler wouldn't be sufficient to haul in the largest fish, and there would come the need of the best kayak fish finders.
If you are searching for a good fish finder, then our list of the best kayak fish finder would be helpful.
Just keep on reading the given details.
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**Below, you'll find our more detailed reviews, but you can also click the links above to see current prices or read customer reviews on Amazon.
Reasons to Use a Kayak Fish Finder
A good-quality fish finder employing the best technology of fishing could help you in catching a big fish easily.
Here are some reasons of using a Kayak fish finder that would provide you a brief idea:
- The fish finder would help you in locating the bait when it will be difficult to spot on the surface
Many times the bait could hold over in the water column, and a sounder could locate it.
When you face any problem to place the bait at the required spot, the kayak fish finder would then help to get the work done
- The fish finder would assist you in finding flat areas or structures while you target a particular species.
You would be able to know the bottom’s depth with the equipment, and it will be valuable specifically while fishing in any unknown area.
You could even return to this place for fishing if it comes out to be a fishy spot.
- If you know the depth and types of structure of a particular location with the help of kayak fish finder, then it would help you to save much time as well as energy.
You won’t have to jump into a spot with guess and hope of good underwater structure for targeting a fish. Moreover, the fish finder would offer dual screen options of the depths of a water column.
Things to Consider
Screen Resolution
Screen resolution would be a significant factor to consider while choosing a Kayak fish finder.
It would be better to select a screen having greater pixel as that would help you in seeing the details more clearly.
However, if you want a clear display, then you would have to consider the screen size as well as the resolution of the screen.
The screen resolution would have to be about 240 x 160pixels. You could even choose a high screen resolution screen of 640 x 640 pixels maximum.
Power
A good fish finder would help you to read on the display while you will be out for fishing. And this won’t be possible if there is less power in the kayak fish finder.
A fish finder with high wattage would display its readings faster. A low wattage fish finder, on the other hand, would show the readings slowly.
However, such a unit would be a good option to use while fishing in shallow water.
Transducers
Transducers would be a vital element to consider in kayak fish finder. It basically helps in emitting and sending sonar waves as well as sonar signals in the water.
Maximum fish finders would contain transform mounted transducers that could be installed easily.Anglers who use thru-hull or in-hull transducers would have to opt for plastic housing for fiberglass and metal hulls.
Stainless steel housing would be perfect for aluminum as well as steel hulls, and bronze would be great for fiberglass and wood hulls.
Frequency
The available frequency of kayak fish finder could be single, dual, or multiple. If you fish in shallow water, you would require high-frequency like 192 or 200 kHz. Low frequency would work great in deeper water.
Cone Angle
Cone angle would be found in angles of about 9 to 60 degrees. Cone angle of 20 degrees would be perfect for fishing in various depths of water.
A wide degree cone could cover a larger area. The sensitivity would become less while going in the deeper water with a wide angle.
Mounting Space
Mounting area would be the other important element to look for in kayak fish finder. The equipment would have to have sufficient space for holding cable rods, 12V small battery and a big screen for displaying the details.
You could go for the 5inch screen if you have a big kayak but for small kayak fish finder, 3 to 4-inch screen size would be perfect.
Our Top 5 Picks
Garmin Striker fish finder comes with GPS technology of higher sensitivity. You could even make use of its waypoint map to see, mark as well as navigate easily to the locations like stumps, docks, and brush piles.
Its wide screen would let you check the speed of your boat easily and quickly, especially more useful while trolling.
This striker fish finder consists of a portable kit for protecting and carrying the device with GPS.
This makes the device an excellent option for canoe, ice or kayak fishing. The package consists of in-built transducer cable management, sealed rechargeable battery, and chargers, as well as suction cup transducer mount.
The fish finder consists of Garmin Chirp transducer of 77/200 kHz who would offer a visible high range of clarity and detail of structures with the fish. You could even upgrade it to Garmin high-performance CHIRP technology.
It would provide Sonar crystal clear images with exceptional resolution and separation from shallow to deep depths.
Pros:
- A number of details in this device are amazing
- GPS works great to mark hot spots and dock
- The CHIRP is outstanding
- The device is very easy to install
- It comes in affordable price range
Cons:
- The screen could seem small
- The transducer lead might not be sufficiently long for reaching console to the transom.
Deeper Smart Sonar fish finder is a castable, wireless echo sounder that could be cast anywhere on the water.
Floating on the surface, the device would be transmitting detailed information of water column and bottom right to your Smartphone’s screen. It could capture the temperature, depth, bottom structure, vegetation, the fish location and all other vital fishing data.
The device could be operated through tablets or Smartphones. You would have to download only the Deeper App for running free stimulation and examining the working of the all the connected devices.
This App would be compatible with maximum Android and iOS devices. Deeper Smart Sonar fish finder weighs only about 3.5 ounces/ 100 grams and has a diameter of 2.5inches/65 mm.
These features make the device appropriate for nearly all standard lines and rods.
Pros:
- The fish finder could be charged using a USB cable
- The is no requirement of data plan for connecting the device to other portable devices
- The Deeper App works excellently
- The battery life is great
Cons:
- The Bluetooth might not work with all devices
- The device would not give proper readings if it floats down the river and when the current is very fast.
FishHunter Fish Finder could reach as much as 100ft in saltwater as well as fresh water. The device would even tell the temperature which would help you in finding ideal fishing spots.
FishHunter fish finder comes up with a transducer of highest frequency. This high-frequency transducer would help you to locate the ideal place for casting the line.
The fish finder could provide you a complete view of the bottom along with the real RAW sonar data as well as Fish View imaging. It would even help you in logging perfectly whatever you will like to see such as sonar menu or sonar screen data.
FishHunter Fish finder would be perfect for all types of fishing such as shore fishing, boat fishing, kayak fishing as well as ice fishing. The casting Bluetooth range is about 80ft.
The fish finder comes up with mini USB cable, charging station, carrying and manual bag along with a charger. It would offer the accessibility of military-grade sonar technology, GPS tracking, navigation and mapping to the best spots for fishing.
Pros:
- The fish finder is very portable
- It works great from shore and even trolling
- The app is very easy to use.
Cons:
- The Bluetooth might not work
- You would require WIFI for using this device
- The battery doesn’t last longer.
Garmin Echo fish finder features a 4inch screen with 151dv. The device consists of all in one transducer which would emit upgraded HD-ID 77/200 kHz.
It even would have Garmin DownVu scanner sonar. This would give almost a photographic view of the structures and fishes below the water. The View DownVu and customary sonar consist of 8-level gray scale display.
With this, you could be able to experience excellent target separation as well as bottom tracking comprising 1,600 W peak Power. The fish finder possesses cone angles ranging from narrow to broad view.
This would render wide clear picture beyond the boat’s side, reaching maximum 1,600ft. The device comes up with a kit that would include swivel mount, fast-release tilt, and trolling or transom motor transducer mount.
Pros:
- The fish finder is reasonable
- The device could be read and understand quickly
- The backlight helps in viewing in the dark
- The mounting bracket for trolling and transom motor is very useful.
Cons:
- The device could take some time to read the depth and display the bottom
- The fish finder might not read rightly below 1.7 to 1.9ft depth
- The fish alarm might not work properly.
Venterior Fish finder would detect and show the water depth as well as the under boat structures like sand, short or tall weeds, seabed rocks, and location of the fish.
The device comes up with a rounded transducer along with a 25ft cable and transducer float that is removable. This device could be used to fish from the dock, boat and also for ice fishing.
This fish finder can measure the depth from about 1m to 100m. The device came up with many exclusive features such as battery saving mode, 5-users selectable sensitivity, fish alarm, backlight mode, and others.
It features a waterproof transmitter.The operating temperature ranges from -20˚C to 70˚C. The sensor beam angle is about 45 degrees.
Pros:
- The device works accurately
- The quality of the product is excellent
- It can be easily set up.
Cons:
- It is not waterproof
- The transducer cable is too long to use on kayak
- It forgets the default setting of the meter to feet after it is turned off.
Reviews and Comparisons of The Best Kayak Fish Finder
Rankings | Best Overall | 2nd Choice | 3rd Choice | 4th Choice | 5th Choice |
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Top-Rated Kayak Fish Finder 2017 | 
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99
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97
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94
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93
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88
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Price | $105.99 | from $284.98 | $130.00 | from $162.48 | $39.99 |
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Conclusion
Well, these were our top five picks of kayak fish finder that we thought would be worthy of purchase.
Each of these products possesses excellent features and qualities but, out of all, Garmin Striker 4 Inbuilt GPS Fish Finder could be the best choice.
This is because the product consists of nearly all the things that we considered to look for in kayak fish finders. The device features Garmin Chirp transducer of 77/200 kHz that would offer a visible high range of clarity and could even be updated to Garmin high-performance CHIRP technology.
However, the runner-up could be Deeper Smart Sonar fish finder followed by FishHunter Military Portable Fish Finder 3.0, Garmin Echo 151dv Fish Finder and Venterior Portable Fish Finder.
Please let us know if this article has helped you.
