# Fish finder for my pontoon



## stupiddog (Jan 15, 2008)

I am planning on getting a fish finder for my pontoon in the next few weeks and am having a tough time deciding on one. I don't want another fishing buddy I have one for ice fishing and dont like it much. Im thinking on keeping it around 200 bucks if I can. It must be able to work good on my pontoon while trolling with my little minkota. If any of you have one please let me know how you like it and how you have it set up on your toon. Thanks.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

I was looking for someone to answer your question, but no takers yet.
I use the buddy on my toon, but my son uses his Eagle 320 on his tube.
He puts the transducer on a 3' length of PVC and uses bungie cords to hold it to the tube.
His finder is mounted in a plastic ammo box that he uses for ice fishing. A gell cell battery is also in the box.
He just sets the box on the side of his tube and that's it.
Hope this helps,
Grandpa D.


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## MarkM (Sep 7, 2007)

When I saw your topic I was going to recomend the Buddy but I see you have one and don't like it. I would still recomend one though. i have one I bought back in 1995 and have used it on my float tube and pontoon with zero problems. I bought a 16ft aluminum boat last fall and used it on that as well. I might someday buy a better fish finder for the boat but for right know the fishing buddy is working great.

Mark


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## stupiddog (Jan 15, 2008)

Maybe Ill try my fishin buddy on my toon a time or 2 and see how it works it just seems like if im moving at all it doesnt work. It works fine on the ice, maybee its just me. Sounds like it works ok for everyone else.


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## Grandpa D (Sep 7, 2007)

Here is 2 suggestions for your Buddy.
First, turn the fish ID off and just watch for the pings [arches].
This will help to filter the garbage like weeds, limbs, and other floating objects.
Second adjust the gain as needed. In water under 20' deep, I keep the gain at about 20 with 30 being max.
I also don't use the side finder, just the main screen.
You can play with the depth adjustment as needed and if the water is under 20' deep, I keep the finder on the B setting and watch the bottom 10' of water. That's where I find most of the fish and the finder works very well on this setting.
I purchased a holder for my Buddy at Sportsman's that had a web belt and a tube for the finder. It works on tubes or toons.
Hope this helps,
Grandpa D.


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

stupiddog said:


> Maybe Ill try my fishin buddy on my toon a time or 2 and see how it works it just seems like if im moving at all it doesnt work. It works fine on the ice, maybee its just me. Sounds like it works ok for everyone else.


If your not happy with yours....you find another? I may buy yours? Yes ? Cheap ?


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## threshershark (Sep 7, 2007)

+1 for the Buddy, it's the least complex method for use w/ a pontoon. GrandpaD's comments are well put for getting things working right.

On this topic a great deal probably depends on the type of fishing you do and your intent for the finder. I know that some fishermen use a finder to locate pods or even individual fish with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Personally I don't use one for that purpose, although I do pay attention to fish depth. My main use is for water depth, temperature, and to locate structure. Yes, if I see a good concentration of fish that's never a bad thing either -- but locating the depth and structure preferences of the trout is what I'm after. The Buddy is very good at all of these things, but no it won't have the screen resolution and detail of higher end models either.


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## MarkM (Sep 7, 2007)

threshershark said:


> +1 for the Buddy, it's the least complex method for use w/ a pontoon. GrandpaD's comments are well put for getting things working right.
> 
> On this topic a great deal probably depends on the type of fishing you do and your intent for the finder. I know that some fishermen use a finder to locate pods or even individual fish with a reasonable degree of accuracy. Personally I don't use one for that purpose, although I do pay attention to fish depth. My main use is for water depth, temperature, and to locate structure. Yes, if I see a good concentration of fish that's never a bad thing either -- but locating the depth and structure preferences of the trout is what I'm after. The Buddy is very good at all of these things, but no it won't have the screen resolution and detail of higher end models either.


Good post Shark, I use my Buddy the same way. Depth, temp, and structure is what I am looking at with my Buddy.

Mark


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## stupiddog (Jan 15, 2008)

I think what I'm really looking for is an easier way to locate schools of kokes because Ive decided to devote a little extra time this year to those tasty little critters.


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## scott_rn (Sep 11, 2007)

stupiddog said:


> I think what I'm really looking for is an easier way to locate schools of kokes because Ive decided to devote a little extra time this year to those tasty little critters.


Sorry to sidetrack, do they hang in schools? I've never really fished for them and only caught a couple while fishing for trout.
Good luck with the finder dilema, I still haven't decided on one either.


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## stupiddog (Jan 15, 2008)

Yes they are usually schooled up.


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