I've got a small inflatable, which is perfect for how I want to fish, and my current vehicle capability.

 

A Sea Eagle SE8 

 

I've got it nicely outfitted with a motor, seats, and the bottom is a hard surface for standing. Its excellent for what I use it for.

 

The only thing I've been investigating is a fishfinder.

 

Now, I've read that fish finders (especially in my low-end price range), aren't well suited for shallow water, mostly what I've read is water less than 8ft, due to the diminishing area from the cone shape of the scanning area.

 

I've been looking around the $100 price range, I don't want to get into several hundred bucks for a finder, I really only want to find out depth, temp, and bottom contour/cover.

 

I even looked at the Humminbird 140 which has a type of side imaging.

 

So......

 

Are my efforts in vain? For my mostly shallow to super shallow fishing is a fish finder generally a waste of money? I almost never fish anything deeper than 15ft due to the types of small lakes/ponds I fish this boat in.

 

I would appreciate your thoughts and advice......

I fish a lake that is 12ft deep at its deepest. Most of where I fish is 4-8 ft. deep. You are correct about the fish finder not being all that helpful in finding fish or structure in that shallow of water. It is handy to know exactly what depth you are in and the water temp, though. 

 

But, mine (Lowrance Elite-4x HDI) only has down imaging and sonar. If you are looking at side imaging units, I think they could be much more useful in shallow water. I have never used a side imaging unit.

Initially, what is it that you want this unit to do for you ?

 

The answer(s) should help you both decide if you need one as well as which features you'll need the unit to have if you find that you do.

 

Depending on the depth & water clarity and how well you know the bodies of water you're fishing, it could help you locate, subtle structure changes, pieces of cover and hard bottom areas; especially on new lakes you might fish.

 

As for using the unit to pin point the actual location of bass, you might be better served looking for the above listed features first.  

 

A-Jay

 

 

The Humminbird 140 does not have any kind of Imaging function.

It has Side Finding which will give you fish symbols with distance indicated horizontally when you rotate the pole.

It is traditional sonar (somewhat cone shaped sonar pulse), not the Imaging technology.

 

If you want true imaging that shows what the bottom looks like to the sides, that takes many more dollars for a unit with Side Imaging, Sidescan, or SideVu--depending on the brand.

Side Imaging works as long as the transducer is not buried in the lake bottom. Sidescan takes more depth, and SideVu is too new to know what its shallow water capability is.

Really it would be more used to see the contour/cover on the bottom - checking the depth - checking the temp of the water.

 

Other than that, it wouldn't be doing much more.

 

Like I said, almost no bodies of water I'll be using this boat on will be any deeper than 15ft or less. I'm not comfortably familiar with them since I've not been able to ever see depth changes and pieces of cover.

It sounds like that for my budget it won't benefit me enough to justify the cost.

 

I'll stick to my current methods for the time being.

 

Thanks for the input guys, I knew you'd have the answers.