Does anyone have a fish/depth finder with your canoe? How does it work for you? I know I want one , I'm just not sure how they work with a canoe or even if its worth it. Any advice would be great!

I have a humminbird Pirhana portable.  It works awesome in the canoe.  The only problem is keeping the transducer cord and the unit itself out of the way.  Since the canoe doesnt really have a transom to attach the transducer to, I usually just stick it on the side.  It works fine, but does drag a little.  Nothing like dragging a bait bucket along through.  I recommend one completely, the Pirhanas are great values, as it make a ton of difference when you know how deep it is and what is underneath your boat.

Hey Chode -

Do you have the 10 or 30? I'm seriously considering getting one for my canoe. Can't decide if the 30 is worth the extra money.

I have the 30 as I fish a lot from shore and in rental boats.  The 30 is cool cause you can cast out the transducer, but I wouldnt spend the extra money if I was always going to be fishing out of a boat.  Although check the 10, and see how many lines of horizontal resolution there are.  I think the 30 has 160, and that is about as low as I would want to go.

The castable transducer is pretty slick.  You can cast it forever and I do some pretty good fan casts of an area and check it out.  It really helps for shore fishing.  I have read elsewhere that the pike like to attack them though, so if you live in an area with pike be careful, or put a treble hook on it.  

In summary, I recommend the 30 if you move from boats to shore for fishing as it is incredibly versitile.  If I was in a boat I probably wouldnt spend the extra money.  But check the resolution, you want to be sure you get a good picture with the 10 and can see the subtle stuff on the bottom.  

I might even consider getting the 20 (same price as the 30 roughly, but a better unit and transducer) and buying the portable case for $15 off of humminbirds website. Heck that might be a good option for any of the units if the 10 is not up to snuff for you.

I just got a portable fish finder in my canoe (Eagle FishEasy 245). I found it helpful in finding depth and structure. One annoying thing is mounting the suction cup tranducer. I am resolving that issue when I get a trolling motor in the spring and the transducer will be permanently mounted to the motor. FYI, I found this site helpful in researching fish finders:

http://www.fishfinder-store.com/eafi240pofi.html

One other suggestion, is to make a little platform to hold the portable screen. I got tired looking at the floor while rowing. I made a milk crate with rod holders recently (like kayakers use), similar to this one:

http://cybermessageboard.ehost.com/paddlef/viewtopic.php?t=11242&sid=0108304ff1e18afa96bbb58ad1c219bb

I added a little 2x4 shelf on the side of my milk crate (instead of the drink holder in the picture). I also put some velcro on the shelf and on the fish finder. I found this crate to help me organize all my fishing gear when I load/unload my canoe. Also, it's nice to that my fish finder doesn't slide around on the floor anymore.

Hope this helps.

I have the fishin buddy 1200.

a great portable depthfinder.  Shows temp prints fish, has fish alarm and sideview.

Also connects with clamp, not suction.  One of the true bargains out there.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0012236018199a&type=product&cmCat=search&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&QueryText=fishin+buddy&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=fishin+buddy&noImage=0

I did a quick search on bps and cabellas.  could not find my model.  this is similar but a lttle more powerful and a little more pricey.

good luck

Excellent info here from very good sources...

http://tinyurl.com/ybpskb

Scroll down to "Sonor"

You want the bottomline fishin buddy.  I had the 1101 and it worked great.  Accurate depth contours and temparature readings.  The fish locator worked ok.  It would pick up bait balls, rock piles, stumps, etc.  For $100, you can't beat it.  Those other portable fish finders are garbage.

Thanks for the links guys. I have a canoe and was thinking of using it for fishing. These ideas will come in handy.