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Sorry if this has been asked here or somewhere similar, but I was just curious about everyone’s opinion on fish finders for bluegill fishing. Got a kayak last year and plan on doing a lot more fly fishing for gills this summer, including wet flies (new to me), and depending on you read where, fish finders are either “vital” or “a waste of money”. What are your all’s thoughts? I guess it’s either a fish finder or try out a GoPro and film myself looking like a fool! 🤣
Not a waste at all. I was seriously into kayak fishing for 4 years. During that time I owned 5 different models. I had an HB 899 si that I used on all of them. I gave up kayaking due to no longer being able to lift them onto the trailer.....one of the last ones I had weighed 76 pounds and having had both rotator cuffs repaired I cloud no longer do it. The si unit put me on a ton of fish those 4 years. I got back into boating and purchased a HB Helix 10 si Mega. If I still had a kayak I would mount it to it. It makes it easy to find bedding sunfish and also I learned to identify sunfish using the down imaging as well. It will put you on fish and save you a lot of time. Here are a couple of images....one is obviously of bedding fish and the other is in early winter....tons of bluegill. Fish pics where they were all found with si unit.
Regards
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Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app
Thanks for the reply, and nice fish! Yeah, I like the sound of that. Then I guess it comes down to getting something with side imaging vs. down only. Don't have a ton of money to spend, but like I said, trying to get a bit more serious and look for the larger trophy sized bluegill and redear!
I just purchased a hb helix si 7 mega for my kayak. I can’t wait until it warms up a little so that I can go try it out.
I think the SI will help out finding bream beds especially shell crackers as they tend to bed in deeper water.
Without an si unit I would have never stopped to fish this spot. Notice the depth....11.4 feet.......I spot locked and and caught a lot of good bluegill.Quote:
Originally Posted by RJR
Regards
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Sent from my iPad using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app
a good si unit and knowing how to decipher what you are seeing is worth its weight in gold sometimes
my bud guides out of kayaks and makes a great living on crappie and bass and uses his si to find them .
What SI unit does he use to find his fish?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ketchn
A friend of mine has a small Humminbird Piranhamax 4 and a small trolling motor on his kayak.
Attachment 396420 I took this from my kayak yesterday. I'm pretty sure that was suspended crappie.