Fish Finders (River Bure)

Hi

Every year at the end of october me and my father-in-law fish the river bure mainly around horning, we hire a boat and over the last few years have fished from as far up as wroxham down to St Bennets.

We've been concentrating on Pike for the last 4 or 5 years on this trip, catching some good fish using a variety of methods from this stretch of water.

Using a combination of trial and error local info and some help from FM members we have a good idea where the Pike holding areas are along this stretch. However my feeling is the fish move around quite a lot particularly as the tide changes.

We have been talking about using a fish finder for a while.
I am looking at some of the more portable models as we only boat fish one week a year, i have seen some on ebay(us) and they are only around ?30, do they work well, can you use them as you move up and down the river or do you need to drop your mud weights and then deploy transponder thingy ?

I would be interested in peoples general views on using them i.e. how effective they are in general.

I have this idea that we could cover the "known" holding areas with the f-finder avoiding spending hours in areas with no fish.

Sorry this is so long but i have tried to give as much background as possible, as from reading the message board most lunchtimes i am aware that the more detail you add the better answers you get.

Of course any info on how the Bure is fishing would be good too

Thanks

"Fish finders" are of no use at all in most freshwater situations for "finding fish"!! They are however great for building up a picture of the topography beneath the suface.This combined with some basic watercraft can put you in areas where the fish most likely will be.Most manufacturers include a portable model in their range.No need for any fancy features so you can get adequate models for around ?125.These work whilst you are moving or stationary.Have a look at the models available from Hummingbird,Eagle or Lowerance.

And Garmin.

Budgie

Thanks for the reply i will take a look at the makes you mention, the ones that i have been looking at are from www.norcorsmarine.com, they are cheaper than you mention, from reading the blurb it looks like they take/measure depth, but perhaps only give a guide as to what the bottom of the river/lake is like in terms of smooth/a bit rough/very rough.
I am sure its a case of you get what you pay for as with most things.