Gadget

A Guide On Fish Finders With GPS Technology

Fishing Sonar GPS

Fishing in a lake or pond is incredibly relaxing. But it is also surprisingly time consuming. Experts always suggest that first timer fishing enthusiasts need to work on their patience if they want to get it right.

Finding the fish is often the most exhausting process of the expedition. Regular fishing experts know which spots are best and keep returning to them time and again to catch some fish. But even they get it wrong sometimes.

Finding where the fish are doesn’t need to be such a painstakingly long process. With modern technology, fishing could be made a lot easier. Specifically, fish finders and GPS trackers help fishermen find the little swimmers with ease.

How do fish finders work?

If you’ve decided to go fishing with some friends armed with a fish finder, it could help to learn exactly how this device works.

Most fish finders use SONAR. Originally labelled Sound Navigation and Ranging, SONAR is a technology that has been around since the early 20th century. Submarines used it to navigate around the sea bed and it is still used today for deep sea exploration missions.

SONAR is modelled on the way bats navigate in the dark. They send out sound waves that hit and rebound off close by object and catching these rebounding waves helps to locate them underwater.

Now, this piece of tech that was considered cutting-edge just a few decades ago can be deployed to help you find fish in the lake and bond over the single best pastime on the planet.

You basically need two parts to the fish finder – the transducer and the software. A screen on a handheld device lets you use the software that can help you spot fish. The transducer comes in a box that can be retrofitted onto your boat so that it is constantly in contact with the water. This transducer emits the waves and captures the echo, while the software lets you make sense of all the data.

What to look for?

The things you need to consider when buying a fish finder is the tech behind it all. Is the frequency and power high enough? Is it a 3D SONAR gear? How big is the screen.

Use with GPS

Most people already have GPS systems in their cars and understand pretty well how it works. If you get the way GPS works, you will understand why it is such a good piece of tech to combine with the fish finder.

Most GPS systems used with fish finders come with charting packages. These devices let you zoom into a terrain and use the sonar to locate spots filled with fish swimming around in real time. Some even come with auto-guidance tech that tells you where to go to catch more.

Using GPS alongside the fish finder you’ve chosen will not only up your game in terms of fishing, but will also let you catch fish in a safe and convenient way. This is especially true if you enjoy fishing in the high seas, miles outside of the bays.

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Paul Tomaszewski is a science & tech writer as well as a programmer and entrepreneur. He is the founder and editor-in-chief of CosmoBC. He has a degree in computer science from John Abbott College, a bachelor's degree in technology from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, and completed some business and economics classes at Concordia University in Montreal. While in college he was the vice-president of the Astronomy Club. In his spare time he is an amateur astronomer and enjoys reading or watching science-fiction. You can follow him on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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