Best Fish Finder for Pontoon Boat

Planning on fishing from a pontoon boat? Fantastic! If you have purchased a proper pontoon boat for anglers, then you can pretty much head out onto the water with just a set of rods. If you haven’t, then you may need to give that pontoon boat a few upgrades. Adding a fish finder into the mix is probably one of the best upgrades you can make.

What You Should Look For In a Quality Fish Finder

A fish finder does pretty much what it says on the tin. This is help you to find fish. When you are out there on the water, you don’t want to be trawling around in the hope that you get lucky. Instead, you want to know the best place to drop your line. A fish finder can help with that.

Of course, we are positive that you only want to buy the best fish finder for your pontoon boat. So, we want to kick-off by telling you everything that you need to think about when choosing the right fish finder for you.

Color Screen

Some of the cheaper fish finders will have black ; white screens. They are great for only one thing; saving money! If you want a good fish finder, then it needs a color screen. You will find it a whole lot easier to see where the fish are.

Frequency

The frequency that you want will be dependent on the type of water you are going into. If you are planning on doing a lot of deep water fishing, then a low-frequency fish finder is perfect. If you are sticking to shallow areas, then you want a high frequency.

Of course, if you plan to be taking your pontoon boat everywhere, then a dual or multiple-frequency fish finder is perfect.

Power

The more power, the more you will be able to see. Get the highest power fish finder that you can afford.

Screen Resolution

Cheap fish finders will have a low screen resolution. The better the screen resolution, the greater the clarity of the screen. This means more of an opportunity to spot fish, even if they are traveling in smaller groups.

We always suggest that you purchase the best screen resolution that you can afford.

The Top Fish Finder Brands

The world of fish finders is pretty extensive. Some of the brands are fantastic, most of them leave something to be desired.

If you are in the market for a fish finder, then there are a few brands that we can highly recommend. Garmin and Humminbird are the top ones here. The latter can often be found on fully-kitted pontoon boats, which makes it the perfect addition to yours.

Any one of these brands could be just as good, though:

• RayMarine
• Lowrance
• NorCross

Things To Consider When Buying a Fish Finder

We have already talked about some of the staple features that you will find on a fish finder i.e. the features that give the fish finder ‘life’. This includes frequency, power, and a display screen. However, there are a few more things that you may need to consider when purchasing a fish finder.

We urge you to consider the following as you read through our reviews of the best fish finders on the market.

Boat Size

Pontoon boats can come in all shapes and sizes. A fish finder that may work on a smaller boat may not necessarily work on a larger boat.

For starters, fish finders designed for smaller boats may not have a long transducer cable. This means that you are going to struggle to connect the transducer up with the display screen. For longer boats, you may want to opt for one of the more recent Wi-Fi fish finders. These negate the need for cabling.

Small fish finders don’t work as effectively on larger boats too. They are not powerful enough, which means you won’t be able to get an accurate reading of what is under your belt.

GPS

Most modern fish finders will have GPS on them. GPS can be useful for a multitude of different reasons. For example, we love GPS on our fish finders because it allows us to navigate unfamiliar waters with ease. Others may use GPS so that they can easily keep a record of where fish are.

Now, don’t think that you need the GPS. It can add a significant amount of money to the cost of the fish finder. For most, it is nothing more than a luxury feature.

As you go through our reviews of the best fish finders, you really should consider whether GPS is something that you need.

The Type of Sonar

This is something that will be personal to you and the waters that you are in.

When you have a down-scan sonar, it will shoot sound waves downwards. This will allow you to see anything directly underneath the boat (and a little bit to the side, due to how the sonar works). As a result, down-scan sonar is going to be fantastic if you are fishing in deep water.

If you are fishing in shallow water, then you will want to look for a fish finder that has side-scan waves. This, as the name suggests, scans the area around the boat. While the sound waves will travel downward a little bit, it won’t be too far.

If you are happy to spend a bit more cash, then you should probably pick up a dual-scan fish finder. With these, you can press a button to instantly switch between scanning modes. This means that you can easily travel in both deep and shallow water.

Screen Size

We talked about screen resolution earlier. That is probably going to be your most important consideration. However, you will almost certainly want to think about screen size too.

You would think that a larger screen size is better, but not always. You still need somewhere to put that screen. Not to mention a larger screen can be tougher to read.

We suggest that you choose the screen size based upon the size of your boat and the fish finder that you are using. A small boat with a cheaper fish finder would be better with a smaller screen.

The Parts of a Fish Finder…And How It Works

A fish finder is comprised of two components:

• The digital panel
• Transducer

The digital panel will normally sit by the helm. This will display whatever the transducer is picking up. This means that all your knowledge about whether there are fish, features, or even the bottom of the water.

The transducer, as you can probably guess, is the most important component.

The transducer will send out blasts of soundwaves. When these sound waves hit an object (or the bottom of the water), they bounce back up to the transducer. The transducer will then measure the rate of return on each of these soundwaves.

These soundwaves will then be converted to an electrical signal which will be sent to the fish finder display.

Do bear in mind that a fish finder can’t really differentiate between fish and other objects in the water. It is really just measuring whether there are any obstacles between the transducer and the bottom of the water. This means that the fish finder operator will need to determine whether the fish finder is picking up fish or pieces of vegetation, rock, etc. However, if something does look like a fish on the fish finder, then it is probably a fish. This is a reason why you may want to consider a higher resolution screen to help differentiate between objects in the water.

Fishfinders can get a little bit more technical than this. However, we reckon that this information is a good start for those looking to purchase a fish finder.

The Best Fish Finders For Pontoon Boats

So, without further ado, let’s jump into the three best fish finders on the market.

We have selected these fish finders based on extensive research and testing. We have tried to include something for all budgets and pontoon boat sizes here.

Lowrance Elite FS 7

This Lowrance Elite FS 7 may carry a hefty price tag, but it is one of the most feature-loaded fish finders on the page.

The Lowrance Elite FS 7 utilizes an HDI transducer. This means that it is able to produce images of even greater clarity from beneath the water surface, particularly when you are using the fish finder in deeper waters.

Don’t worry, though. Those that prefer to trawl their pontoon boat through shallower waters aren’t forgotten about. This fish finder includes both DownScan and SideScan functions. This means that it is perfect no matter where you plan on taking your boat.

One of our favorite features is the ActiveTargeting feature. Once you have a fish in your sight, you will be able to see how it reacts, in real-time, to your lure. This will allow you to adjust your fishing strategy to, hopefully, nail more fish landings.

These are the features that you can enjoy if you pick up a Lowrance Elite FS 7:

• Pre-loaded contour charts to give you a better read on what lurks beneath that water’s surface.
• ActiveTargeting to see how fish respond in real-time.
• The ability to network up to a multitude of products in the Lowrance range, all designed to help improve your fishing experience.
• 7″ full-color touchscreen
• Multiple scanning modes. You can easily adjust the scanner to the waters that you are fishing in.
• Wireless technology.

Garmin Striker 4

If you have a smaller boat and are perhaps looking for something a bit more affordable, then the Garmin Striker 4 may be worth checking out.

As you can probably imagine, since this is a product made by one of the leading GPS companies, it goes all out on location-based features. This includes:

• GPS
• Waypoints
• Speed checks
• The ability to make notes of where you found fish

Despite having only a 3-5-inch screen, the beautiful color on it will allow you to spot those fish arches with ease. This will allow you to quickly hone on what will hopefully be your next catch.

The Garmin Striker 4 offers both mid and high-range frequencies. This means that it is going to be better suited to those trawling through shallow or medium-depth water. In freshwater, you can spot fish up to 750-feet down, and in freshwater, this extends to a whopping 1,600-feet.

If you regularly switch between boats for your fishing, then the Garmin Striker 4 can come in especially handy. It is highly portable.

Humminbird Helix 7

Let’s wrap up this list with the critically acclaimed Humminbird Helix 7.

This fish finder boasts a stunning 7″ screen. The resolution on the Helix 7 is second to none. You will be able to see everything going on around your boat with crystal clear clarity.

The Humminbird Helix 7 offers side and down imagining. Able to penetrate up to 125-feet underwater (as well as 125-feet to the side), we see this fish finder as being fantastic for those that love to take their pontoon boats through shallow to medium waters, or perhaps those that go through deeper waters but have a catch aim that tends to lurk near the water surface.

The Helix 7 comes loaded with a wealth of maps, with plenty of storage space so you can add more. It has full GPS functionality, and the ability to mark on the map if there is an area that has been particularly lucrative for you.

If you are looking for a good mid-range fish finder, then this is going to be worth your attention.

Wrapping It Up

Now you know what the three best fish finders on the market are. However, don’t just pick one without thinking long and hard about how you are going to be using it. After all, there is no sense in picking up the most expensive fish finder you can find if you are only planning on heading through shallower waters. You probably don’t need all of that power.

What we can tell you, however, is that no matter which fish finder you pick up, it will completely change the way in which you fish. It opens up the area beneath your boat, and you will be spotting fish like crazy. It should come as no surprise that those that have fish finders attached to their pontoons will come back with bigger bounties.