Garmin fishfinder in a Pelican fishing kayak

Hey TW,

I have a Pelican Catch 120 sit-on-top kayak. Recently I started thinking of putting a fishfinder in it. Apparently you can get a Garmin portable unit that has a kayak in-hull mount. As a bonus, the unit is portable, and can be moved to my aluminum boat, as well as be used for ice fishing.

If you have one of those gizmos in your kayak please answer a few of my questions:
- when mounting this in a kayak, do you loose a lot of functionality?
- Is it easy to move to another boat, and use for ice fishing?
- do I have to buy additional hardware to use it in different set ups?
- any other tips?

Thanks!

 

I have the garman striker 4

1: when I mounted it, I didnt loose any functionality of either the kayak or the finder. My kayak (lifetime teton) has a spot right between your legs that has a scotty mount. I got the scotty universal fish finder mount and put it there.
2: To move it another boat would depend alot on how you mount your wires and your transducer. I have my wires run inside my hull, and my transducer mounted into a scupper hole. If I wanted to move it to another boat, I would need to get some extra wire kits and a extra transducer. Extra transducer is $60, extra power wire is $20.
3: It comes with everything in the box to surface mount it. the transducer mount it comes with is for mounting to a trolling motor. So if you want to mount the fish finder head, you will probably want a scotty track mount for it. The transducer you can do either in hull (I didnt have any good luck mounting in hull) in the scupper hole (this worked best for me) or you can get a scotty transducer mount that connects to your track (and you can mount the finder head to it) then just holds the transducer over the side of the kayak (possible to get your line or anchor caught in it).
4: figure out your best mounting locations before you hard mount anything on it, I changed like 4 times till I figured out the best way that worked for me to mount it all.

Fish finder mount for scotty

$13 Scotty 0368 Universal Sounder Mount

https://www.amazon.com/Scotty-368-Universal-Sounder-Mount/dp/B00FPQZ95K/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ZS5Y63DTBTXB&dchild=1&keywords=scotty+fish+finder+mount&qid=1600143748&sprefix=scotty+fish+%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-1
Transducer mount that also holder the above mount

$33 Scotty 141 Kayak/SUP Transducer Mounting Arm with Gear-Head Black, Medium

https://www.amazon.com/Scotty-Kayak-Transducer-Mounting-Gear-Head/dp/B0174X6T5A/ref=sr_1_2?crid=ZS5Y63DTBTXB&dchild=1&keywords=scotty+fish+finder+mount&qid=1600143768&sprefix=scotty+fish+%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-2
Surface mount for fish finder mount

$8 Scotty #241-BK Side Deck Mounting Bracket (Black)

https://www.amazon.com/Scotty-241-BK-Mounting-Bracket-Black/dp/B001M4HT2A/ref=sr_1_30?crid=ZS5Y63DTBTXB&dchild=1&keywords=scotty+fish+finder+mount&qid=1600143806&sprefix=scotty+fish+%2Caps%2C173&sr=8-30

Wire pass through I used yakattak through hull grommets

$20 YakAttack Through Hull Wiring Kit - Pair (EMS-1001)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0844K9FHB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For my battery, I didnt want to spend big money on a fish finder battery made for a kayak. I got a small lawn tractor battery (10 amp hours) and a small ammo can

$11 Flambeau Outdoors 5415MC Mini Ammo Can, Portable Ammo Storage

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01K61E9AO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Since you have a hatch right in the front of you kayak, you can probably get away with not drilling holes to run wires. You can put your battery in the front hold, and just run the wire out the top of the hatch. Then use the track mount transducer mount and bundle the extra wire in the hatch also.

 

Thanks a lot! This is good info. The kit makes it sound like everything is in it, but clearly I will have to buy other stuff to make it work

 

When I ordered mine, I ordered the garman striker 4 and the mounting base. After playing around with it and different locations for the transducer and wiring, I settled on my final solution and ordered the parts to make it happen.

One thing that sucks about testing locations is that the fish finder doesnt really work out of water. So I had to set it all up at home, secure everything then go out to the lake to test. If it didnt work, then I would still fish, but didnt have a finder running. Took a bout 4-5 trips till I got it all dialed in how I wanted it.

 

i need to test mine..my hobie has a transducer mount so the location is easy. but Hobie is married to Lowrance. my Garmin needed some retrofitting to make it fit. hopefully testing tomorrow.

if i were to get a system that can move from boat to boat..i would get that YakAttack Cellblock system. battery goes in the box, the fish finder mounts on top of the box, and the transducer dangles over the gunnel of the boat..easy. then the entire system clips into the accessory track system.

i bet you can set it next to an ice-hole and fish in the winter!!

 

total success!

just went out on the water for 15 minutes and played with the buttons. got a small bass on a Ned Rig.

 

Does this fishfinder show depth for really shallow water? I'm just curious how the gps/mapping software works, if I could use it to accurately map out my lake, including all the shallow areas.

 

from what i can tell, it will measure very shallow.

not sure there is any mapping software for the Striker4. it is very basic. i was pedalling around and mentally noting the shelf..then pull a u-turn and cast to the shelf.

i am not a very good fisherman tho. maybe dont follow my lead.

 

I thought I had a picture on my phone of it but apparently not. My Humminbird Helix 7 will map the lake as you move around. It's a pretty cool feature and builds a full topographic map but is a slow process in a kayak.

 

Sounds like you have some REALLY SWEET secret fishing spots, if you don't want me following your lead, wink, wink

 

The Humminbird is 2 or 3 times pricier than the Garmin :-(

 

Yep, I got lucky with getting it used from a guy who apparently thought putting it on a boat made you catch fish. When that didn't work out for him he sold it, still had the plastic film on it and everything.

 

The gps on the garmin, shows a white screen with a dot where you are on the screen. There is no mapping of any kind on it, just a white screen that shows your location. You can though tag spots with the gps, and it will lead you back to those spots if you choose to go back.