08-18-2013, 07:06 PM
I used a Fishin' Buddy 140c for a year. Hard to beat for the price, portability and ease of use on a tube or 'toon. It shoots a 34 degree down beam, so if fishing in 20' of water (pretty common for stillwater), your sonar cone will cover approx. a 12' circle (6' radius). In other words, unless you are in deep water or a fish is directly under you, you won't get many fish hits on the sonar.
However, the FB works great to find bottom structure and drop-offs, and its side-finder sonar uses a 10 degree angle that goes out about a 100'. This is an awesome feature because you can either slowly troll with the side-finder looking back and know when fish are at least near your fly; or when floating still, use it like an inverse periscope to scan around looking for fish to cast to and knowing how far to cast.
The only big negative is that it is 9-volt system and goes through 6 AAs in 16 hours. I rigged mine using a 9-volt rechargeable battery from an RC car, which both lasted longer and was less expensive than buying batteries.
I thought the 140c added a lot of fun to tube fishing.
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However, the FB works great to find bottom structure and drop-offs, and its side-finder sonar uses a 10 degree angle that goes out about a 100'. This is an awesome feature because you can either slowly troll with the side-finder looking back and know when fish are at least near your fly; or when floating still, use it like an inverse periscope to scan around looking for fish to cast to and knowing how far to cast.
The only big negative is that it is 9-volt system and goes through 6 AAs in 16 hours. I rigged mine using a 9-volt rechargeable battery from an RC car, which both lasted longer and was less expensive than buying batteries.
I thought the 140c added a lot of fun to tube fishing.
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