A fish finder

[DeepestPlaces]

Hello all,
I'm Judith from LA. I'm into Biology; zoology to be precise and I would love to have a chance to observe some big fish I heard from a friend that there are fish finders I could use in order to track the fish.
Could you perhaps explain to me (in plain English, please, 'couse I'm not really following that technical talk, sorry ) which fish finder might be the best to go for? I've already read tons of stuff on that subject, and I think (but I'm not sure ) that the best thing would be to go for a side scanning f-finder; that is, if I understood correctly. Now I have to learn to recognize one I've been thinking about this Hummingbird, but as I said (I'm not sure if it is a side scanning finder and if that is what I need).

Pleease, give me some tips and hints about the best fish finder

 

[SuperD]

Judith, just a few clarifying questions. What type of water will you be in and what species of fish will you be tracking? And forgive me if this is insulting but I want you to know that a fish finder only shows the fish on the screen as an arch or a dash on the screen and at what depth in the water column the fish is suspended in. It is NOT fish TV.

 

[The Lucky Duck]

IMO you are on the right track with the Humminbird, (at least for freshwater deep lakes). The Humminbird 898, 998 1199 and a few other models have side imaging. Make sure there is a SI at the end of the model number. With standard down scan technology it is sometimes difficult to see the size of the fish, there may be multiple fish in the target zone that return as one, also the fish may be moving with or staying with the transducer giving it a larger return. The side imaging, and 360 imaging gives a little more defined look at the fish, (assuming you have it set up right and conditions are favorable), IMO this learning curve is steep but rewarding. With my 360 in deep water I can see schools of fish, how tightly they are bunched and often see larger predator fish chasing them.
IMO the DI versions, Down Imaging paint a really cool picture but do little to identify and target fish.