Miten valita kaikuluotain ja kamera talvikalastusta varten?

The open water season is the right time to be thoughtful about winter gear and make the right choice.

Blind fishing

Few people begin to master fishing from the ice, already having in their inventory auxiliary electronic means for searching for fish. Despite the fact that in such fishing the search for fish is one of the key factors, still the fishing technique remains in the first place. The fish itself will not jump out of the hole in any case. Therefore, searching for fish “the old-fashioned way”, by feel, using only a mormyshka, a balancer or any other tackle, helps to better fill your hand and simplifies the understanding of the basics of ice creativity, although, of course, such fishing is much more labor-intensive.

But sooner or later such a person, mastering the basics of winter fishing, begins to visit thoughts, especially in the doldrums of winter – and whether I do everything right, maybe there is no fish here, and I’m trying to catch it, or vice versa – maybe I just catch badly, I change the wiring, mormyshki, and roach still does not show or perch does not respond to the balancer, despite all the tricks. And here many people wonder that it would be nice to look under the ice and finally understand whether the fish is really absent or hands are crooked, or maybe there is a large flock, which for various reasons simply does not respond to anything.

At the moment there are two actual ways to look under the ice – with the help of an echo sounder or a camera. Both options have a number of advantages and disadvantages, which should be taken into account when choosing a device, so as not to regret the money spent.

Echo sounder or camera. The problem of choice

You can, of course, do not bother much and buy both of these devices, especially since they complement each other perfectly and the advantages of one offset the disadvantages of the other. But there is one problem here, little noticeable on the shore. Joint use of echo sounder and camera will take just a huge amount of time in a single active search for fish. And it may so happen that the fisherman simply does not reach a promising place, to the very snags or coquina, on which today will be standing fish.

Advantages of echo sounder

Winter echo sounder is decently different from summer analogs, especially from advanced devices. But also the requirements for it are different.

But even a winter echo sounder differs from the camera in its functionality and a variety of modes and their settings. I liked the Russian-made echo sounder Praktik 6M most of all because of its unpretentiousness, reliability and low charge consumption. Finger battery is enough for 3-4 active fishing trips.

Of course, in the first place – it is an instant definition of depth.

Also one of the pluses of the echo sounder relative to the camera is the speed of use. The time spent on checking 1 hole is many times less than for the same actions made with a camera.

When using the echo sounder is not important the presence of current. The sensor looks vertically downward. But with a camera on the current there will be problems, because it does not allow you to turn the lens, directing it always in one direction. And the more depth under the hole, and the faster the current, the more difficult it is to look through the camera in different directions.

In addition to the mode that shows the fish on the echo sounder screen, there is also a professional mode that shows everything that happens underwater. Only it needs to be learned to understand, but a little bit of labor and after a few fishing trips the underwater picture becomes fully understandable.

Only with an echo sounder without problems you can detect when the fish stands in the water column, not near the bottom. With a camera, you can only detect such a fish by accident.

The echosounder has a wide sensitivity setting. With the correct setting of this parameter in the appropriate and professional mode, you can see the bait, even the smallest mormyshka. It is very convenient to observe how the fish responds to a certain wiring or bait. Very often it happens that the fish stands under the hole, rises behind the mormyshka, but not enough. In this case, the change of baits and wiring sooner or later brings success. This can not be done with a camera.

It is also possible to use the echo sounder in an old, frozen hole, if there are at least a few millimeters of water on the surface. In this case, it is enough to lower the sensor to the ice, and everything that is under the hole will be perfectly displayed.

Disadvantages of the echo sounder

The most important disadvantage of the winter echo sounder is the presence of a single beam. The consequence of which is sometimes the presence of “blind spots”, which do not fall into the beam and, accordingly, are not displayed on the screen, because the sensor beam beats to the nearest point on the bottom. For example, under the hole dump, from 2 to 4 meters, from the hole goes beam echo sounder in the form of a reverse cone, the edge of the beam at the shortest distance gets to a depth of, say 3.5 meters and in this case the base of the cone will also be at a depth of 3.5 meters, and the lower part of the dump, from 3.5 to 4 meters will be in the “blind” zone. In this situation, you can often see that the fish rises behind the bait, when the bait for half a meter rises from the bottom and falls into the beam, and accordingly on the screen of the echo sounder.

The second disadvantage of echo sounder is the difficulty in determining the size and species composition of fish. It happens to see a pack, fish activity is weak, you start to pick up the bait and wiring, to which the fish reacts better and as a result it turns out that it is a pack of ruffs.

Advantages of underwater camera

There are a large number of different cameras. Some shoot better, some worse, some have a thick and comfortable cord, others can not withstand and one season. But the choice of camera is the subject of a separate article, and the main advantages and disadvantages of all cameras are the same.

The most important advantage of the camera relative to the echo sounder – it is an accurate display of the bottom surface, snags. You can see what fish is standing, in what quantity and what size. In this regard, for example, when catching pikeperch, it is difficult to think of an alternative to the camera. Since when the fish is pressed to the bottom and does not move or stands under snags, it is difficult to detect it with an echo sounder, and with a camera such problems are not.

In other cases, the echo sounder will be more useful.

Disadvantages of underwater camera

Part of the disadvantages I voiced when describing the positive qualities of the echo sounder, but if I summarize, then:

• spending more time when actively searching for fish. This disadvantage can be slightly mitigated when fishing in two, when one drills holes, the second follows with the camera;
• it is impossible to observe the reaction of fish to this or that bait or wiring;
• as a rule, short operating time. I have not come across a camera that can withstand included even one full fishing trip;
• virtually impossible to use in the presence of current;
• less reliability. The cord from the screen to the lens fails much faster than the cord from the screen to the echo sounder sensor;
• almost impossible to find fish in the water column.

What to use after all

I am not in favor of unequivocal statements, which of these devices is better. Better will be the one that best meets the needs of the fisherman and the most suitable for specific conditions and ways of fishing.

My choice stopped on the echo sounder and taking into account all its shortcomings has never been in a situation where I realized that here with the echo sounder in general no way, here only the camera.

And most importantly, it is worth getting used to using one of these devices on fishing and fishing “blind” will be almost impossible, there will always be a feeling that something is missing.