Best Electronic Fishing Gadgets for Anglers
I often wonder if anglers don’t angle as much for the gadgets and gee-gaws, colorful lures and flies, space-age rods and reels, as for the fish that they catch. For years, anglers had few electronics to choose from, radios and fishfinders mostly. Today, the choices are limitless.
From fixed mount and handheld radios to emergency radios to GPS devices to electronic fishing bite indicators, fisherfolks can employ electronic devices to catch more fish, avoid getting lost, stay in touch with others and generally enhance their days on the water. Here is my top ten list of those electronic gadgets for anglers and you should know that this was one hard list to whittle down.
Best Electronic Fishing Gadgets for Anglers by Mark D. Williams
The Best You Can Get
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Mark says:
You’ll find no shortage of top-notch handheld GPS devices on the market today. This is easily the best.
You get a 1-GB SD card and reader. You get the complete U.S. Topographic & Street Maps from DeLorme and if you’ve used their maps, you know how detailed they are. You’ll need no extra maps since the PN-20 ships with the full version of the newly-released Topo USA 7.0. The PN-20 is compact but provides the most accurate, high-resolution track logs of any handheld, the best onscreen maps and detail anywhere. You can download super-detailed topo, street, and aerial maps onto the 1GB memory card.
You can switch from topo to aerial to street maps easily and with the bright color screen, in light or darkness, you can find where you are and where you are going.
- Rugged, impact-resistant and waterproof
- Outstanding signal acquisition and retention
- Works in bright sunlight to total darkness
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Mark says:
Anglers should look into this combination GPS and radio so that they are never out of touch. The Garmin Rino offers the navigational capabilities of a 12-parallel-channel GPS and the reliable communication power of a 22-channel GMRS/FRS radio. To top it off, the Garmin Rino is 100% waterproof. The Rino is set up so that Channels 1-7 are FRS/GMRS, 8-14 are FRS and 15-22 are GMRS and in that way, you get a wide range of communication options. Each channel has 38 squelch codes so you can enjoy semi-private conversation. Every unit includes a trip computer with speed tracking, sunrise/sunset readout, trip timer and trip distance. The Rino sounds difficult to use but don’t be fooled. It just offers an amazing amount of communication power.
- 100% Waterproof
- 500 waypoints and 20 reversible routes
- 22 communication channels: 1-14 FRS, 15-22 GMRS, with transmit distance: up to 2 miles using FRS, up to 5 miles with GMRS
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Mark says:
This is the best side-imaging sonar on the market and in case you haven’t been keeping up with fishing electronics, side-imaging sonar is the most accurate way to locate fish and structure. The detail you see on the split-screens is phenomenal, slightly videogame-ish in its real-ness and detail.
The color sonar gives you both downward and sideward views on a five or eight-inch screen. Get the larger screen or you will regret it. Another reason to invest in this Hummingbird 997c SI? GPS chart plotting on the screen. So if you want to find fish, structure and know where you are when you are lost, you need this sweet instrument.
- Side and down views that extend as far as 300 feet from the boat
- The higher units work by way of a transducer
- Incredible detail on color split screens
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Mark says:
Surface temperatures without ever bending down or getting wet? A real luxury item to be sure but the accuracy, the versatility and the price combine this cool gee-gaw a useful tool to drop in your vest or boat glove box. You just pull it out, point and click and voila! Instant surface temperature. You can even check surface temps of things not water so it’s useful in other ways, too.
- Fits easily in your pocket
- Provides instant surface temperature
- Point and click
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Mark says:
With so many GPS units on the market, most all of them priced right and offering the proper bells and whistles, one must really stand out to end up on this list. The Bushnell Onix 200 Series GSP does just that.
The Onix 200 is rugged and that’s the biggest plus. How about aerial photographs? Navigational data? Detailed topographical maps? Easy-to-understand controls? Check. Because it hooks up to your computer, you can manage and store all your maps and data, too, a great feature.
- Upgraded 2.7?, 320x240-pixel full-color LCD
- Easy-to-understand tutorial
- Topo, navigation, and aerial information
You will be happy with any of these
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Mark says:
A trolling motor on a top 10 electronics list? If you fish from a boat very much, you know that a good dependable trolling motor is as essential as the right lure or the proper rod. This offering from Minn Kota has a redesigned, easier-to-use foot control and better yet, the Terrova has an optional wireless control, the CoPilot. You gotta love gadgets like this. To fit your craft, Minn Kota offers assorted shaft lengths, thrust ratings and voltages.
- Mounting bracket allows for easier storage and setting up
- Optional wireless control
- Sonar transducer
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Mark says:
I hope this 20-pound scale is unable to weigh your fish. I hope that your lunker weighs a lot more than twenty pounds. This inexpensive, portable, lightweight digital fish scale provides measurements in 0.1 pound increments. If you drop it on the ground, the ABS plastic body ensures durability. If you drop it in the water, the scale is water-sealed and it floats. With weight limits on so many waters today, it’s handy to have a scale like this in your pocket or tackle box.
- Waterproof
- Lightweight, portable
- Digital accuracy to 20 pounds
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Mark says:
The Sealife Ecoshot is for serious anglers and the price reflects it. This is a quality camera for those fishermen who want quality pics in and under and around the water. The Ecoshot takes sharp six megapixel shots and has a large two-inch LCD that makes for easy viewing. This is a compact, shockproof, waterproof sports camera that also has a video mode with audio, a spy mode so you can take continuous shots at set-time intervals. SD Card Expanded Memory up to 1 GB.
- Shockproof
- Waterproof to 75 feet
- Rubber-armored for great grip and shock protection
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Mark says:
Anglers don’t always want proof of the fish they caught since the lens captures the truth. A lost fish is always bigger. But from time to time, fisherfolks need evidence that they did catch that fish or saw that bear. And since more and more anglers practicing catch and release, a quick pic of the fish is in order. The Pentax Optio WPi is an ideal, revolutionary option. Why?
This slim, lightweight camera is fully submergible and it is fully submergible without a plastic casing. An amphibious digital camera that is less than an inch thick and takes quality photographs at six megapixels. This small compact can be submerged five feet underwater for up to 30 minutes and that means that 1) you can safely dunk or drop it without worry and 2) you can take cool underwater pics of fish and rocks and other watery creatures. The Optio WPi is loaded with all the usual accoutrements of standard digital cameras, too.
- Fully submergible, 100% waterproof
- 3X optical zoom
- Super-fast 9-point auto focus
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Mark says:
Finding a quality electric trolling motor at less than a Benjamin is rare. You wouldn’t want to use this for a conventional craft but for a canoe, kayak or johnboat (or similar), this is an ideal, low-cost option. Fishing from a small craft is a fave method of mine but splashing around with oars puts the fish down. A trolling motor can get you right up on the fish without scaring them. The Prowler offers a 30-inch-shaft model with a transom mount.
- 12-volt
- 30-pound thrust
- Low cost
