Are we doing the right thing?

I think alot of us take pride in slick ways of mounting accessories and obtaining an outstanding level of safety (look at joels PFD!).  That kind of leaves most of us likely to take offense if part of that is belittled.  I find it more fun to catch fish with hand-poured and hand-tied lures myself, but to each their own.  Certainly in this climate we aught to be circling the wagons rather than in-fighting.

No offense taken at all bluekayak, just engaging in a little friendly debate  

I fully respect you and the old school ways you use not to mention the 900 miles you paddle on every trip.

Sorry if I sounded offended or anything, just trying to have a good conversation.

I really like the FF.  

Given I've only been getting out once a month AND Fish is my favorite form of protein, I prefer the advantage.  

Bluekayak,
Here's some old school which I'm sure you're familiar with.   Back in the day, we used to have a device called a direction finder in a bulky wood box that my dad would load each trip.  I believe this big receiver read a radio frequency (from Nevada?, based on signal strength), which you had to apply to a map to find out your coordinates.  This was in lieu of radar, which I think was either $10K or $5K at the time.  And that was BIG bucks back then.  No way we could afford radar.

Later, new technology came out called LORAN C (Long Range Aid to Navigation).  From what I remember, it was very similar to GPS, spitting out 2 sets of numbers.  I didn't learn how to use it, as it was too complex for my young, seasick mind.

The advancement in sonar is pretty cool too.  I remember the old style that would spin around at a high rate of speed and light up a band, sort of like reading a clock.  You could read bait with them, too, but only when they were fairly thick.
Then, FF's with a graph came out, but they'd print on roll paper, which got a little pricey.  Then, finally, the LCD screen came out.  And like the price of a DVD player, they got cheaper and cheaper with greater functionality.

My POS FF was something like $70.

Stuart

Hey Stuart.... you know... back in the Midwest for ice fishing applications they still use, and many still prefer, the "flasher" style fishfinders... some also prefer them for boat-based angling as well...

Vexilar actually makes some pretty sophistocated units... not my cup of tea but like with everything else, if you learn to read them properly they can be every bit as useful as an LCD... even moreso in certain applications as I understand it.

http://www.vexilar.com/

Bluekayak... maybe you need a Vexilar ... then you can take advantage of technology while still maintaining your old-school status  

Just thought I'd throw one more log on the fire.... Erik

Erik,

Some of those ice-fishing guys with the Vexilars swear that they can actually watch the fish take their bait on the flasher.  I'm not sure if I believe that, but their must be a reason they still use them.  Maybe LCDs freeze.  

My annual ice-fishing trip back home however remains very old-school (5 gal bucket, a small rod and maybe some tip-ups for pike).

Brian

while we are on the subject of "old school".....I started collecting old fishing rods and reels a couple of years ago - some really classic stuff   I'll take some photos and post some as soon as I can! I really get a kick out of the wooden surf rods they used to make - and bamboo flyrods as well. Hand made / carved / painted wooden bobbers......good stuff just like the good 'ol days  

I'm also a big fan of "The Fish Market" sea food restaurant. (there's one in Palo Alto and one in San Mateo) The whole restaurant has wall to wall old fishing photos -  a real treat to look at.....oh...and the oyster shots are top shelf   (My buddy Lee get's his abs sliced here)

Flashers work the exact same way as modern FFs work.  The flasher is mechanical instead of electrical though, the echoes light up at different spots as the flasher spins, whereas a digital ff collects the data and formats it to the lcd screen.  

Advantages to the flasher are that is has analog output, which beats even 16 level grayscale at 320 pixels tall, and at shallow depths the update speed is very fast, about 10hz.  

I've seen a diagnal line on the FF that was a fish swimming up to and eating my bait before.  That's rare though, if you ever scuba dive on a rockfishy reef you'll see why, there's boulders the size of minivans strewn about and the rockfish hang out around their sides and bases.

Hello again,

I'm Dave, the original poster of this thread.  Hopefully, people aren't too pissed off at me to hear my thoughts at its end (hopefully).

First thing, I'd like to offer a humble apology to all.  My intention was not to anger folks, nor to imply that Kayak fishers were in any way unethical.  To the contrary, the spirit of this discussion demonstrates the high degree of concern for the resource shared by you folks, much more so than the average fishing joe.

Really, my original intention was somewhat selfish in nature, but also a time honored fished tradition:  If you know of a great fishing hole, its not a good strategy to broadcast it if you want it to remain great.  I now think it was a mistake to make that statement.

It was very interesting to watch where the discussion meandered, but for whatever it means, I was not questioning the use of fish finders, whether you should eat your catch, or any ethical problem with fishing.

In fact, I do all of those things:  I kayak fish whenever the surf is not up.  I catch and kill what I need to feed my family, and I want to buy a FF when I can afford it.

The only other thing I can offer in defense for my original statement is my utter lack of experience with these type of things, and a small town mindset. I didn't know that kayak fishing was a "sport," and had no experience with discussion boards.  I was in my own private Idaho.  Before I met Sean about a month ago, I thought I was the only one kooky enough to do this (I started on longboards at Linda Mar 25 years ago).

So if you'll pardon one more suggestion, I think we should let this thing go.

If you're headed to Ft Bragg, look me up and we'll go fish.....And post the pictures.

Dave

Dave,  are you Dave A that works with Matt G, the salmon shark guy up there on the North Coast?  Small world, huh?

-Allen

Dave,  are you Dave A that works with Matt G, the salmon shark guy up there on the North Coast?  Small world, huh?

-Allen

Sorry Allen, but I'm not.  I do work in fisheries though.
Dave