If you flick back through my past reviews, you’ll notice how diverse they are. Why? Because this is the gear that I actually use or I’m going to use. I see no point in reviewing gear just for ‘reviews’ sake! Another thing you’ll notice is that I’m a bit of a tackle-tart. Yes, I do like my toys but they have to be toys that work - I’m not into carrying around useless junk when I go fishing! Long gone are the days when I would carry gear to cover every eventuality, sink included - I’d much rather carry my rods, with a small tackle bag and bait bucket, filled with carefully selected and finely tuned items that I know will either hook or increase my chances of catching fish.

Fishfinders are almost exclusively used in the UK for boat fishing. Let’s face it – carrying around several kilos of electronics, strapped to a car battery, doesn’t sound pleasurable, in fact it’s sure to make shore fishing impossible not better. But have you ever wondered what it would be like to take a fishfinder shore fishing with you? Portable fishfinders with cast-able transducers have been around for many years overseas, and although they have been adopted by UK coarse anglers to gain information about the ground over which they are fishing, it would appear that shore anglers fail to realise this technology exists.

Initially I purchased my Humminbird Piranha MAX230e for coarse fishing. A couple of years back I decided I wanted to restore a 2.5 acre estate lake as a hobby project and restock it with fish for the local community. But to do this I had to understand the depths of the lake, its contours and margins. The Piranha MAX offered the perfect solution... its cast-able ‘SmartCast’ wireless, remote transducer could be cast from the lake banks, and its suction cup plug-in traditional transducer could be mounted to my inflatable, giving me a clear picture of the lake bottom and its depths. That was then - today I use my Piranha MAX for so much more.

Firstly let’s get two things straight about fishfinders!

One - In general fishfinders are not used to find fish. For the experienced fishfinder user, finding a fish on screen and identifying what species it is isn’t impossible, but for the most part fish finders aren’t for finding fish – they’re for finding features that may hold fish, and if you’re lucky perhaps some baitfish. The true job of a fishfinder is a feature finder!

And two – turn those silly little fish symbols off – they don’t really work! Most manufacturers produce fishfinders that give an option to display different sized fish symbols on screen to represent what the unit thinks are fish. The only problem is most units can’t distinguish between what is fish, and what is not.

Being able to understand the seabed is an advantage to any angler – sea or coarse, boat or shore, and for this reason the Piranha MAX is far from a gimmicky gizmo designed to catch anglers, but a powerful tool for the serious angler seeking to understand more about the ground he is fishing over and just why it holds fish.

The Humminbird’s ‘Smart Cast’ Advanced RSS remote wireless sensor can be fished in two ways. After it is tied to the mainline (I attach mine using a big snap-link swivel), the sensor (transducer) is cast and can then be allowed to drift or it retrieved. As it moves through the water, a clear picture of what’s beneath it is displayed on the Piranha MAX’s 4inch greyscale screen. Finding subtle gullies, isolated rocks, kelp, clear patches and rocky ledges is simple.

Humminbird’s Piranha MAX 230e portable fishfinder is an awesome bit of kit. Using an fishfinder for shore fishing will help with understanding what’s down there and why it’s down there and hopefully this will help catch what’s down there! Just this last week, I used my Piranha MAX to study the sea bed beyond the low water line on one of my favourite bass beaches. I always thought this beach was flat and featureless but I was surprised what I found. The next time I fish there, I will certainly be fishing a deeper gully that, until now, I didn’t know existed!

My view – an awesome gadget that’s sure to help you catch more fish – that is if you can afford one!

Specifications

• Screen size - 4inch diagonal Greyscale LCD
• Maximum depth with ‘SmartCast’ sensor – 120FT
• Wireless range – 100ft
• Power supply – 10x AA batteries (not supplied)
• Simple to use soft-touch buttons and idiot proof simple menus
• Fully waterproof - comes with Hard-shell carry case

Cost £225.00

For further information www.johnsonoutdoors.co.uk

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