We’re at a point where our smartphones have become indispensable when enjoying the outdoors. Even when fishing, for instance, apps have made it easier to find hotspots, check various real-time charts in your location, and track every detail of your angling adventures. Might as well use it to serve as your fish finder’s interface, too, which is exactly what Garmin had in mind with the Striker Cast.
That’s right, Garmin is finally ditching the dedicated terminals that came with traditional fish finders, opting to send its readings directly to your phone instead. This means, one less rectangular screen to bring along for your fishing trips, which should help streamline your angling gear if you’re looking to cut down on the amount of things you bring along.
The Garmin Striker Cast is a fish-finding instrument that you can cast into the water using a fishing line and reel into any position you want. Like other sonar transducers, it detects reflected sound activity in the area, which typically indicate the presence of fish within its immediate vicinity, and sends that information wirelessly to the companion app (iOS and Android). According to the outfit, the device can wirelessly transit information at up to 200 feet away, so you can cast it a substantial distance out from your angling kayak’s current location, allowing you to track fish within a pretty large perimeter.
It can detect sound reflections in the water at depths of up to 150 feet, so this isn’t as powerful as some of the best fish finders out there (you know, the kind commercial fishermen will probably prefer). It is, however, perfectly sufficient for folks who spend their free time catching fish for sport or recreation, saving them from all those wasted hours they might otherwise end up spending in erstwhile empty areas.
The Garmin Striker Cast has an integrated temperature sensor, so you can get readings of the heat levels under the water in real-time to help better inform your angling activities, while a built-in GPS will allow you to create custom fishing maps, making it easier to save any good fishing spot you come across throughout your day. The GPS is optional, by the way, so you can opt for a GPS-free version, in case custom maps aren’t something you’re all that interested in. And yes, the device works in both freshwater and saltwater, so you can use this in rivers, lakes, or way out in the ocean. According to the outfit, it will even work for ice fishing, so you can still go out and catch fish just a bit easier even in the thick of winter.
The companion app, by the way, can show a traditional 2D sonar display, so you won’t just see potential fish in the area, but distinguish between various sizes of fish, so you can target larger catch. You can also see the underwater structure below the scope of the radar, which should help give you an idea about how much fish you can expect to find there.
The Garmin Striker Cast is available now, priced at $129.99 without GPS and $179.99 with GPS onboard.