Eufaula, Ala. ? High-tech gadgets that can spot fish with sonar and give the 21st-century angler every possible advantage are moving beyond bass boats to the worm-and-bobber crowd on the banks.

Manufacturers are targeting the largest segment of the fishing market — those who fish from the shore, canoes and kayaks — with more sophisticated fish finders.

Eufaula-based Humminbird recently introduced a wireless device with a bobber that emits sonar and gives anglers a digital picture of where fish swim with a Dick Tracy-style wrist monitor.

Known as the Smartcast RF30, it has a sonar sensor that detects fish and charts the bottom to a depth of 100 feet. It also shows underwater structures where fish tend to gather.

Fish show up on the monitor as either silhouettes or dots. A slightly different version, the Smartcast RF10, has a larger display that can be positioned near the angler.

“Smartcast is the smart bomb of angling,” said Mark Gibson, Humminbird’s global products manager.

Boaters have been using $100 to $2,000 electronic fish finders for years. The lavish $45,000 boats used by top fishing competitors have fish finders, navigation systems, radios and barometers.

But bank anglers have had to be content with the age-old tackle box, rod and reel, and bait. Now they can add a Smartcast RF30 for only about $89.

“Bank fishermen did not have a vote,” said Dave Betts, Humminbird’s research and development director. “They had no technology to help.”

Anglers can attach a Smartcast sensor to their fishing lines like a bobber and cast it out with the baited hook, giving them a real-time view in the water.

Or they can cast it out before fishing to get an idea of what’s there.

“We don’t know of any wireless system that is castable like this,” Gibson said.

Shown are components of humminbird's new fish-finding system for bank anglers. Both systems come with the green sonar sensor that anglers can cast into the water to get depth readings and images of fish, underwater structures and the bottom contour. One model comes with a wristwatch-style display, while the other has a larger display. The gear is shown May 2 in Eufaula, Ala.

Chris Spiering, a Green Bay, Wis., fishing guide, uses the Smartcast system from his boat while fishing for walleye in the summer. He believes it will also be useful when he takes anglers ice-fishing for lake trout in the winter.

“To me, this fish finder is an awesome innovation,” Spiering said. “It is going to change the way people fish and the way they see structures. You can target little areas, and you don’t have to run your boat over the area to see.”

Betts said the technology behind the Smartcast wasn’t radical, but getting it to work in such small spaces was difficult. The sensor runs for about 400 hours on a replaceable battery, and the wrist device uses a common watch battery.

Manufacturers are also counting on technology to lure children back to fishing.

Janet Tennyson, spokeswoman for the American Sportfishing Association, said the nation’s fishing population was holding steady at about 44 million, but fishing did not attract children the way it once did.

The association is working with 32 state fish and game agencies to attract young people, and to inform the public about licensing, regulations and places to fish.

“The basic things that people love about fishing are never going away — feeling the tug of your line, spending time with your friends and family, doing things in the outdoors,” Tennyson said. “It’s one of those pastimes that reaches into every demographic.”

Humminbird officials believe Smartcast will appeal to computer-savvy kids.

“The fishing population is getting older with the baby boomers,” Betts said. “The kids are home playing computer games. Smartcast will entice them out there.”