Fish finder winter time use?

[pikefisherman]

Was at a show last week end, started asking questions about the portables and the rep told me that a lowance elite 5 would serve as a portable if I purchased a ice fishing type transducer, any one used this? He said I could use the transducer for boat but would show a larger area.

 

[alldodge]

Re: Fish finder winter time use?

I think he was trying to sell you something. IMO a transducer is a transducer, only differences are frequency and beam width. For ice fishing you just need to have a means to keep it where you want. Tie it to a stick, board or here is a guy who used a water bottle.

How To Make a Fish Finder Transducer Mount For Ice Fishing For a Non-Portable Unit! - YouTube

 

[Fleetwin]

Re: Fish finder winter time use?

I've used numerous boat depth/fish finders for ice fishing.

Most wouldn't "shoot" through the ice but worked fine in an open hole.

Basically, I just built a box and mounted the finder head to the box. In the box, I used a 12V garden tractor battery which would easily last all day.

I mounted the transducer to an old broom stick. This allowed me to move the transducer around, in the hole, and get several different views.

I was also able to use these rigs in other boats (canoes, etc.) that I didn't want to mount anything permanent in.

It wasn't elegant but very effective.

 

[icyveins]

Re: Fish finder winter time use?

best purchase I have ever made, I use my Elite 5 for ice and water. I bought the unit for ice but it comes with the transducer for a boat (so that got mounted on the boat) I purchased the ICE-DUCER with the carrying case and battery to mount my unit in. ITS GREAT. I can pin point the areas I have been at with the boat and or each hole I have ice fished.!!!! I personally would never look back. something i would like to mention is I did alot of research on Graph type finders before I bought one to use on the ice. I would go to anyone of the forums for ice fishing and read up on how to SETUP the unit when using it for ice. it helps alot! any questions shoot me a PM

 

[pikefisherman]

Re: Fish finder winter time use?

Thanks I'll use the one I have and see how it goes.

 

[Fleetwin]

Re: Fish finder winter time use?

Story:

Quite a few years back, me and a buddy of mine were going to fish his private pond that we knew was rich with Crappies. The year before, we had sunk a bundle of Christmas trees to create some structure. The ice had moved the floating marker. We couldn't find it.

Finding that structure was not as easy as you'd think. We knew, generally, where it was.

We bored a few holes and stuck the transducer down to see if we could see anything.

Third hole was the charm, we were on top of it.

We proceeded to have a great day pulling out "pounder" Crappies but noticed, on the Fishfinder, something else moving around down there. We thought it may be a Pike "nosing around".

My buddy rigged up a heavier rod and started "swimming around" a Red/White Daredevil. Viola! a 34" Northern Pike. He didn't want them in there, so we kept it.

Great day. Nice Crappies and a nice pike.

Personally, I like Pike. If you know how to clean one (Y Bone) they are quite tasty.