Ice fish finder (what are you using?)

[Dog_River]

I would like to buy an ice fishing fish finder. What are you guys recomending ?

I was looking at the ICE 55 flasher, but it would nice to see a fish icon, no ?

Thanks in advance !

Dog_River

[Alberta Bigbore]

I have a preference for the ICE-55. The LX-5 are nice too...just prefer the Humminbird

[fish gunner]

Originally Posted by Dog_River

I would like to buy an ice fishing fish finder. What are you guys recomending ?

I was looking at the ICE 55 flasher, but it would nice to see a fish icon, no ?

Thanks in advance !

Dog_River

I own the 535 hummingbird portable wicked unit has a vertical flasher feature that works great through the ice. in the summer just a good solid sounder. I remember back in the stone age when all we had were flashers, join the future. get a sounder that is equipped for all your needs I recomend the upper end hummingbirds

[fish farmer]

Right now I'm using a showdown, great little unit and does what I need it to do, fish everything from perch to walleye to lakers with it. It would be nice if it was co our and not just black/grey though. All that being said, there's an LX7 in my future lol.

[Mudslide]

Originally Posted by Dog_River

but it would nice to see a fish icon, no ?

If you are talking about a fish symbol instead of the actual sonar returns then NO you don't want that. It will be practically useless for ice fishing. Once you learn how to use a flasher (takes about 5 minutes) you will love it. That said if you like the idea of a traditional screen as well as having a flasher option then check out the Lowrance M68C with GPS. Bass Pro has then on clearance for under $250 bucks. You could turn it into a portable ice unit very easily. Even so, you will want to turn the fish ID off. When you do, an LCD graph will continue to draw your lure as a continuous line in memory following the bouncing ball when you jig your lure. (The leading edge is real time and the line is memory) When you set the ping speed high enough there is no lag time at all and when you move your jig the line moves.

As far as spending 500 bucks goes I would look really hard at a Lowrance HDS-5 They are bringing out a new version and the old ones have a rebate and are reduced to around that price. Best bang for your buck.

[Willowtrail]

Originally Posted by Dog_River

I would like to buy an ice fishing fish finder. What are you guys recomending ?

I was looking at the ICE 55 flasher, but it would nice to see a fish icon, no ?

Thanks in advance !

Dog_River

I'm using the Showdown Ice Troller. It's a great entry level unit that does the trick. I wanted to have room in the budget for a camera as well. Not sure on the larger flasher units but I have seen the Marcum LX-5 in action and worked great.

As for the fish icon, no. I read an article somewhere years ago about them and to turn them off on my boat sonar. I turn off the "Fish ID" feature and learned to read and use my sonar properly and it put me on perch this summer I never would have seen with the Fish ID turned on.

[walleyeca]

If you want the best get yourself a vexilar fl-18 or 20 with the tribeam! learn how to use it and you will fish 60% better!! the Hummingbird is nice and pretty but if you plan to fish deep for lakers after 80 feet its useless! ( I used to own one!) Marcum lx-5 is good but still only has on liquid crystal(vs 2 in vex) only has 3/4 innch seperation over 1/2 on the vex and marcum concentrated on putting all the power in the head unit and signal also get a bit sloppy after 96 feet(tried this one aswell) For the money and versatility(you can get a boat mount kit for your vexilar!) Its the only way to go! If you have any other questions message me, and you wont see the unit at fishing hole but Kevin at south fishing hole will order a custom unit in for you! hope this helps

marcum all the way...lx-3 or lx-5 let them work out the bugs on the lx-7 for a year.

[fish gunner]

these flasher guys are banging rocks together ahh 19 78 hay day for vexlar. the 500 series portables do every thing well dont need to order this, tune that. charge batt.push button -fish no stupid whirring oh and works on open water two and my x8 zoom split 3 way screen lets me see every thing happening in the water underneath me or my boat. 2 bits

[npauls]

I am running an ice 45 and love it.

The difference between the flasher and a sonar is that a flasher is real time and a sonar has a bit of a delay. The sonar also has a past history that you can see and a flasher has to be looked at constantly.

I am pretty sure I will be keeping the flasher and camera for ice fishing and sonar's for my boat.

If you get the chance to try out both it will give you a better idea of what you want in a unit.

[Teamprotz]

Used my Lowrance lcx-15 last year for lakers but have now pulled my HDS-8 off the boat and can't wait. Guess I need to try it on perch first or put it back on the boat before going to Cold Lake.

[stinkynuts]

I have the icee 55 and I prefer to fish with it . but i feel i also need a camera just for scouting holes and seeing whats down there once I know i have my target species then i move to my flasher . but dont get me wrong the ice 55 is a steller unit .

[fish gunner]

Originally Posted by npauls

I am running an ice 45 and love it.

The difference between the flasher and a sonar is that a flasher is real time and a sonar has a bit of a delay. The sonar also has a past history that you can see and a flasher has to be looked at constantly.

I am pretty sure I will be keeping the flasher and camera for ice fishing and sonar's for my boat.

If you get the chance to try out both it will give you a better idea of what you want in a unit.

good post. the 500 portables have both features on the same screen real time flasher feeding the sonar screen best of both worlds the lowrance x 65 can jump between both flasher (stone age)and sounder (2012) but would take some work to be portable. if one has the $$ the 575 has side scan tech useful on open water

[wallycranker]

Usig the new elite 5 ice machine . It's great little pricey. The case is nice it's sits alot higher easier on the back. Little bit of adjusting and she's good

[npauls]

I was thinking about trying my hds 8 out on the ice to see how it is but really don't want to take a $2000 unit out to get all beat up. Plus I don't have the cash to buy the stuff I would need to convert it over to an ice fishing unit.

May have to look into an Elite 5 with gps for next season and mark a ton of spots when I am in the boat and use it to locate winter fishing spots.

I am just not sure if it is worth getting one when I could get a hand held gps unit and run that with my ice 45 and get pretty much the same results.

[Mudslide]

[QUOTE=npauls;1246285]The difference between the flasher and a sonar is that a flasher is real time and a sonar has a bit of a delay. The sonar also has a past history that you can see and a flasher has to be looked at constantly.
[QUOTE]

Sorry bud, but you are wrong about the difference between flashers and sonar. Sonar is sonar is sonar. There is no lag if you set then up properly. That's why Marcum's flagship LX7 is not a flasher. Some lcd screens can slow down in extreemly cold weather but you wouldn't notice it unless you were outside in minus 30 weather. The newest ones have built in heaters for the screen to eliminate even that.

[Dog_River]

great feedback and info guys,

keep it coming !

Dog_River

[fish gunner]

mudslide knows his stuff, his sweep style sounder(flasher) has 2012 technology. the rest use lite brite ohhh ahhh (look at the perrty colors )if u want to be amused get a sweep style vexlar jobbie .if u want a unit that covers all the bases get a humminbird

[skiwili]

I got Marcum LX5 this year and I love it

[Teamprotz]

Picked up a spare transducer , power cable and bracket for about $100. Had a box that fits my battery and added a rod holder style mount to quick release the HDS8 for transport. Gotta keep the display warm !

[Mudslide]

I haven't tried my HDS-8 on the ice but I'm getting a Gen2 HDS-5 soon and I will probably get the ice kit for it. I just wish Lowrance would make a dual beam ice ducer. My LX7 got turned back to Marcum because they sent it wrong but I'm hoping to have that in the next week or so.

[misty water]

I have a Marcum LX 5 and I have had excellent luck fishing lake trout with it. The deepest I fished so far is about 150 fow and it worked excellent, easy to use and lots of power. I've used the show downs but found them very ineffective in deep water. Friend of mine has a Hummingbird ice 35 he picks up a lot of interference from other flashers and can't fish close to anyone using them. Another friend of mine uses a vexilar and it seems to work great for him.

[fish gunner]

jibber jabber lsdr 9 mgr3 lx 6 I believe all the 500 hummingbirds have twin cone I think 20 - 60° all in a box you by at crappy tire.no order this oops, no not like that. just gime that box- fish

[walleyeca]

Originally Posted by misty water

I have a Marcum LX 5 and I have had excellent luck fishing lake trout with it. The deepest I fished so far is about 150 fow and it worked excellent, easy to use and lots of power. I've used the show downs but found them very ineffective in deep water. Friend of mine has a Hummingbird ice 35 he picks up a lot of interference from other flashers and can't fish close to anyone using them. Another friend of mine uses a vexilar and it seems to work great for him.

LOL the reason your buddy gets alot of interference is because the marcum and the hummingbird wanted to go head to head for the most power(2000 to 2400 watts) when those 2 machines are around each other or even a vexilar you really have to mess with the gain its actually gross to be honest! so while those 2 companies were having a braggin rights fights, Vexilar can read clear as day down to 300 feet and vexilar doesnt brag about there max 400 watts!!! and who can argue with 1/2 seperation? Hummingbird and marcum are nice machines I was mereley speaking of performance when you need it and that when your chasing fishing deep ive owned the rest Now i fish the best im not knocking whatever machine you have because there all good in there own ways! Trying to compare there hi tech sonars to sonar fishing graphs is riduculous there is no comparison the graphs are just not fast enough! And the LX-7 LOL Im not even gonna go there! 2 cents

[kinwahkly]

Ive got an Ice 55, has been great the last 2 seasons, have increased my catch ratio by tons.

[fish gunner]

now I mite be slow. I lift my lure my eyes see it move, the hummingbird 500 family have a vertical flasher as a side bar converting into conventional sonar graph real time. now I have not fished in water over 60 ft, and have once had to deal with interference. push button 3 times fix.that easy.I dont get why are you lite brite guys keep looking for 1/2" fish. sorry ,dont see the advantage of sweep style maybe better at bottom type ID and smaller cone little more hook to fish distance separation. 2 more cents

[Dog_River]

I have a Hummingbird 595c on the boat, can this be converted and if so how would it perform ??

Dog_River

[fish gunner]

Originally Posted by Dog_River

I have a Hummingbird 595c on the boat, can this be converted and if so how would it perform ??

Dog_River

dont have all the info but humming bird make a portable mount and you may have to get a transducer. do a little research not sure they work together? no reason I can think of to stop it being converted

[iliketrout]

I have the ice kit for my gen 1 HDS-5. Once you pay for the HDS, the ice kit add on is not that much (~175 or so from TFH, but they're not stocked you need to order it in).

Once you get the settings dialed in, it works very well. I have the screen set up to show a traditional flasher read-out and also the typical sonar - this is the first flasher I've owned so I use the sonar readout to help interpret the flasher display. I had it out at Spray lake on Saturday in 105 FOW and I could see both my snap swivel and jig when I was bouncing my jig off bottom. We had 3 guys in a 6 man fatfish and I could also see their jigs. We each set up at different depths and I could watch each of our jigs and could tell each guy when a fish was coming in.

A lot of the fish we landed were suspended and we never would have got them without know what depth they suspended at.

Originally I purchased the add-on because I wanted to save some money over buying a dedicated flasher unit, but with the sonar readout I think I prefer a setup like this.

[mayuan]

Originally Posted by fish gunner

dont have all the info but humminbird make a portable mount and you may have to get a transducer. do a little research not sure they work together? no reason I can think of to stop it being converted

Yep you can convert it to work on the ice. I use the humminbird 535 on the ice with the ice transducer and I think it works great. Below is a link to the transducer and a list of all the models it works with.

http://store.humminbird.com/products/314001/XI_9_20

Also, the bag to make the humminbird portable is at the link below.

http://store.humminbird.com/products...0dc740fc76c902