Using a 'Summer' Fish Finder on Ice

[HowSwedeItIs]

Is it really as simple as pulling your fish finder off your boat and plugging in an ice transducer? Do you need to do anything else to winterize it?

[huntsfurfish]

Might have to select the transducer on the sonar. And may have to adjust your settings slightly. But its pretty easy.

What sonar do you have?

[cube]

Originally Posted by HowSwedeItIs

Is it really as simple as pulling your fish finder off your boat and plugging in an ice transducer? Do you need to do anything else to winterize it?

Don't even need an Ice ducer if you mount your summer ducer to a rod that will hold it horizontal. I have one of my sonars this way and one with an ice ducer.

Both work well.

[huntsfurfish]

You can also purchase a soft case and stand for it from Cabelas.
You will also need a battery 12 volt 7-9ah.
Mounting bracket and power cord.

[iliketrout]

pretty much that simple...most have flasher modes now although I still use mine in "regular" mode as I like to see the history in case I was looking away. You can buy kits for Lowrance that have the pack, mount, ice transducer, extra cable for battery etc...if you want to poorboy it all you really need is a 12V battery and cable to connect to it, and a way to hold the water transducer horizontal. If you want to spend the money the ice fishing setup (Mine is the Lowrance PPP-18I) is pretty awesome but a little spendy for what you're getting.

I use an old HDS 5 Gen 1 for my winter set up, and never had a problem with the screen freezing up on me or anything in cold weather.

[Teamprotz]

Spare power cord and backup boat transducer , a good battery and you're set. Ive used my HDS 8 for years , won't go without it !

[erkel1]

And if the ice is clear I just carry a pop bottle full of water, pour it on the ice, set the transducer in it and can read depth before I auger a hole.

[The Reel Deal]

i just picked up an ice ducer for my 999 today since i found the conventional summer ducer to be a pain to mount and remove out of the hole once i caught a fish.

[cube]

Originally Posted by The Reel Deal

i just picked up an ice ducer for my 999 today since i found the conventional summer ducer to be a pain to mount and remove out of the hole once i caught a fish.

I use one of these http://www.titelok.com/product-p/trd-5d798.htm with http://www.titelok.com/product-p/trdb-5709.htm for mounting my sonar onto. I can move this quickly for boat to boat in the summer and just clamp a board to it in the winter for ice fishing. I must say it works great and I find it much faster getting this out of the hole ice fishing than trying to get the floating ice ducer out. The rod has handle that is very easy to grab with mittens and you can adjust the depth of the ducer so that it is flush with the bottom of the hole.

One word about summer ducers vs ice ducers. Depending on which brand you buy most summer ducers have a wider cone angle than what you might want for ice fishing. This would possibly be the one advantage of an ice ducer from some brands. Not saying this is critical in practical use as I have not found it to make a huge difference but it could in some applications make a difference.

[muzzy]

I use mine all the time Its an older portable model that you suction cup to boat transom, In winter I just got two old aluminum arrows that I wired together to form a cross and duct taped the transducer near end of one arrow ( you could substitute wood dowling, rebar etc for the arrows) Works great

[ROA]

There are 2 different types of crystals used in transducers. The more expensive one used in better quality ice divers is not affected by cold as bad as the cheap ones. I had been using a summer one on a cheap portable always found it to loose poet and flake out in the winter. Then I bought a while new unit (Vexilar ) problem solved!!

[Walleyedude]

Originally Posted by cube

One word about summer ducers vs ice ducers. Depending on which brand you buy most summer ducers have a wider cone angle than what you might want for ice fishing. This would possibly be the one advantage of an ice ducer from some brands. Not saying this is critical in practical use as I have not found it to make a huge difference but it could in some applications make a difference.

Excellent point cube.

For ice fishing, a narrower cone angle is definitely better. It gives you a much better picture of what's close to your lure or your hole, especially in deeper water. Flashers have very narrow cone angles.

[Mudslide]

The Fish'n Hole sells the titelock products. As for the transducers, as far as I'm aware there are no narrow beam transducers available for either Lowrance or Humminbird open water sonar units. Marcum and Vexilar offer narrow beam transducers and Humminbird has one on it's Ice 55 flasher only. That said the open water units work quite well with the 20 degree ducers.

Originally Posted by cube

I use one of these http://www.titelok.com/product-p/trd-5d798.htm with http://www.titelok.com/product-p/trdb-5709.htm for mounting my sonar onto. I can move this quickly for boat to boat in the summer and just clamp a board to it in the winter for ice fishing. I must say it works great and I find it much faster getting this out of the hole ice fishing than trying to get the floating ice ducer out. The rod has handle that is very easy to grab with mittens and you can adjust the depth of the ducer so that it is flush with the bottom of the hole.

One word about summer ducers vs ice ducers. Depending on which brand you buy most summer ducers have a wider cone angle than what you might want for ice fishing. This would possibly be the one advantage of an ice ducer from some brands. Not saying this is critical in practical use as I have not found it to make a huge difference but it could in some applications make a difference.

[HowSwedeItIs]

Thanks for all the great information everybody. Huntsfurfish I know its a Lowrance but the model number escapes me at the moment. Looking forward to trying it out, thanks again