Beginners help

[sting3462]

Could someone let me know if any fish locater will work for ice fishing or do you have to have a certain kind (like a portable or something)? Any info or suggestions will be very beneficial.

[uffdapete]

sting - I've seen people use a lot of different locaters for ice fishing from the original Lowrance green box flashers to the newer LCD types - even fished with a guy using an older paper graph one time. There is some risk of damaging an LCD in cold weather I'm told - just a word of warning there.

I started out with a Hummingbird Super Sixty flasher and it worked okay but I now own a Vexilar which was made more specifically for ice fishing and it does a much better job than any of the above units. Marcum and Vexilar are two of the leading manufacturers for ice fishing locaters.

[rmh2o]

sting is there a certain type you are planning on using?If you can be a little more specific it would help.A flasher works the best on ice but you can use a LCD and run it in the fast track mode but there are some drawbacks,they will freeze up in the cold and the picture on the screen is not in real time wich means it takes a second or two before it shows on the screen.I used one for a short time years ago icefishing and it helped in catching fish but not nearly as good as a flasher.Any locator can be rigged up to become portable with a 12 volt battery.Hope this helps

[Surface Tension]

You'll have to make a mount for your transducer. Theres been a couple posts on that if you do a search. Also if you use the 2 6 volt lantern batteries I would convert over to the 12 volt 7 amp hr battery. Like what was already said set your scroll speed to it's fastest setting.
This won't be as portable as a MarCum or Vex but it'll get you by till you make that jump.

[sting3462]

I got a great deal that I couldn't pass up on a locator; (because I am very partial to actually seeing the fish on the screen and not a blinking light) it is a Hummingbird TCR-ID-1 portable and haven't tried it out yet. How well will this work (if it will)? I have no manual with it. Any more information would be very helpful and again thanks for all the advice so far.

[Captain Ken]

LCDs will freeze at some point, I believe it is around 10 degrees or zero. The crystals that result (the L in LCD stands for LIQUID) damage the screen and you will then have permanent lines on the display. So, if it's going to stay somewhat warm, you'll be OK.

Just like the guys above said, you can convert any one to a portable, by making a little mount for it. Put alligator clips on the leads and hook to 12 volt battery. The ones they sell for vexilars and such work nice--permanently sealed and run about $15 at farm and fleet. lantern batteries are super expensive and you'll go through them.

The Vexilar or Marcum are unbeatable. The little blip is a piece of cake to read and you will catch at least 2x the fish often more using the locator. But if you have the LCD, keep it warm (in jacket as you travel, wait till fish house warms up and then fire it up) and rig up the transducer like they said and you'll get off to a good start. May have to screw with teh sensitivity to get it to see the crappies or whatever you are going for. The Vex and Marcum pick up your bait so you can easily tell where you are in relation to the fish you are marking. MOve the bait a little above them and then get ready when you see 'em rising! Lakers are even more fun cause they sometimes follow the lure all over- up and down - and then smash it!

Hope it helps!

Ken

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Captain Ken Kessler
www.captainken.com
www.muskieschool.com
Guiding in Illinois and North East Minnesota
847-970-9108 Illinois
218-742-4680 Minnesota