LCD Deptfinder Help

[broncosfan]

I own a fishmark 320 fishfinder that I use on my boat. I'm fairly new to ice fishing, my 4 year old can't get enough of it, and want to use something to help catch more fish and keep him interested. I don't want to spend too much money upfront in case his interest wains and I can't get out enough.

Does anyone use a fishfinder adapted for use on the ice to help them catch fish, if so, does it work? How does it work, does it help catch fish or does it just show depth? I haven't bought the soft pack yet, but when I bought it (at Cabellas) they said I could purchase that separately.

Hope someone can help.

Thanks

[Deitz Dittrich]

Welcome to iceleaders and FishingMinnesota.. Great to have you with us.

Your unit will work, but you will want to keep it warm or the screen may slow down on you... Your biggest issue will be making sure you keep your tranceducer level or you will not be able to see your lure. You will also probably have to play iwth the sensitivity to get your lure on the screen as well. Any fish finder will help you out. Show you were the fish are in the water. But a finder designed for ice fishing will help you out much more. If your little guy is truely hooked on ice fishing, save some money and get a designated ice fishing unit.

[Jon Freeman]

Yep you can use it. I will show depth, fish, and your jig. I currently use a Humminbird Piranha 4. I mounted it to a 6pk cooler. I have the 'ducer mounted on PVC and use my dewalt batteries to run it. I'm going to start work here but I'll take a picture of it when I get home tonight.

I'm with you. As much as I love my Buddies Vex and all those colors, I have a hard time buying one at 400 bucks,letting it sit all summer and I know my wife certainly can't see any reason to spend that much unless it helps in scrapbooking.

It will take some playing with to get it set but it pretty do-able. I have it set on the lowest sensitivity, shut off the fish identifier, the alarms and auto-depth.

If you need help post again.

[Jon Freeman]

A couple more things: Turn the graph speed up to as fast as it will go and read the right side of the screen.

I know they will talk about "real time" and no graph is as fast as a flasher but when my graph was next to the vex, I couldn't tell that there was any time delay between the immediate right side of mine and the lights on the flasher. I can't see any lag-time when I jig either.

As long as I'm on a roll, the zoom feature on the Piranha let's me pick out the depth slot to zoom in on and the separation is pretty incredible. Something my bud's Vex doesn't do.

[broncosfan]

Thanks for the advice. I'll probably end up getting one someday, but not today. I'll have to play around with it this weekend. Tough to justify $300 for some sunnies that we release. Besides, its fun to tinker with stuff in the ice house.

I hear you about scrapbooking.. . . . . .I'd appreciate the picture, maybe I won't even have to buy a softpack, just some additional cords and a transducer.

Yeah, I like the websidte, as I said, I'm new to ice fishing and I wouldn't call myself a great open water fisherman either, but I do enjoy listening, observing and tinkering.

[HuskerBen]

I use my lcd open water unit on the ice, and it does help a lot. Anything is better than nothing, as they say. It's an Eagle Cuda 168, and although it isn't top of the line, it shows my jig and it shows fish.

It isn't instantaneous, like a flasher is, but it's close. It does about 90% of what I want, and I don't have the cash to throw down for the extra 10%. I will eventually, but it might be a couple years.

Keeping the screen warm is important. If you are in a heated shack, it shouldn't be much of a problem, but if you are out in the open, the cold might cause it to slow down. I rigged up a box with a plexiglass lid, so that I could throw some handwarmers in with the finder, and that seems to do the trick.

I also have my transducer mounted on PVC. It's cheap and it works. I've always thought that the best part of ice fishing, aside from catching fish, is all the tinkering involved.

Good luck!

[broncosfan]

I can buy a portable transduder or a portable ice transducer. I'd lean towards the portable transducer as then I can take it anywhere. I assume I can then attach it to PVC. Is there any benefit to going with the ice one besides the fact that I can then just lower it down the hole?

[HuskerBen]

I use a skimmer transducer, because that's what came with the unit. To buy an ice ducer would cost more than the finder cost, so it's simply not worth it for me. I think the main benefit of an ice transducer is that it's self-leveling.

My transducer hangs on a T made of pvc. The top of the T spans the hole, and the ducer is attached at the bottom. When it's placed in the hole, it hangs level. You can also get a small bubble-level and attach it somehow to the rig. I've seen it done, and it works pretty slick.

[mskyfshntchr]

I always used a boat locator for ice fishing until I got my x67c.

They work as well, if not better than the ice machines, but weren't as mobile.

The boat machines are more powerful. I have the Lowrance x100c and my buddies x67c would not work when that one was near it. Too much power- couldn't set anything to make it work right, either.

I used the same puck as summer fishing.

I made a box out of wood that would hold the battery and cables. The lid would have the locator face mounted to it. Take the lid off, flip it over and you are fishing.

My dad still uses his old Eagle to this day like that. Works fine.

I used the blue flex tubing that is used for oiling a lathe or other metal machine to mount my puck to. Then it was adjustable and I could get it level.

As for the level- glue it to the top of your puck- worked great on mine for year!

Good luck, I will try to dig up a few pictures to help you out.

[soldoncass]

bronco,

Don't hesitate to use what you have, if you can't or don't want to shell out the $ for a flasher right now. Last year was the first time ice fishing...I went with a friend that had a fl-8 (old style). I only had a fishmark 480 in the boat, so I "tinkered" with it so it would work. It was better than nothing, by a long shot, but takes some practice and adj. to figure out.

I used the transducer from the boat, made a bracket with lead weight on it and floated it like the ice-ducers do. Worked slick. I mounted the finder on an oak board, and put the whole thing in a soft sided cooler. I did have to buy a vex battery ($15) so it would fit in the soft-pack. Do a search how to adjust the x67 ice machine, that will help you a lot.