Summer fishfinder for winter

[Cosmos]

Hi guys,

Need advice from you.

I have Humminbird PirannaMax 160 portable fishfinder. Is it possible to use it during winter? How i can mount tranducer?

Did anybody do this? Any help here will be appreciated.

Thanks.

[johnnyb]

Absolutely possible...so many different ways of doing it...the most important thing is getting the transducer to hang straight. A simple way is to bolt it to a thin piece of wood, then attach another piece of wood at a 90 deg. angle, making a "T". This way the t-bar spans your hole, and the 'ducer hangs down below. I used to do this, and would have it so I could swivel the t-bar inline with the other piece of wood, making transport more convenient.

The transducer I now have hangs pretty straight, so I just have a chunk of foam around the cable, and let it float around the hole. I put the sonar unit itself along with the battery and cable in a portable cooler...nice little package...and not hard to make. Trust me...I'm not that handy!

[Cosmos]

Absolutely possible...so many different ways of doing it...the most important thing is getting the transducer to hang straight. A simple way is to bolt it to a thin piece of wood, then attach another piece of wood at a 90 deg. angle, making a "T". This way the t-bar spans your hole, and the 'ducer hangs down below. I used to do this, and would have it so I could swivel the t-bar inline with the other piece of wood, making transport more convenient.

The transducer I now have hangs pretty straight, so I just have a chunk of foam around the cable, and let it float around the hole. I put the sonar unit itself along with the battery and cable in a portable cooler...nice little package...and not hard to make. Trust me...I'm not that handy!

 

Thank you,

Can you put some schema and drawing how you mount a tranducer? Picture would be great.

I don't need to put it in the cooler because it's a portable unit already.

[cram]

Here's a question along the same lines -- if you were to buy a portable fishfinder that would be used in both summer and winter, any recommendations on which one is best? I don't want to buy a flasher, but i understand some fishfinders are better for ice fishing.

[Terry]

I really like the x67c, I used it as a portable in the summer and for icefishing always did me proud for many years

right up to when it died on me.......

 

I have a lowrance hds 5 which I use in the summer and I have the ice kit for it and use it in the winter does a great job an unbelievable job ..right up to when it get moisture in it and died the first winter, they gave me a new one will try again this winter

[Cosmos]

Here's a question along the same lines -- if you were to buy a portable fishfinder that would be used in both summer and winter, any recommendations on which one is best? I don't want to buy a flasher, but i understand some fishfinders are better for ice fishing.

As i said i have Humminbird PirannaMax160 portable. It's nice unit, i got it from another OFC user, it came with suction cup which is really handy for camping and boat renting. Only one thing you need for ice fishing - it's iceducer(tranducer), in my case it pretty much costs same as fishfinder itself. That is the reason i started that topic. I really like Lowrance x76c ice mashine which can be used during summer as well, but you will have to get another tranducer for it as well.

[OrangePeal]

That finder will work just fine.

Rather than playing around with your existing transducer, the following link shows the iceducer available for your sounder.

 

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

 

Safe Fishing First,

Jack

[12footspringbok]

Summer fishfinders work just fine in the winter. You do not need to go out and buy a 4 or 5 hundred dollar flasher to catch fish through the ice.

 

I've been using my 130 dollar eagle fisheasy for 4 years now summer and winter and it still works great. The only limitation is the screen will freeze up much below about minus 12. Never really been an issue though when i'm in the portable. Johnny mentioned a simple way to mount your transducer and there are plenty of other ways to get it done. My dad whipped up something simple aswell using some threaded rod with an L bracket that hangs off my travel box.

 

The real trick is getting the angle of the skimmer just right and playing with the speed/sensitivity to get it just right.

 

Heres a pic of my setup:

 

 

 

And yes i put alot of fish on the ice last year.... with the help of my el cheapo fishfinder....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cosmos]

That finder will work just fine.

Rather than playing around with your existing transducer, the following link shows the iceducer available for your sounder.

 

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

 

Safe Fishing First,

Jack

Jack,

As i said cost of it in Radioworld is $90.

[Cosmos]

Summer fishfinders work just fine in the winter. You do not need to go out and buy a 4 or 5 hundred dollar flasher to catch fish through the ice.

 

I've been using my 130 dollar eagle fisheasy for 4 years now summer and winter and it still works great. The only limitation is the screen will freeze up much below about minus 12. Never really been an issue though when i'm in the portable. Johnny mentioned a simple way to mount your transducer and there are plenty of other ways to get it done. My dad whipped up something simple aswell using some threaded rod with an L bracket that hangs off my travel box.

 

The real trick is getting the angle of the skimmer just right and playing with the speed/sensitivity to get it just right.

 

 

 

Nice pictures, thank you for sharing. is any way you can get a picture of traducer mount???

[12footspringbok]

Nice pictures, thank you for sharing. is any way you can get a picture of traducer mount???

 

I more than likely could post a picture later this evening if i have a few minutes.

 

You don't "need" to buy the iceducer unless you have a few dollars burning a hole in your pocket...

[MCTFisher9120]

I got a Eagle FishEasy 2 portable I got from a fellow member. Used it all ice season then noticed it said to keep out of extreme cold because it can muck up the crystal in the screen(something along those lines). I still used it in the summer time with not much difference. I'm using it for only ice fishing now because I want a separate unit for boat fishing.

 

This cold/crystal issue might be because it's a older unit but I can't imagine you will have any trouble after using it all winter, i didn't.

[Cosmos]

I more than likely could post a picture later this evening if i have a few minutes.

 

You don't "need" to buy the iceducer unless you have a few dollars burning a hole in your pocket...

Perfect, i will be waiting for your pictures.

[Ron]

 

 

 

[12footspringbok]

 

More than one way to skin a cat. Now i don't have to take pictures tonight thanks.

[Cosmos]

 

More than one way to skin a cat. Now i don't have to take pictures tonight thanks.

That was fast. Thank you very much. how i know hot to do that.

[BillM]

I use my Humminbird 747c with the portable ice kit and it's awesome. Absolutely love it.

[Woodsman]

Here's how I rigged my transducer.

[Cosmos]

Here's how I rigged my transducer.

Thank you, really nice done.

[Canitalian]

I just purchased the Eagle Cuda 300 portable fishfinder and would like to know if its good enough for winter ice fishing. Any ideas?

[Fisherman]

It will work just fine, see if you can make or buy a box to house the whole unit like shown above. Then you have the option of placing a small heat pack to keep the screen from freezing if it's really cold.

[Dan668]

Should be fine. I have the humminbird 343c, works awesome. For some reason I just prefer the lcd, it has a built in flasher not to sure how good that mode is. I bought the iceducer only because I found it for 30 bucks

[fisherboy]

Depending on what your transducer looks like, you may not need to actually mount it to a fixed board or piece of wood. I use a portable Humminbird 535 with a typical transom mount transducer, with an optional suction cup mount. I remove the cup itself which is screwed on. Then I use a cable tie to fasten the cord to the plastic cup mount, and adjust it so that when I lower the whole thing into the water, it hang vertical. No problem as I have been using this setup for a few years now. The nice thing about this setup is everything can still fit into my original portable unit box. If you mount the transducer on a separate piece of hardware, the setup will need more space to store.

 

I have no problem with the LCD screen in -20 temp either... Your bigger problem will be the battery. My unit uses 2 6V lantern batteries, and they can last more than a whole day before recharging.

[Cosmos]

Depending on what your transducer looks like, you may not need to actually mount it to a fixed board or piece of wood. I use a portable Humminbird 535 with a typical transom mount transducer, with an optional suction cup mount. I remove the cup itself which is screwed on. Then I use a cable tie to fasten the cord to the plastic cup mount, and adjust it so that when I lower the whole thing into the water, it hang vertical. No problem as I have been using this setup for a few years now. The nice thing about this setup is everything can still fit into my original portable unit box. If you mount the transducer on a separate piece of hardware, the setup will need more space to store.

 

I have no problem with the LCD screen in -20 temp either... Your bigger problem will be the battery. My unit uses 2 6V lantern batteries, and they can last more than a whole day before recharging.

Hey fisherboy,

Can you show me a picture? I do have suction cup tranducer, this might be really useful for me.

[Fisherman]

Yes it will work just fine, remember to recharge the battery after every use.