Ice Fishing with Fish Finders (sonars)

In the past, ice anglers could determine depth of a given location by drilling a hole and lowering a rope with a lead weight down to the bottom. In order to spot potential fish holding structure, one had to drill several holes before even starting to fish.



Fast forward to now, and more and more anglers use a different method. Thanks to sonar technology, ice anglers can use portable fish finders right through the ice, eliminating the need to drill holes to see the bottom and the fish. Most fish finders can operate through the ice. In order to accomplish this, anglers will drop water or other liquids onto the clear ice (clear the snow first), and then dip the transducer into the puddle. This will reveal not only depth, but also weeds and fish if the unit supports it.

There are various kinds of sonars on the market: there is the traditional flasher, the liquid crystal flasher, the liquid crystal graph (LCG), and some hand-held models are also part of today's serious ice angler.

TRADITIONAL FLASHERS

Manufactured mostly by vexilar and zercom, these units show depth, bottom composition, type of weeds and cover, fish, and even your bait or lure. The greatest advantage of these units is that they will display vertical movement as it happens, meaning you can see your lure go up and down in real-time, but what is really interesting is that you can see the fish react to your presentation, which means you are free to make adjustments if necessary. These units require much more power than the others, so rechargeable batteries are a must.

LIQUID CRYSTAL FLASHERS

Some of these are custom made for ice fishing, meaning the display will not freeze up. They act precisely the same way traditional flashers do. They also require much less power.

LIQUID CRYSTAL GRAPHS

These units display the signal onto a screen that is much like a television or a computer screen. These units are filled with liquid and they are prone to freezing in low temperatures, so if you use them for ice fishing, find a way to keep the unit relatively warm.

HAND-HELD SONAR
Gun-or hand-held units, such as the StrikeMaster Polar Vision, are a convenient way of determining depth and the presence of fish, but aren't as useful for providing information regarding bottom hardness and presence of cover.

Important Sonar Features
Once you have determined what type of sonar best suits your budget and needs, you may want to look into specific features such as portability, depth capability, transducer style and angle, power, frequency, target separation and display resolution.

PORTABILITY
You'll have to move around a lot so you need a sonar that is portable. Many models come in protective cases that will hold the transducer, batteries and cables.

DEPTH CAPABILITY
Make sure the capability of the unit matches the water where you will be fishing.

FLASHER COLOR
Some flashers show signal strength in color, for example, red for strong, yellow for weaker and green for weakest. This makes the unit much easier to read than black and white units.

TRANSDUCER SHAPE
The transducer transmits and receives the sonar signal. The angle is the most important feature to consider, narrow angles will provide the best display for fish that hold to the bottom (like walleye), while a wider angle shows a wider area and suspended fish are easier to detect.

SELF-ALIGNING TRANSDUCER
If you use your sonar in a hole, the transducer is suspended in the water, meaning it will automatically level and provide great readouts

POWER
Determines the strength of the sound waves that are sent to the bottom. More power means more accuracy, plain and simple. Most units are between 400 and 1,000 watts.

FREQUENCY
Determines the pattern of the sound waves sent by the transducer. Most units feature 200 kHz. Using a different frequency has only one advantage, to eliminate interference from other sonars. Not a big advantage for the average ice angler unless you fish side-by-side with others

TARGET SEPARATION
The minimum distance required between two targets to distinguish them. The smaller the target separation is, the more accurate your unit will be. Target separation is especially useful for walleye fishing, as the fish holds to the bottom, which is considered as a target by your unit. Units with high separation (6 inches or more) will not display many bottom holding walleyes.

DISPLAY RESOLUTION
This refers to how accurately a display unit can show what signals the transducer picked up. High resolution is always best.

How to Use Flasher Type Sonar in a Hole
Using a sonar properly is what differentiates professional ice anglers from the average Joe.
To setup your flasher, make sure the power is off, connect your power and transducer cables to the unit, hook up the battery, then set the transducer as level as possible inside the hole, turn on the unit, lower your bait about 6 feet down. Increase gain til the bottom is clearly displayed and you can JUST see your jig. Fish will appear when they move through the signal.