How To - Convert your Boat's Fishfinder to Ice (Humminbird)

[VTMatt]

My friend has a 10-year old fishfinder from Cabelas.  He purchased an ice-ducer for it, taped on some syrafoam to the ducer cable and we actually used it a bunch last year.  It has some kinks and stuff, but it def helped us find fish!

[Coachkwj]

Finally got a chance to use my 597 ci HD DI unit for ice fishing. We were in a backwater channel that was 3-4 feet deep. I was using the bird and my son was using my Vex FL-8 with S-Cable. All I can say is WOW!! The bird was phenominal in flasher mode. I set the max depth at 5 feet and the sensitivity to 5. The bluegills and crappie we were catching were easily seen as the mark got bigger when the fish came at the jig. Just like I'm used to seeing on the vex in deeper water. tried in graph mode but was probably too shallow and although I did fiddle with the adjustments, the flasher mode worked better. The vex worked O.K but was kind of cluttered. Thanks Camo as I probably would have never tried this without reading this thread. Now all I have to do is Take the unit off at ice-out and out it on the boat. I bought a PiranhaMax 196ci portable on sale from Cabela's for $159.99 and used the shuttle, battery and case from it. Had a mount that fit the 597 as I upgared the unit my boat came with. Quite a deal as I will be using the Piranhamax on the kayak.
Thanks again Camo!

[whoay]

I have a question do you guys prefer not using a unit that doesn't have a narrow beam for certain situations? cause you can't do that with this unit?

[Coachkwj]

Use the 200 khz for most of you fishing and use it in sonar mode. For shallower, under 10' or loss, switch to 83 khz and I would go to flasher mode. I believe the 20 degree at 200 khz will suit you fine for even the deepest situations. Fool around and see what works for you. Took me about 15 total minutes of playing with different settings and I think I have it dialed in.

[CamoHunter]

I have a question do you guys prefer not using a unit that doesn't have a narrow beam for certain situations? cause you can't do that with this unit?

Honestly, a narrower cone only helps in deeper water, or with target separation in shallower water.  About the deepest I fish is 45ft of water, and it works just fine for that.  I've never felt like my sonar cone was 'too wide'.  I used to use a vexilar FL-18 with dual beam transducer, and played around with that in narrow and wide beam.  I typically used the 19degree sonar unless I was fishing deeper water.  Since I sold the vexilar and used the hummingbird the last 3 years, the 20degree sonar cone has suited me very well. 

What I DO prefer, is having GPS and lake maps directly on the unit, and only having to own one depth finder for both open and hard water use.  Nice to be able to use those expensive boat electronics year round.

[whoay]

I agree if a guy was getting into ice fishing and wanted a dual unit for open water and ice this would be great... I guess I'm narrow minded in the fact I've used dual beam since I started ice fishing with electronics and really use the narrow beam a lot since I'm always fishing by a buddy and around weeds and drop offs..... I own a 596c HD for open wter on my boat but when it comes to ice fishing I have to have a my marcum lx5 or lx6 just my opinion I guess that's why they make chocolate and vanilla. ....

[CamoHunter]

I'm hardly, "just getting into ice fishing",   

But you've got a point, a narrow beam is necessary for steep drop-offs.  And may help clean up the screen inside thick weeds.

I do fish drop-offs and ledges for walleyes, but also spend a lot of time fishing perch in open basin mudflats where sonar cone doesn't matter.

If you can spend the extra $400-500 for a marcum lx5 or lx6 that you only use in the winter, more power to you. 

[gofish33]

My parts arrived today,  got it assembled on a board and ran thru the setup noted earlier in the thread.   Flasher mode looks great, and graph mode looks real interesting.  The 5 color palette looks  like a winner.  Just waiting for the bag from Reeds to put it all in and take out on the ice !

One big difference....I'll be able to see my jig when it's only a couple feet below the hole...which neither of my Marcums can do. 

Many, Many thanks to the guy that started this thread !!  Having a flasher, graph, and navionics all in one package  is fantastic !!!


gofish33

[CamoHunter]

No problem, hope you find that you like the setup as much as I do. 

A couple additional things to note.  If you're in a dark shack, or fishing at night, the screen is really bright (good during the day, but blinding at night).  You can press the power button, and change the background to black, and dim the screen down so that it isn't an issue. 

Another thing I like about using one unit year round, it's enabled me to learn the unit inside and out.  Which makes setting adjustments and page viewing a breeze now.

Good luck!

[Coachkwj]

My parts arrived today,  got it assembled on a board and ran thru the setup noted earlier in the thread.   Flasher mode looks great, and graph mode looks real interesting.  The 5 color palette looks  like a winner.  Just waiting for the bag from Reeds to put it all in and take out on the ice !

One big difference....I'll be able to see my jig when it's only a couple feet below the hole...which neither of my Marcums can do. 

Many, Many thanks to the guy that started this thread !!  Having a flasher, graph, and navionics all in one package  is fantastic !!!

Don't see how I will ever go back. Don't forget GPS if your unit has it.
Ditto on the thanks to Camo. (again) 

[JJBat150]

Bought a  PiranhaMAX 176i last year and this is how I use the boat transducer that was included with it.  Just a couple pieces of 3-quarter inch PVC I had laying around.  Drilled a bunch of holes in it to adjust height so the transducer is below the ice.

Bought a bag and shuttle this summer for my 597, and will be using this same transducer for it.

[gofish33]

Been out a couple times with my converted Humminbird, took a little experimenting but I really like it for shallow water.   When I fish 7 FOW i can set the Max depth to 8 ft , which uses the whole flasher circle to display the 7 ft water colmun.  My Marcum's lowest range is 20 ft, which gives me less than half the display to show the 7 ft water column.  Next I want to play with the graph mode, see if i can get used to a  vertical vs horizontal display .  I think the graph may be more useful in deeper water , time will tell.

I like ice fishing !!

gofish33

[64BB]

Here is the response I got from Hummindird. Asked about damage without the software upgrade also.
That doesn't seem to be the case but I'm going to anyway.

Thank you for your support of Humminbird.

Your unit is designed to look for temperature. The ice transducer does not have temperature which is why it shows transducer not connected. In order for the unit to recognize the transducer you will need to force the unit into normal mode and shut demonstration mode off on the unit. Once you shut demonstration mode off this one time, from this point on when you power the unit on it will automatically come on in normal mode regardless of the transducer. To activate this feature you will do the following really quick.

1. Power the unit on time you see the loading message you will press the menu key once

2. Press exit to continue

3. Press menu 2 times

4. Right cursor to setup

5. Down cursor to user mode and right cursor to advanced

6. Down cursor to demonstration mode and left cursor to shut demonstration to shut it off

7. Press the exit key once

8. Left cursor to sonar and down cursor to ice fishing mode and use the right cursor to turn ice fishing mode on

9. You will then cursor to sonar source and choose 2d element

Once you have done the following you will press exit 2 times to leave your menu option. From this point on the unit will come on in normal mode regardless of which transducer is connected.

Stay Warm and Tight Lines!

 Juanita

I would like to thank you for this info. It worked for me. I just bought a new to me 598 and was like,WTH.

Thank you thank you