homemade depth finder

[houndogger]

New guy question.  Is there a simple yet effective way to find depth.  I really like homemade stuff, that works.

Thanks
Dogger

[indeeptreble]

I used to use a roll of tipup line with knots tied every foot and a heavy sinker tied on the end

[rgfixit]

RG

[Kevin23]

Yeah, a tape measure. Drop your line down the hole, pinch where the bottom is and lay against a tape measure to find the depth.

[tubby jr]

You put your line down the hole make sure you have slack line that means your sitting on the bottom real it up a few times and you will be catching fish in no time

                                          GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

[thehopehouse]

tubby Jr hit it right on the head.

I used a allegator glip and a regular fishing sinker.  Drop her down to the bottom pull it up 12 or so.

[Kevin23]

I think he wants a way to figure out how deep of water he is fishing, not how to find the bottom. Dropping a lead weight to the bottom doesn't tell you if your in 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 FOW.. it just tells you that you found the bottom.

[ryno]

carry a linecounter reel..wouldnt even have to be on a rod.  just take ur open water with and tie a heavy weight to it.  ya might wont to mount it to something so it doesnt go in the drink.

[mealworm]

try using a 300'tape with a weight fixed to the end

[rgfixit]

Well BBK, if you're a thinking person, you know that each turn of the crank on your reel  reels in a specific amount of line. You drop the sounder to the bottom and count the number of cranks to the surface to determine approximate depth.


RG

[caddy084]

 Not homemade but worth every Penny......

[therealjt]

i put a slip bobber bobber stop on my line and drop the weight down and set the bobber stop 6-12 inches under the water

[Hard_H2O]

If you know how tall you are it is pretty easy. Your arm span finger tip to fingertip when outstreched is about the same as your height. Measure it.

When you drop your line in, with you clip on weight or weighted in some other way, pinch the line at the water line and then count arm spans as you pull the line up.

I am 5'9" or 69" tall. One armspan is 69". 1/2 an armspan is 34.5".

Pretty easy way to guesstimate.

[MeatHunter737]

try using a 300'tape with a weight fixed to the end
(Image removed from quote.)

LOL, never wouldve thunk it...... but that would be a cheap depth finder........ 

[letsgobowhunting]

Line counter reel sounds like the best reply short of carrying a yard stick and measureing your wet line. Great idea.

[Frabill 44]

Use an alligator weight, let it hit the bottom, then once it hits the bottom walk away with your pole still in your hand then you can estimate how deep your in.

[pikeking]

Why does everything have to be so complicated?
Just put a sounder on your line and drop it down slowly. You can feel the difference from hitting weeds to hitting the bottom. Pull it up the depth of the ice and they start to measure how deep.
It's not rocket science!!!

[rgfixit]

Now just a minute Pikeking...we need to make this as complicated as we can....what fun is it otherwise. 

There's some great ideas here. I like the measuring tape and the line counter reel.

RG

[cold_feet]

1) Drill Hole
2) take ice out of hole using scoop
3) sit down on chair or bucket
4) Take flasher out of storage
5) Place transducer in water preferably hole drilled and cleaned out in #1 and #2 not water sitting on top of ice
6) Turn on flasher unit.
7) Read depth on unit as described in instruction booklet that comes with flasher.

[carcaju]

get a spool of leadcore line that is color coded it changes color every 10'

[Tainterslayer]

Tie a heavy sinker onto some line. Tie a small knot every foot. Make every fifth knot a big double knot (something obviously different.) When you lower the sinker into the water, count the knots. If its deep water, count the big knots so it goes faster. Simple and extremely accurate. You can customize it any way you want.
1 foot small knots
5 foot big knots
10 foot knots have a sinker next to them, etc etc

[Nor Easter]

What part of homemade does half these replies not get?!?!

Take some braided, non coated ice line, preferably on a jig reel or stick and mark it every 10 feet with a permanent marker. 1 mark for 10 feet, 2 marks for 20 feet, etc. Or you can tie knots or tie on matchsticks every whatever you decide for distance. Put a weight on the end and send it down the hole. Look at the markings. Done.

Homemade too...    8)

Edit:
Oops Tainter beat me to it

[rgfixit]

What part of homemade does half these replies not get?!?!

I did make most of my sounders...just too cold to go get one and take a picture. I used to tie a piece of spiderwire to a heavy sinker and attach a large snap swivel to it. Just clip it on the hook eye and sound away. The store bought sounders are just cheap to buy.
RG

[brokenline]

i swiped some mulit colered thread from my mom that changes every 3 feet. and i just had a thought on ice trolling!!!!!! go buy a lobster or two, 50 lb spider wire, lindy rig tie the spider wire to the lobster and let him runnn!!!

[Hardwater Problem]

Create a spool out of a piece of wood you can hold in your hand and cut out a notch on both ends.  Make the spool 12 inches long lengthwise if you intend to carry it in a bucket, or 6 inches if it is going in your pocket.  Attach some sort of line to one end ( I am going to use tip up line as it will not freeze) and a weight at the other end.  If you make the length 6 or 12 inches, as you retrieve your line, you will know by how many times you wrap your line up, how deep it is, then put it back in your pocket.  I just made mine.  I used a scrap piece of pine trim cut to six inches long.  I had some old tip up line, and a clip on weight. (ice fishing sounder).  An egg sinker was my first thought, but I had an extra sounder.  I got a little carried away, now I am sanding it down and will paint or stain it.  I over-do everything.  I'z getz bored!!!  For whatever reason I can't post photo's, but If you want, pm me and I will try to forward the pic.'s to personal e-mail.

[JayErica1]

well before vexilar was added to collection, i used a spool of thin rope, tied a weight(depth weight) on end and tied a knot every foot. lower into hole till you hit bottom. pull up string winding with one hand while knots slide threw fingers on other hand, just count how many knots,  presto  that is how deep it is.  did this for years  works well.

[winchester 88]

Create a spool out of a piece of wood you can hold in your hand and cut out a notch on both ends.  Make the spool 12 inches long lengthwise if you intend to carry it in a bucket, or 6 inches if it is going in your pocket.  Attach some sort of line to one end ( I am going to use tip up line as it will not freeze) and a weight at the other end.  If you make the length 6 or 12 inches, as you retrieve your line, you will know by how many times you wrap your line up, how deep it is, then put it back in your pocket.  I just made mine.  I used a scrap piece of pine trim cut to six inches long.  I had some old tip up line, and a clip on weight. (ice fishing sounder).  An egg sinker was my first thought, but I had an extra sounder.  I got a little carried away, now I am sanding it down and will paint or stain it.  I over-do everything.  I'z getz bored!!!  For whatever reason I can't post photo's, but If you want, pm me and I will try to forward the pic.'s to personal e-mail.

  My thoughts exactly....Winchester 88

[combsey]

before i got my vex to find out how deep the water was (to locate the area i wanted to fish) i had a tip-up that had a knot with different colored tape at 1 foot increments on it always worked