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Lots of debate about the "click" of a transducer scaring fish on the net, but I can't find anything specifically about ice fishing.
Most people that claim they don't scare fish are either casting away from the boat or are in deep water.
I am thinking specifically about situations like Shirley's Bay where the water is shallow and you are ice-fishing. Would the clicking as a fish swims into the beam tell it that "there's someone fishing here?"
I am curious how many of you use fish finders for ice fishing shallow waters and do you think there are any negative effects (I am well aware of the positive effects
I won't ice fish without a flasher even in shallow water, only exception being if I can see bottom / lure while jigging.
Don't believe the clicking is a problem, since there are all kinds of lure designed to click or clack to attract fish.
It can be frustrating getting skunked, and I would love to blame it on equipment, but the reality in ice fishing is, if you're not marking fish after 15 minutes, it's time to move and try another hole. I drilled over 30 holes today to only catch 7 perch. Had a couple good solid red bars on the flasher but they just wouldn't bite.
I think some people give fish too much credit. Yes, they can be hard to catch sometimes but I have caught fish feet from the boat while my transducer is pinging away.
I do not believe that pinging scares fish away at all. In soft or hardware conditions.
I just bought a new Hummingbird ice 45 and went out to try it yesterday ,all I saw is my jig and a bunch of bars at the bottom, how do you know if there's fish at the bottom ,I try in a couple different holes and it all looks the same to me .Anybody can clarify that for me.....Wally
For perch you will notice sometimes as small as one extra pixel line at the bottom and as you lift your jig it might separate a tiny bit, again could be a gap of just one pixel. Try different techniques to get that fish to rise, once it rises up to your jig then you are probably going to feel a bite.
Sometimes if the fish is coming in from the side it may appear slightly below the bottom as a single green dash just under the red line of the bottom. This is because when it is skirting the edge of the detection cone it is actually father away than the bottom measured straight down (again diagrams on YouTube and i think even on the users manual, but who reads those? ). As it moves towards the center of the cone the indicator line actually moves up.
On Shirley's bay use the widest sensor since it is so shallow. The 9 degree transducers only cover a small circle, something like 1 foot circle when fishing 10 feet deep. The 60 degrees transducers cover 10 feet wide at 10 feet depth (according to hummingbird, the math doesn't quite work out due to shadowing effect explained above).
I guess if the sonar scared the fish we would have no one catching fish thru the ice and some areas would be void of fish because of the amount of sonars turned on in one location.Maybe there is a species that may turn away from the sound but none of the ones I fish. IMO
I am more concerned about the abrupt, loud noises( ie. Auging a hole, driving on the ice)more then the rythmic clicking of a depth finder. However, fish may be sensitive to the clicking if they are around it enough. Either way my unit will remain on, I'd rather miss a couple fish that are noise shy then miss many by fishing blind
Thanks for the info, lets say you drill 10 holes at different depth and you go around with your flasher ,whats the first sign you can see on your flasher that tell
you there's fish underneath.I see my red bar showing the bottom but then I see lots of other bar green and yellow ,over and under, does that mean its fish or it could be different bottom structure ,weeds ,baitfish. It's suppose to be a fish finder not a jig finder,i guess it's a guessing game just like in the summer
when you see 50 fish on the sonar but it could be 50 other things your sensor might have detect. I been through probably 10 different fishfinder price range
500.00 to 600.00 and never once in 30 years of fishing that I actually saw fish on my sonars and stop and start catching fish. The only good thing is it helps me find my drop off and humps...Any info or feed back would be appreciated...Wally
Wally wrote:Thanks for the info, lets say you drill 10 holes at different depth and you go around with your flasher ,whats the first sign you can see on your flasher that tell
you there's fish underneath.I see my red bar showing the bottom but then I see lots of other bar green and yellow ,over and under, does that mean its fish or it could be different bottom structure ,weeds ,baitfish. It's suppose to be a fish finder not a jig finder,i guess it's a guessing game just like in the summer
when you see 50 fish on the sonar but it could be 50 other things your sensor might have detect. I been through probably 10 different fishfinder price range
500.00 to 600.00 and never once in 30 years of fishing that I actually saw fish on my sonars and stop and start catching fish. The only good thing is it helps me find my drop off and humps...Any info or feed back would be appreciated...Wally
Certainly not a guessing game when using a flasher on the ice. If it is setup properly and you understand how it works you will 100% identify fish and give you the information you need to catch them.
Wally wrote:Thanks for the info, lets say you drill 10 holes at different depth and you go around with your flasher ,whats the first sign you can see on your flasher that tell
you there's fish underneath.I see my red bar showing the bottom but then I see lots of other bar green and yellow ,over and under, does that mean its fish or it could be different bottom structure ,weeds ,baitfish. It's suppose to be a fish finder not a jig finder,i guess it's a guessing game just like in the summer
when you see 50 fish on the sonar but it could be 50 other things your sensor might have detect. I been through probably 10 different fishfinder price range
500.00 to 600.00 and never once in 30 years of fishing that I actually saw fish on my sonars and stop and start catching fish. The only good thing is it helps me find my drop off and humps...Any info or feed back would be appreciated...Wally
Then I will buy your gently used Flasher from you.
