Billy and I fished Pineview yesterday afternoon. As we visited with anglers as we were heading to the ice (carrying our sled to the ice because there was no snow) everyone said that the fishing was really slow. We headed north of Cemetary Point and about two blocks further west than anyone else. The fishing wasn't fast, but we did manage to land about 25 perch (nothing else this trip). A few really small ones and none over about 9 inches long. Nearly all of them were full of eggs. My fishfinder will show the depth that was the best for us.
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I had two holes so of course I used two fish finders.
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Billy concentrating on his fishing, and he forgot to bring his chair along this trip.
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At least your trip wasn't a bust. Glad you found some willing takers that were willing to go home with ya.
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It was a nice afternoon trip with good company. The air temp was near perfect for winter. I don't know how long the ice will be safe with these warm temps and rain.
Tincanfsh
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hey thats nice looking fishfinder ya got there Kent. [sly]
good report. thanks
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Yep, it looks good with the new cover, lense magnifying cover, and an S cable is on the way, so that it will work better in shallow water.
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Great looking fish and setup! Any trouble with interference with those finders close together?
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As long as I left the IR (interference reject) button pushed in on the Vexilar they worked right next to each other without any interference at all. The only reason I had both out there was because I had read something about the ice fishing mode on the Lowrance fish finder that I hadn't tested before and wanted to give that mode I try. I tried ice fishing mode and other than making everything on the screen red (which I didn't care for that much) I couldn't see that it functioned any differently than the other modes. I get by with one fish finder most of the time, but I have three of them rigged and ready to go at any time. Always nice to be able to loan one to an invited guest who doesn't own one.
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Which of the two fish finders do you prefer. I just bought the Lowrance X125 Cabellas portable soft pack and sure do love how it works.
Nice to see the perch biting, yum yum !
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[cool]Nice report, kent. You guys were right where I wanted to be originally. That's cool that your flasher and sonar don't interfere with each other. Is that sonar a Lawrance? Which model?
I forgot to mention in my report that my transducer (I Think) is screwed. For the last two trips now my Eagle Fishmark 320 is not giving me the right depth reading with it constantly changing going to like1000 feet in depth! What a pain. Sometime this week when I get a minute I'm gonna call Eagle and see if they get this a lot, or if it's the transducer or the actual moniter that's messed up. If it costs a fortune to fix then I'm probably going to have to get a new finder...[pirate]
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Mine will do that if it's cold.
Do you turn the light on every time you use it ice fishing?
[It helps keep the led warm]
I keep my unit inside the truck while traveling and that helps.
I can usually trun the unit off and readjust the transducer then turn the unit d
back on to get it to clear.
Are you using the manual depth setting? I do for best results.
Good luck and I hope that you can get it working again.
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[size 1]For ice fishing deeper water give me my Lowrance X102C or my Raytheon L470, but for ice fishing water up to about 60 feet deep I prefer the Vexilar FL-8 SE. If I owned a top-of-the-line Marcum or Vexilar I might prefer them for all depths while ice fishing. [/size]
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[cool]Thanks for the tips, DKS. Now that I think about it, I did have the finder in my trunk overnight and on the way to the lake, so maybe that's it. Next trip I'll put it in the car the morning of, and that should do it I hope. I do use the light at all times while icefishing to keep the display warm enough. I'll let ya know how it goes after this Saturday. Just not sure where I'm fishing yet...
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Geoff, you are lucky if you didn't freeze and ruin it. The screens on a display-type fish finder will freeze and crack (aka ruined forever) if they are stored or used (without the back-light on) in freezing temperatures.
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I don't believe this is true about the lights needing to be on or it will freeze and ruin the screen. I fished with a Humminbird 100sx for 3 years in Alaska down to -35 and never used the light on it unless I was inside my shack or fishing in the dark and was still working for 2 years in Utah before I destroyed the transducer. I had the same problems with it showing depths in excess of 400 feet and it was just the transducer problem and not the unit. Replaced the transducer 1 time and it worked fine. My 2 cents on this subject.
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I don't know what to tell you, because you obviously experienced something different with your unit. I have heard of people having their screens feeze and break, and the manual that came with my Lowrance X102c states:
"NOTICE!
The storage temperature range for your unit is from -4 degrees to +167 degrees Fahrenheit... Extended storage in temperatures higher or lower than specifed will damage the liquid crystal display in our unit. This type of damage is not covered by the warranty."
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It may be a difference between the Lowrance and Humminbird. My Bird sat out for a full winter, no damage. I use it all winter with no light on. No damage.
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[black]I downloaded the manual for the Eagle Fishmark 320 and it had the same exact language as is contained in my manual warning about storing in cold temperature. Not surprising in that I believe the same company makes both brands.[/black]
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Yes the same. I believe Eagle is to Lowrance as Black & Decker is to Dewalt. Same animal with a few less bells and whistles.
I will say that my bird does travel in the winter inside an insulated cooler and that since I have heard of the possibility of LED's freezing I have been very careful to not expose my finder to freezing conditions. I now set a heat packet (powder chemical hand warmer) on the unit in weather like 3 weeks ago.
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