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[#ff0000][font "Arial Black"][size 3]Cold is an understatement. Just-trollin, The Wife, and myself got to the Berry on Jan 22nd at 6:30 am, with temps at -18 degrees. Unloaded the snowmobiles and packed up and headed across the lake for Indian Creek right at sun light. Thank god there was no wind!!! While trying to get the ice auger started, my pinkie finger turned 5 shades blue/black. Even with my propane heater under my fish finder, it was froze to the point of uselessness, once I got the heater to light. When we got back to the marina at 3:00 pm the temps was at a balmy -1 degree. Not a cloud in the sky, sunny, but cold.
FISHING REPORT!!!
SLOW, SLOW, SLOW
On first drop, Natalie caught a fish and I was thinking it was going to be another steller day on the berry. But from that point on it turned frustrating. With fish constantly on the sonar, and coming in to look at our jigs, we got very limited bites and hook ups. We fished everything from ratsos, to genz worms all the way up to 4 inch jigs. Natalie caught 6 fish, just trollin caught 2 and myself 1!!! We moved fishing locations twice, with the same results.
CONDITIONS
Besides being cold, the ice was 18 inches thick in Indian Creek, with 8 inches of snow on top.
QUESTIONS:
Besides having a nice ice shelter, what ways do others use, to keep there finders from freezing up in the cold?? I have heard of taping hand warmers to them, and a few other things. Just wondering what other methods are out there?
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I was up there as well yesterday. I got the first inclination that it was really cold when I was about a mile from the marina turnoff on US40. I was driving along and all of a sudden my windshield cracked all the way across from a rock chip I've had for weeks. Fishing was slow for me too, with two iced between 8:30 and 1:30. No other bites. It was the second day with my new sonar, and I didn't have any issues with the cold affecting its function. I was not in a tent. I set mine up like tubedude with the battery in an insulated bag.
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Polo,
What do you mean that your sonar was frozen to the point of uselessness??? Would it not turn on? Was it not scrolling or what? What was it doing or not doing?
I've had my sonars out plenty of times when it has been well into the negative numbers without any problems. I do a couple of things to try to keep it warm.
1. I always transport it in the car to/from the lake to keep it warm to begin with.
2. My sonar ice rig is inside of a cooler which helps insulate it against extreme outside temps while transporting it from the car to the hole.
3. I always throw a hand warmer into the cooler before I leave home to help warm up the inside of the cooler and keep the battery and screen warm.
4. As soon as I open the cooler and mount the screen on top I turn my screen back light on high. They say that the light from the backlighting will help keep the screen from freezing. From what I have heard and read this is the biggest concern. I guess the LCD part can freeze and crack!
5. I usually mount my screen on top of the cooler with a ram mount however if it is really windy then I will just set the screen down in the top of the cooler to keep it out of the freezing wind but still be visable.
6. Last but not least I crank up the 14,000 BTU heater and point it that directions but not too close. But if it is that cold I am usually in the tent with the heater pointed at me!
Hope that helps some. Too bad the fishing wan't better. I'm going up tomorrow and hoping for better. The last few weeks have been slow!
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[#ff0000][size 3]What I mean by my sonar freezing up, is the screen goes completely black, showing nothing but a black screen. I have a small shanty, not big enough to even really fish out of. But i had my heater in there yesterday to act as a warming hut for us. I put my sonar in there for about 20 minutes and as the sonar started to warm up, the screen started to appear in focus. I have had this happen before in cold temps, (10 degrees and lower). I adjusted my contrast and brightness in the past to help with this. I have a lowrance x-125.
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That is kinda odd with a Lowrance. I've seen them used in much colder temps without trouble. I like the suggestion of tossing in a hand warmer...good idea on those really cold days. I, like Don, keep it in the rig until ready to load up, and then I get it turned on as quick as possible. If there is no sunshine I'll use the backlight, but I've found that Mr. Sun is more than sufficient to keep the screen from tweaking out. That's too bad you guys had such a slow day though. Thanks for the report.
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I suspect that your problem is not with your finder but with your battery. As batteries get cold, their power output goes down. Warm them back up, and the volts return. Maybe you should focus your efforts on keeping your battery in a warm or insulated location. The suggestion to keep it in the warm cab of your truck on the way to the lake is a good one. Keeping it in an insulated cooler container is another good one.
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[red][size 3]That is a definite posibility with the battery. I have one of those lead gel cells (12v) This was the second trip since i bought it and I also gave it a good charge before I went out. The thread link is identical to how i have my fish finder rigged for ice. I have a small canvas bag to put my battery in. I might throw a hand warmer in it when I go out on those cold days. Once I got the screen warmed up, the cold didnt bother it at all. I transported the finder inside a warm vehicle up there. but the snowmobile ride across the lake might have been part of the problem. I might put my finder under my coat next time!!!
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Rob, count your blessings you could have cracked the screen.
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It was -16 at 6:40 AM at the marina this morning. Only 5 deg when we left at at 1:30 PM but felt warmer cause the sun was out...
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] I did use my brand new Strikemaster Lite power auger it was awesome! so lite and quiet!