Using a fish finder on Ice

[rugsrme]

I learned from Earls friend that if you take a regular fish finder and make a divot on the ice, put water in it and place the transducer in the water you can see depth, fish, structure etc with it through the ice. I tried it today, took a humminbird wide optic and a small battery and It was pretty cool.
It works great. Saves you the trouble of making swiss cheese. I could see my jig on the screen and everything once I drilled the hole and put my line down next to the transducer in the hole.
I gotta say either they weren't biting at all or I wasn't using anything they wanted. With the tri-beam transducer it shows left, right and directly under the transducer and according to what I was watching on the screen I had to have been hitting fish in the face with my jigs, and not so much as a bite.
It was pretty neat playing around with it though.

[Joedog]

why wouldn't it work if you just put the transducer in the hole you drilled? Or...is this to get you to not have to drill first?

What size jig are you using? Do you need to go smaller and slower? Or are they just not hungry?

[rugsrme]

why wouldn't it work if you just put the transducer in the hole you drilled? Or...is this to get you to not have to drill first?

What size jig are you using? Do you need to go smaller and slower? Or are they just not hungry?

All you need to do is have about 1/4 " of water on the ice for the transducer.
I used the auger to make about 1" bowl in the ice, poured water in it and the transducer picks everything up as if it were in the water.
When I was watching my jig, it was after I drilled the hole and had my line down next to it.
Jigs are probably a little big, tried dead sticking and working slowly from bottom up.

[drfishjd]

If you use antifreeze and water, it won't freeze, even when it's real cold, otherwise, it can freeze in there and you can hurt your transducer when you remove it.

[Redneck]

I have also heard of guys putting cooking oil on the ice where they set their transducer but I think that would turn into a greasy mess. I am just surprised to see you guys doing any ice fishing. Until now whenever I mentioned ice fishing around Knob Noster everyone looked at me like I was on crack. I won't be home anywhere near in time to ice fish this year but maybe next year. Keep the posts coming, you guys are taking the edge off my "no fishing no hunting this year" frustration.

[rugsrme]

Redneck, I have lived in Marshall 6 years now and this is the first time its been this cold for this long and first time the ice was safe, kind of rare around here.

[Redneck]

My wife was born and raised in the Kingsville/Holden area. Took her and my two step-daughters ice fishing for the first time at my Dad's around New Years last year. They had a ball. We had good ice for a long time back home last year and looks like it again this year from what Dad has told me, hasn't been like that in about 20 years. I'm from central Illinois near Peoria.