Shoot Thru What?

Yesterday I received an email question asking about shooting through the ice with my Humminbird units.  Basically, I was asked, is it possible to shoot through the ice with the new Humminbird ICE series flashers?  So, before I responded with the easy answer, YES, I thought I would go out put a little more testing behind it.

For those that are not familiar with the question, what was being asked is, can the Humminbird ICE flashers shoot through the ice without having to drill a hole and still give you the depth of water?  The really cool thing about the Humminbirds is you not only get the bottom reading but you get an instant reading on the LCD display that tells you the exact depth.

While out chasing crappies yesterday I decided to take some time to set up my testing and this is how it went.  First, I drilled a bunch of holes to fish out of and noted the depths of each.  Then I picked a spot that I knew the depth and cleared off the snow to expose some ice.  As is typical for this late in the year, the ice was very rough and not ideal for trying to shoot through.  After clearing some snow and I dumped a little water on the ice and placed the transducer on the ice.  Instantly I had a bottom reading.  I was actually surprised, as usually you have to apply pressure to the transducer and move it around until you find a flat spot.  That was not the case, I just set it down and got an instant reading.

As I mentioned earlier, I was really surprised I was able to shoot through that rough ice.  But, before I got back to crappie fishing my curiosity was killing me, I had to know how much ice I was shooting through.  Of course, I didn't have anything along to measure accurately and I knew as soon as I put this piece up someone would ask that question.  Off came the SNOSUIT, and out came one bare arm.  Down the ice hole went my bare arm until the tip of my finger touched the bottom of the hole.  As my arm proceeded down the hole I was starting to think my arms were not going to be long enough.  Much to my amazement, and thankfully so, I hit the bottom of the ice, just before my chest was tight to the ice.  BURR!  Out came my arm and I put the tape to it.   Twenty-three inches of solid ice!  That is the last time I will be doing that this year unless I am chasing after a trophy walleye.

I was really impressed that I was able to shoot through 23 inches of ice with a rough surface.  I decided I should dig out the MarCum LX-5 and give that a try also.  So, I set up the MarCum LX-5 next to the Humminbird and after some work, I was able to get the LX-5 to shoot through the ice also.  I had a much harder time with the LX-5 because of the size of the transducer.  With the rough ice, it was hard to get that large transducer to make good contact.  But, after a few minutes I was able to get a flat spot worked out and the LX-5 would read through the ice also.

To answer the question posed to me yesterday, Yes, you can shoot through the ice with the Humminbird flashers very easily.  As a side note, when it gets this late in the year I rarely try to shoot through the ice anymore.  It is much easier to pop a hole in the ice as most lakes have very rough ice from frozen slush earlier in the year.  But, it was refreshing to know that it is not an issue should I decide to skip drilling the hole to determine the depth, even with thicker ice.