I am just getting my helix 7 set up for ice fishing and I've got a transducer and a battery for it. Thank you for explaining it so well and clear to understand.
Thanks a lot for making this video and including all the detail/feature explanation that you did. This is exactly what I was looking for and you nailed it.
If you put your depth on manual instead of automatic you will get a better return and there will be less bouncing around with the depth. Also you can increase the screen size that is being used to show fishable water. 1/4 of your screen is being taken up by something that’s not giving you useable data. If you put it in advanced mode you can also set upper limits too. I like to take off the top 1 or 2 feet since that doesn’t hold fish and usually just interface there anyway. So for where you were at I probably would have set max depth at 14 and to at 2. So instead of showing 16 feet of data it would show 12 feet of fishable water. Basically it gives you an infinitely adjustable zoom
That makes sense for bottom dwelling fish. As I point out in the video I'm targeting trout and commonly mark fish 1-2' under the ice so in this situation it doesn't make sense to eliminate the upper water column.
@@spiltmilt it’s mostly useful when you’re fishing deeper water or there’s more interference. Usually I only use auto when I’m checking holes and then put it in manual once I’m fishing. Sometimes they can have an issue with the bottom depth bouncing around and making the graph jump around
Is their a reason that you did not install a 3 amp inline fuse in the power connection? I have noticed the ice kit versions of fish finders don’t come with a preinstalled inline fuse in there setups, but most standard fish finder manuals recommended installing the inline fuse. Was wondering if you knew the reason behind this? Thanks, Tyler.
This is one of the best tutorials on the helix for ice fishing! Not surprising really as I am subscribed to your channel and most of your work is impressive and helpful. A question: how important do you think a chirp transducer is for ice fishing? I have a different make of finder which is a chirp unit but the ice ducer is not chirp, just 83 and 200 kHz.
I ran my Helix 5 G2 with a non-chirp transducer and it worked fine. The chirp gets you a little bit clear return on smaller targets but you'll be fine using the non-chirp transducer.
You could technically drop your transducer into an ice fishing scenario, but the way that the cord is attached to the transducer would cause it to hang at an angle, so your sonar would not be reading directly beneath you.
Yes, I do this with mine. Build a T out of pvc and mount your transducer to the bottom of it. Make it about 12 to 18" long so it gets through the ice works just fine
I am just getting my helix 7 set up for ice fishing and I've got a transducer and a battery for it. Thank you for explaining it so well and clear to understand.
Thanks a lot for making this video and including all the detail/feature explanation that you did.
This is exactly what I was looking for and you nailed it.
If you put your depth on manual instead of automatic you will get a better return and there will be less bouncing around with the depth. Also you can increase the screen size that is being used to show fishable water. 1/4 of your screen is being taken up by something that’s not giving you useable data. If you put it in advanced mode you can also set upper limits too. I like to take off the top 1 or 2 feet since that doesn’t hold fish and usually just interface there anyway. So for where you were at I probably would have set max depth at 14 and to at 2. So instead of showing 16 feet of data it would show 12 feet of fishable water. Basically it gives you an infinitely adjustable zoom
That makes sense for bottom dwelling fish. As I point out in the video I'm targeting trout and commonly mark fish 1-2' under the ice so in this situation it doesn't make sense to eliminate the upper water column.
@@spiltmilt it’s mostly useful when you’re fishing deeper water or there’s more interference. Usually I only use auto when I’m checking holes and then put it in manual once I’m fishing. Sometimes they can have an issue with the bottom depth bouncing around and making the graph jump around
That was a great video. You cleared up some questions I had.
Is their a reason that you did not install a 3 amp inline fuse in the power connection? I have noticed the ice kit versions of fish finders don’t come with a preinstalled inline fuse in there setups, but most standard fish finder manuals recommended installing the inline fuse. Was wondering if you knew the reason behind this?
Thanks, Tyler.
Excellent video...good job!
Glad you enjoyed it. Tyler is an educator, for sure!
This is one of the best tutorials on the helix for ice fishing! Not surprising really as I am subscribed to your channel and most of your work is impressive and helpful. A question: how important do you think a chirp transducer is for ice fishing? I have a different make of finder which is a chirp unit but the ice ducer is not chirp, just 83 and 200 kHz.
I ran my Helix 5 G2 with a non-chirp transducer and it worked fine. The chirp gets you a little bit clear return on smaller targets but you'll be fine using the non-chirp transducer.
Given the choice I would always choose the chirp transducer
What model transducer should i buy to convert my icehelix7 g3 on summer?
I have a humminbird helix 7 chirp mega si gps g3 echo sounder. Can I use it as in the video? Do I need to buy a case and a winter sensor only?
You can certainly use the HELIX 7 control head, but you'll want to purchase the ice fishing transducer to use with it.
Looks like that battery was draining really quickly. I tried a lithium battery and it only last about 3 hours before shutting down on me.
Can you use the open water transducer instead of the ice one?
You could technically drop your transducer into an ice fishing scenario, but the way that the cord is attached to the transducer would cause it to hang at an angle, so your sonar would not be reading directly beneath you.
Yes, I do this with mine. Build a T out of pvc and mount your transducer to the bottom of it. Make it about 12 to 18" long so it gets through the ice works just fine
You hold your ion backwards lol
I find it more comfortable for me that way. Either way it puts a hole in the ice.