Can you take a reg fish finder and duct tape it to a pole and "look around" like a side finder? BTW I took my Zercom LPG (supposed to be OK in exstream cold, although it wasn't very cold on that day) out on the ice and was impressed on how it worked. Seemed to work real time and in my opinion much easier to read (To ME,..I must admit to have very limited time in using a flasher) But the statements about "not real time" doesn't seem to apply to the LPG 2000. It certainly looked real time to me.

I dont think it would work very well. Think about how a conventional transducer works. It shoots a "cone" of sound through the water. If you put a transducer on a stick and shot it sideways under the ice, half of the cone would be cut off by the underside of the ice. I guess you could try to angle the cone so it shot more downwards, but it would not be accurate or worth the trouble if you ask me. And you cant tell how deep you are unless you swing it back and point it directly at the bottom.

When you say it works in "Real Time" pretty well, how did you determine that? For instance, on my vexilar, I can see a #18 hook and a single spike, and even the tiniest of split shots on my line, when I jig, its like its connected to the transducer, the response is instantneous. Any of the LCD 's Ive tried on the ice there is a bit of a lag, it gets worse the colder it gets. If it serves the purpose for you though, thats cool.

PJ, You are prob right,..as soon as it hits the top the cone will prob. show bottom, in a flasher anyway. I think one of those hummingbirds that show "kinda" contour might be readable but its prob. cold sensitive. As far as the ZercomLPG 2000,.yes,..it does seem like its totally connected to the transducer. I kept trying to tell if I could see a lag but as I twitched a very small jig,..it looked like real time enough that I don't think my reflexes could be any faster anyway,..it also has on the rt side of the display a "flasher" that they call real time,..but I turned it off cause the graph was easier to read.

You can certainly angle the transducer around some to look for suspended fish out from your hole with a flasher. I've done it in 30' of water, but always kept contact with the bottom. Ice Guide showed me some 15 yrs ago.

I have no clue about going straight out to the side w/a conventional fishfinder. I have a low end sidefinder that has a 9 degree cone angle and runs at 455 Khz. Max range is 120' if that helps. One thing that comes to mind is the 1/2 of the cone that would normally go out of the water the way PJ mentions is going to hit ice which would register as bottom?? I'm guessing you'd have to submerge a 20 degree transducer pretty deep to reach out any distance before showing the bottom of the ice.

I've heard it helps to keep the backlight on if your running an LCD. A different approach than duct tape and a stick would be to find a piece of long narrow metal just wide enough to drill a hole to attach the transducer with a bolt. Tighten til you can still pivot it when your sidefinder experimenting. For fishing, bend the top to hang it on top of the hole or set something on it. Making it long enough to hang off the edge of a a 5 gallon bucket and still be in the water works well. Stiff but thin enough to bend, I used old metal car trim.

PJ - Thank you for the electric drill link. Awesome idea that I hope to try someday. Should have asked Santa for a drill...

Hope this helps,
jc

JC-
You saw that drill, eh? At first I thought it was a joke. I have an old drill that would be perfect for it. Wish I had an auger, though. Mine's gas.

no, because the echo needs to "bounce" back on most flshaers. You can however tilt the ducer a bit to scan of to the side of your hole a bit. Typically your bottom depth will change a bit, but you will know if there are suspended fish to one side of you or not. Verify by walking over and shooting through the ice.

You bet you can.
When, I am scouting for Crappies, and other suspended fish, that are easily seen in the water collumn, I do the puck on a stick trickall the time.

Basically, I tilt the transducer at about 45 degrees, and sweep it around. I pay no attention to any bottom reading, because, it will obviously read much deeper than reality.

However, I am looking for "anything" betweeen the ice, and the bottom.

As I sweep it around, I may find a "blip" in one particular direction.
I will move - what seems to be a reasonable amount of distance in that direction and drill another hole, and repeat the test.
When, I find the spot where the fish are suspended, I stop and fish.

When, the school moves, I go searching again, to find the direction that they moved, and drill holes in that direction, until I am over them again.

It works very well indeed.

I keep a spare transducer on a fixed stick, just for that purpose, with an A/B switch - to switch to the search, or fishing transducer.

Take care
REW