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Ice fishing and figure skating have one thing in common, the surface underfoot. And that’s it.
Let’s face it, most of us ice fishermen are highly unlikely to ever be described as graceful. We trudge. We fall. We have big sausage fingers and a none too delicate touch. And in those hands, we carry from hole to hole highly sensitive, high-tech tools across a slippery and unforgiving surface all the while braving the extremes of winter.
Under this scenario the stage is set for catastrophe and some times bad things happen to good products. Not that we’ve ever, ahem, tripped, slipped and landed with our full weight on top of a prized piece of equipment, ahem, ahem...
Still, while no amount of care or preparation can prevent all equipment related incidents and accidents, you can take steps to prevent many of the most-common problems related to ice sonar, says MarCum Customer Service Director Chris Hansen and ICE FORCE Pro-Staffer Joel Nelson.
“First of all, under no circumstances should you use your transducer as a hammer, chipper or any type of ice-busting tool,” Nelson says. “That should go without saying, but you’d be surprised what you see out there sometimes!”
Most sonar failure, however, results from a bad battery or unintended consequences of improper transducer cable use or care.
“People tend to want a lot of transducer cable hanging down below the hole when they’re fishing, but that’s not necessary and can cause problems when you’re hole jumping,” Hansen says. “When you have too much cable out, you end up dragging your transducer on the surface of the ice, banging, clanging and ricocheting off the ice as you move from hole to hole. And that’s really hard on it.”
While it might sound overly simple, shortening up on that transducer cable can go a long way towards extending the life of the most sensitive part of your ice sonar unit.
“In the majority of ice fishing situations, the transducer does not need to be more than a couple of inches below the bottom of the ice,” Hansen says. “If you keep the amount of transducer cable to a minimum, it’s very easy to transport your ice sonar unit as you move from hole to hole.”
An overly long transducer cable is also more likely to tangle in your line while landing a fish. Braided line, in particular, has the potential to cause problems.
“Braided line, wrapped around a transducer cable and under the kind of pressure exerted by a trophy caliber fish on a head-long run away from the hole, can cut into the cable coating and cause the cable to leak,” Hansen says. “And there’s a lot of things that can happen once the cable coating is compromised - all of them bad.”
Battery maintenance
Imagine the scene - the ice is finally in, you’re pumped up, the fish are lively, your sonar battery is ... dead as a doorknob.
“Early ice is perhaps the best time to be on hard-water, so don’t head out there to fish it with an untested or improperly cared for battery and run the risk of it taking you off a hot bite,” says Nelson, who takes great care of the batteries that power his MarCum sonar and underwater camera.
Ice fishing electronics - and the batteries that run them - are stored and often forgotten over the open-water season. “When you put your flasher away between trips last season, you probably weren’t thinking it was the last time you were going to use it,” Hansen says. “The season ends and people forget to store their batteries properly over the summer. Out of sight, out of mind.”
And come ice-up, “we expect them to fire up like the last time we used them,” Nelson says. “Without the occasional maintenance charge over the summer, once a month is ideal, all too often they don’t.”
The vast majority of customer-service calls to MarCum Technologies are battery related, Hansen says, noting that all re-chargeable batteries require regular maintenance to preserve longevity. And regardless of manufacturer, no system will operate to peak performance with a weak or dead battery.
If your flasher is exhibiting any of the following symptoms there’s a good chance it is because of a weak battery:
- Unit will not turn on
- Unit turns on, motor spins, but there are no lights
- Unit turns on, but only works for a short time
- Unit will not mark bottom or fish, with transducer clicking
“During the winter, hardly a day goes by without a unit coming in here for service that works perfectly; the only thing wrong with it was a weak or dead battery,” Hansen says. “So before shipping your flasher back for repairs, please check - and then double check - that the problem is not due to a weak or dead battery.”
The quickest way to troubleshoot a potentially dead or failing battery is to connect your MarCum sonar unit to a secondary source of 12-volt power.
A MarCum sonar unit can be powered off any 12-volt battery, including the one in your boat or truck.
To perform a quick test simply touch the positive wire (colored red) from the sonar’s wiring harness to the positive side of any fully charged 12 volt battery. Complete the circuit by connecting the negative side of the wiring harness (colored black) to the negative side of the battery.
“If your unit powers up and functions normally you’ve isolated the source of the problem and you can rest assured that a new 12-volt battery will get you back in the game,” Hansen says.
Hansen and Nelson suggest the following routine maintenance:
- Make a habit of discharging your unit’s battery before you re-charge it.
When re-chargeable batteries sit for prolonged periods of non-use, the life span of the battery is diminished.
- If your system comes with an automatic charger (most do), charge your battery after every use.
“For some reason people seem to have a fear of charging their battery,” Hansen says. “Charging your battery is always good. There is zero danger of over-charging the battery using one of the chargers provided with your MarCum sonar unit at the time of purchase.”
- Store batteries at room temperature. Big temperature swings in an un-insulated and un-heated garage will reduce a battery’s life.
- Top off your battery in the off-season. Charge it once a month during long periods of inactivity, especially during the summer when your battery is most likely to sit, un-used, for extended periods of time.
Might be time to buy a new battery
Most batteries used in ice fishing electronics last about three years, Hansen says. If you’re nearing that timeline, you should consider buying a spare.
When your day of fishing success is contingent on having a working depth finder, a back-up battery represents cheap insurance.
Though it will cost a few more bucks, a quality battery is well worth it, Nelson says. “Like everything else in life, you get what you pay for.”
Bargain sales on batteries are often designed to move old stock. Manufacturers, which order batteries each season for replacements and for sale with their units, typically have the best and freshest batteries.
“You wouldn’t pick your fishing line out of the bargain bin, don’t do so for your ice electronics batteries,” cautions Nelson, who buys a new, quality battery every other year and uses the old one as a spare.
“The last thing you want is your flasher to go down just as the bite is heating up, which is why I always carry an extra battery every time I hit the ice,” he says.
Hansen recommends a 12-volt, sealed lead-acid battery. All common brands are sold in standard dimensions that will fit inside your MarCum soft-pack. 12-volt batteries come in 7, 8, and 9Amp versions. Most anglers will find a 7Amp battery provides more than enough power to get them through the longest day on the ice.
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