Newbie Fish Finder Help

Hi Folks,

Couple of quick questions if anyone has time to help out. Sorry for asking but the instructions/ manual that come with it are as useful as a chocolate saucepan.

My wife was kind enough to buy me a Lowrance Elite 3x fish finder all weather kit (comes with a "normal" and ice transducer). The thing is I have never used a fish finder and don't know anyone with one. It will mainly be for ice fishing and I understand I have to hook up the ice transducer then stick it in the water and see what happens.

I don't have a boat though I rent one off a guy every now and then and wondered if anyone uses a fish finder in a "boat to boat" way like I will, any videos I have watched seem to drill the normal transducer straight to the boat, as I don't have one I can't do that. So...

1) does the normal transducer always go in the water and could I make a float for it that I could put in the water next to my rental boat (like some pink panther insulation etc) or would I just use a suction cup to stick it to the hull when I find a spot to fish or straight off the dock?
2)Everything says to use a 3 amp fuse, though one did not come with the kit so do I need to buy and fit an in line one between the power and fish finder?
Thanks in advance for any help!!

Attach the boat transducer to a 1x3 and just clamp it to the stern of your rental boat.

You can get suction cup transducer mounts. Shouldn't be hard to find at any outdoor store.

If the boats you tend to rent are just small ones, and you aren't in too deep water (like under 100 feet) you may find you get excellent results by just putting the transducer on the bottom of the boat with a little water. In my canoe I take a small zip-lock baggie with about a millimeter of water in it to set the ice-transducer on. Works like a charm. I have also done this in fiberglass and single-hull aluminum boats with no noticeable loss of signal (I can tell because I compared it to putting the transducer in the water beside the boat).

Not sure about the 3 amp fuse question. Normally you only need that when hooking to a big battery though the boat wiring (to prevent a short circuit at the fish-finder from creating a fire hazzard in the wiring leading to the unit). This isn't the case when you are using a small portable battery.

I use my unit all season in several types of boats and even made a wall-mount for it in my ice hut.

I have the regular transducer permanently mounted on my main boat (16 foot aluminum), and I use my ice-transducer for everything else (paddle boat, canoe, friends boat, ice-hut, etc.).

Hope this helps.

I agree... mount the boat transducer to a stick and clamp to the transom. I fastened mine to a piece of hardwood, and secure it with a heavy c-clamp... and for security the c-clamp is fastened to the hardwood with some nylon strap. Less risk of dropping the c-clamp in the drink. ;)

As for the winter setup, just swap transducers. Some sonar units have an option for "ice fishing mode"... although not sure what mine actually does. You may also need to change settings related to the transducer type... I have to disable options related to downward imaging and temperature sending on my Humminbird.

Thanks everyone for your responses, that really helps a lot. I will try what you suggest and let you know the results! Hopefully it helps me at least see fish on the screen even if I can't get them on the hook!
Thanks again!