Lowrance HDS Ice Settings

I thought I would share the settings that work best for me on ice. I have a HDS 7 Gen 2 with a rapala lithium battery.

First set your screen backlight as low as absolutely necessary. And change it with the differing light conditions. This will save your battery big time.

Menu > Settings > Sonar
– These are just presets that are preconfigured but I chose shallow water. This is a good start.

Under Menu
– Turn off auto sensitivity
– 200 Hz frequency
– I also like to use manual depth range to keep the bottom perfectly stable. Large fish can fool the unit into thinking the depth is changing. You can use auto to start, but if you’re staying put somewhere I recommend choosing a depth range.
– Sensitivity 60-70%

Under Menu > Advanced
– Use noise rejection only as needed. Medium is good with other sonars around but off is preferred if possible.
– Surface clarity on low.
– Scroll speed 6-8
– Ping speed max
– Manual mode on

Menu > View
– No split
– Palette 1
– Amplitude scope on

Your results may vary but this is what works best for me.

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Great info!

Run an HDS5 on a wheeler and one to fish with. Had two vex’s and sold them both after learning how to use the HDS5’s. They are battery hogs if they aren’t setup optimizing battery life.

Good helpful post!

I’ve been meaning to do this for at least year. I had some time today during the afternoon lull on Mille Lacs. I was struggling when others came by and created interference. I spent time figuring out how to fix it. Problem solved

Bump. Just in case someone is interested.

I have a Hook 4x(blue plug) that I just started using this year. I really like it except for interference when someone is in the shack with you. Other plus side is they are nice and quiet, dam loud vex’s. I am committing to it and selling the Vex today.

So did you get all the interference cleared up or still have the small lines thru the graph and blips in scope?

I was able to fish thru it with buddy next to me, but would be nice if there was less. I think I have it set how you did, other than maybe checking ping speed. There is lots of videos on you tube also which I spent one night with it and a Nordeast or two going thru them all. Also maybe a 4 isn’t quite as good as a 5, those are bigger and maybe a little better.

You basically have to turn the interference rejection up. The only problem is that it will hamper your sensitivity. Better than looking at all the interference though.

The settings I posted above are still the best I’ve found to date.

Have any of you had trouble with your unit finding bottom while hole hopping. Mine will take a few minutes to find bottom if it takes me too long to get to the next hole.

Yes. I can’t say for sure but I believe it was caused by interference from other sonars in the area. One thing I do now is always use manual depth range vs auto. At least this way the range stays put but the depth reading is always going in and out.

I just used mine this weekend for the first time this year and found another thing kind of related to your question I didn’t mention in this thread.

I find that sometimes the bottom will flutter up and down slightly resulting in a very unstable screen. I engage the curser and move it all the way to the right edge of the screen. That locks the screen in and it won’t jump around anymore.

I think I found the cause of my problems.
Even though the depth range and sensitivity is not on auto you will still need to turn on manual mode.

Tom schmitt wrote:

I think I found the cause of my problems.
Even though the depth range and sensitivity is not on auto you will still need to turn on manual mode.

Yes. That’s for sure. I think I had a similar issue and found manual mode solved a lot of problems.

Enabling the curser can help too.

How do you enable the curser?

Just press and hold the up, down, left or right button. The curser will appear. You can also adjust the visible window doing this so you can zoom in on say suspended crappies.

Just be aware when you do this you need to move the curser all the way to the right to keep the sonar scrolling.

thanks big gill I didn’t think the screen would run with the curser on

One things I do with mine is stop the screen when hole hopping. I leave that window up on my Hook 7, before I putt the ducer out of the hole Stop the screen, then when the ducer is in the new hole start the screen and it will pick up the new depth right away.

broth82 wrote:

One things I do with mine is stop the screen when hole hopping. I leave that window up on my Hook 7, before I putt the ducer out of the hole Stop the screen, then when the ducer is in the new hole start the screen and it will pick up the new depth right away.

THIS! The same thing happens in the summer if you have your unit connected to a trolling motor and you pull the motor out of the water. THe next time you put it back in it will take a while for the unit to get its bearings again. Stop the sonar, pull the transducer out of the hole, put in different hole and start sonar again. Will work right away.

I’m confused start/stop the screen using the curser, or start/stop sonar?

Sorry I start/stop the sonar. This is what it looks like on my Hook 7

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biggill wrote:

I’m confused start/stop the screen using the curser, or start/stop sonar?

Stop sonar.

Bumping this up since BG referred me here from another thread.

The menus are slightly different on my unit (hook2 5ts) but most of the settings are exactly the same. I followed your preferred settings and am looking forward to getting out to put this machine to work. Couple of follow-ups if you don’t mind:

On scroll speed you had 6-8. Is that on a scale of 1-10 on the HDS, or is it 6x the “normal” setting? On my unit it’s a slider bar. 50% on the bar is “normal.” Going up it says 2x, 3x, all the way to 8x. Going down it’s 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, etc.

I’m just sitting in my living room, no transducer. When I’m adjusting the settings I have the sonar screen up and the scrolling seems really jumpy to me. It’s never been like this on my boat. Is this just how it behaves out of water with no ducer connected?

Again, many thanks. Very helpful.

The scroll speed is on the higher side close to the max speed. It’s a preference thing but I like it on the fast side.

The jumping screen when the ducer is out of the water is likely due to the fact it’s trying to find bottom. It goes through a series of ping speed changes to detect bottom. It’ll keep going through those cycles until it finds bottom. Perfectly normal.

The only thing left to do on the water is to adjust your sensitivity. You’ll do it just like any other sonar. Adjust up or down until your lure is just barely seen with a consistent mark.

Perfect. Thanks again!

Help. Here’s what I have for settings and can’t seem to get the flasher setup properly.

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Scott Senden wrote:

Help. Here’s what I have for settings and can’t seem to get the flasher setup properly.

I see you’re in ice fishing mode. On my HDS I use shallow water mode. Try that as well as the settings I posted above.

I personally don’t like the flasher. I much prefer the graph.

Thank you.

Will give it a try!

Scott

Had my hook2 on the ice for the first time today. BG, your suggested settings saved me a ton of time. About the only thing I did different was reduce scroll speed (just my preference), reduce sensitivity, and I actually turned surface clarity to low. The depth I was in had my double uni knot just 2 ft below the surface and it was appearing like another jig up there with that set to off.

Also whoever suggested “stop sonar” when hole hopping was spot on. No lag at all, just drop the ducer in, start sonar, instant depth reading at new hole.

Thanks again for the tips!

No problem. I change my surface clarity and IR as needed. If there’s little interference around I usually turn them down.

Good luck. Hopefully you get some good use out of it. It’s nice to see the setting haven’t changed much for Lowrance.

Is there a way to zoom in on the bottom when using a HDS for ice fishing? I do normally use the ice fishing mode with the flashing/sonar split. I would like to zoom in on the bottom 10 or so feet with either to get a more detailed look at that active area.

Thanks

You simply hit the zoom + or – button. You can use the cursor to move that window up and down.

Keep in mind you’ll need to cursor all the way over to the right until the cursor catches up with real time. Otherwise you’ll be frozen in time where your cursor is.

I’m not sure if this works with the flasher screen or ice fishing mode though. I highly recommend not using ice fishing mode. See above.

Thanks, I found that effect today out chasing perch. Likely no need for the flasher after using the sonar that way