Question from a new vex user…

Will I be able to read water depth through milky ice by placing the transducer in water on top of the ice? Or will it not read through the milk ice?

Any help would be great.

D

Yes,
There must be a little water on the ice for a good read. I carry a small squirt bottle of water in my jacket. Brush away the snow and pour a small amount of water and you should be able to read the depth.

Ron

Yellow- in my experience, with the 18 I had, it needed to be clear ice.

None of the flashers work to read the ice in cloudy or milky ice. The ice has to be clear and a small amount of water needs to be between the ducer and the ice

my lx-3 can sort of make out the bottom through milky ice, but you are supposed to have clear ice for the best reading. you don’t get good reading on milky/honeycomed ice due to the air pockets in the ice that interfeer with the cone. Good luck, i prefer to just drill a crap load of holes though and go from there

~sorry i wasn’t clear enough, when it does go through the milky, honeycomed ice, the best it will give me is little yellow flickers that fade in and out, and it might not even be garunteed that it is actually the bottom and water collumn that you are actually seeing anyway. My vote goes for drilling a barrel of holes ~

I have never tried it but putting some water on the ice and trying it might work. If not then drill a bunch of holes in the area you want to fish and then go back and check them with the Vexilar for depth and to see if you spot any fish. If you are fishing with someone then have that person check each hole with the Vexilar right after you drill one to help guide you when drilling your holes.
Thanks, Bill

Thanx for the quick responses guys…guess I’ll just have to live and learn….didn’t think it would work, but who knows, maybe my vex is blessed by the gods of fishing flashers…hee hee

Another trick is to mix a little anti-freeze in your squirt bottle.That way when it’s real cold your water on top of the ice won’t freeze as quick.We shoot through the ice all the time with a Vex.
Ryan Hale

Antifreeze???

You are kidding right? Are you sure you want to be putting that into the environment? Personally, I’d rather hand cut 1000 holes than put an ounce of antifreeze into the water…no offense intended.

Not too sure I agree with putting antifreeze on the ice either I do know that antifreeze does breakdown and probably does not hurt the environment as much as most think. But, until I know for sure, I won’t use it

Guys, RV antifreeze that you winterize a camper with is safe. Anything that you can drink should be safe. Heck I would rather drink RV antifreeze then lake water in most lakes.

WOW!! Guess I shouldn’t have put that up for a reply. I use Sierra,it’s a friendly anti-freeze.Doesn’t even harm pets.Also I’m not talking about dumping gallons of the stuff on the ice.A few drops in with your water.I guarrantee you put other chemicals on the ice from a gas powered auger.Might be a very small amount-but it happens.
Ryan Hale

Whew…..sorry, when I think antifreeze, I think about the stuff you read about killing mice, dogs, cats……

my bad

Cool. Thanks for the info on the antifreeze I won’t argue the point of the other stuff we put on the ice. If we look at all the vehicles on the ice that leak every fluid under the hood, gas from augers, and who knows what else we would look at things differently I figured you were dilluting the stuff in the water. If the Sierra is safe to pets, then it is good enough for me

How many ice guys tote an outhouse with them?

i deffinately wouldn’t want to eat off the ice after there have been 100’s of guys on it, i know thats for sure….

squirt some H2O on the ice and turn your sensitivity up. You will be able to tell the depth no problem. You need clear ice to tell if there are fish down there. You made a good purchase. Personally, with sharp blades on my auger I would drill a hole to tell if there were fish down there. Telling the depth is fine, but knowing if there are fish below is worth a whole lot more. I would use bourbon instead of anti-freeze. That way if you get bored or tired at least you have something to keep you occupied.

Very good response yellowjacket.
Some of the things that we were taught while growing up, simply are not proper now that we know better.
Just do not challenge the ‘ole man on this one, trust me. It leads into a heated discusion that really detracts from the whole fishing thing!
cheers