Starting over from nothing

Long story short, I lost all of my ice fishing gear (in addition to a lot more) several years ago when my storage unit was broken into. Since then, I’ve been on the ice once. Fishing without any electronics is similar to fishing without hooks.
Well recently my sister bought a place on a small private lake, and my brother in law and I went to check it out today. We found fish in several spots with his old Vexilar and the new underwater camera he got for Christmas. I remembered how much fun ice fishing can be, we caught and released many bluegills and crappies including some beauties.
So anyway, I want to get back into the sport. I will be panfishing only, and I fish smaller and shallower lakes with only a walk or snowmobile pulled rig – seldom drive on the ice. I need some help deciding what to buy for rods, reels, lures, electronics … everything. What does a person want these days? If you were just starting out which things would you choose knowing what you know? I can’t afford the best of the big stuff, so no Panoptix, but I am willing to spend enough so that I don’t regret what I do purchase.
Since I haven’t followed the sport at all, please give me detailed reasons on why to choose one item over another.
Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions, I’ll try to return the favor in future topics when I can help.

Mojo

A basic flasher is all you need, an old fl8 will even work well on the shallower lakes, you can find a used one for around $100. Rods and reels really doesn’t matter much to me, stay cheap and add a spring bobber or watch the line for panfish. Good luck.

Lots of folks are speaking good things about the Garmin Striker 4 series ice bundle instead of flashers. Light weight and quiet compared to mechanical flashers. Has a small screen so if you need something bigger I would check out other Garmin or Hummingbird ice units. I personally evolved from mechanical flasher as your so limited as to what you can do with them.
As for rods and reels, Shimano Sienna reels are hard to beat for the price or spend a bit more and get Pflueger presidents. There certainly are others but these would be my choices.
Lots of good over the counter rods to select from or some really good custom rod makers.

I wasn’t clear in my original post, I really want to get good quality equipment the first time. I had good equipment that took me 40 years to accumulate before, and I’m trying to see this as an “opportunity” to upgrade. I hate buyers remorse, and I hate the feeling of “if only I had bought X ” when I’m out in the field or on the water, and I positively do not want reliability issues. I think better equipment improves long term value – buy once, cry once.
I saw James is going to jump to the Helix 7, and I see some value there. Having the GPS capability is very nice, and I see value in being able to upgrade the all season model to give me a chance to add SI to my open water rig. What are pluses and minuses of it and competitors?
I’m also pretty sure I want to try the Lite Strike, since I already own an M18 Fuel hammer drill and plenty of batteries. Other recommendations?
I’ve been searching, and I saw mention of an adapter to use M18 batteries to power a sonar – info on that would be very nice.
Perhaps I should start threads asking about individual categories? I just didn’t want to start a dozen new threads.
After losing my stuff, I didn’t think I would start ice fishing again, so I have no idea what advancements have been made, and that’s why I’m coming to you guys for help. Thanks again.

You can find flashers all the time on Craigslist. I looked at the St Cloud Sporting CL a few days ago and saw like 15. Drive a hard bargain. It’s a buyers market. A Humminbird 35 for $150 is what I would be shooting for.

Some of those could be lemons. Be cautious that some of those unscrupulous people are selling because the unit is starting to have fan issues, which means a fairly expensive repair is not far off.

Ask them to arrive with a charged battery. Turn the unit on and shoot the breeze for 10-15 minutes. Make sure that’s clear before you meet. If the unit is buzzing intermittently, doesn’t produce a constant ‘whir’ sound or does the “whir WHIR whir WHIR” thing, or if the screen bounces around even once, the unit has a malfunctioning fan that will eventually crap out, sooner rather than later. Walk away, or call them out and shoot for another $75 off.

I upgraded to all premium gear too after using the entry stuff for years. I’ve bought and sold quite a but of gear too. I went with the helix ice 5 this year for mapping. The vexilar has slightly better separation but I dont notice it. I still use my phone app when locating a spot until my flasher is setup. Cameras are beneficial for light bites if water is clear. My favorite rods are Haat rods. They are 36″ rods with a beautiful reel seat for under 100$. The slow action does great for keeping fish pinned. I fish in a shack so I run all ice braid with suffix floro leader. Otter sled in medium is large enough with a cover. Minnows on jigs. Artificials are fun to experiment with but there’s so many, I just guess.

I like otter shacks but they all good. That’s a generic description of my preferences.

I got a 6” lite flite for Christmas, drilled maybe 20 holes with it, I’m upgrading to the 8”. I’ll give you a good deal on the 6” if you decide you want it.

Honestly for the price you might as well get a Helix 5 or 7 so you can use it year round. I built a shuttle for mine for $130 from the vex pro pack a ducer and the glow ring. another $100 and you can get a lithium for double run time. I kind of fell into the helix because I was looking at a new trolling motor and Reeds gave you a free helix 7 with purcahse of a new terrova or ulterra so no brainer!
The garmin is nice but you really need to be fishing 200 days a year to justify the price tag.

I have a couple combos you can have if you are near Rochester to get you started?

Dh custom rods al dente noodle! Best thing I’ve bought recently. See those light bites easily without spring bobbers yet handle big perch as well. Everything you want in a rod in my opinion and relatively reasonably priced for a custom. Paid around 90 for it

Mojo,
I have a Vex fl18, Marcum Lx9, Frabill single man flip over and a Clam 2 man flip over, Strike master auger with extension, rods reels cases cleats and much more I need to sell. Mostly because I’m just not getting out on the ice. My equipment is near new and has little to no use. We are having trouble getting ice once again down here.
Drop me a pm if interested and we will converse over the phone if you wish.

All I can say is wow! you guys are too generous. I came here just to pick your brains and find out what kind of equipment I should look at to get back on the ice and feel confident about it, and I get guys offering me deals and even free rod/reel combos to get me going again. I’ve always known IDO was a great group, but you guys just bumped my faith in humanity up a couple notches. I feel blessed, and I hope I can pay the generosity forward in the future.

One thing I’m having trouble finding information on is the adapters that allow a person to use Milwaukee M18 batteries to power a sonar unit, so if anyone could point me in the right direction for where to buy or how to build, it would be appreciated. Sounds like that could save me a hundred bucks over buying a Li-ion aftermarket battery.

Thank you for all the replies.

mojo wrote:

One thing I’m having trouble finding information on is the adapters that allow a person to use Milwaukee M18 batteries to power a sonar unit

Depends on your desired operating voltage. Garmin can use the full terminal potential, so that’s easy. You can get adapters off Ebay or amazon for almost any battery that are targeted to robotics hobbyists that snap right on to the battery packs. Those all have leads that you connect to whatever else you need. Simple buck converters can get you voltagewise where you need to be with a small efficiency cost. You gain efficiency back by running at the highest voltage possible.

Another benefit, the analog components on many sonar run cleaner the hotter the rail voltages run at.

For ice only, I’d buy garmin, if only to appreciate the benefits of running at full potential. I’ve toyed with most anything sonar I can get my hands on and garmin is the only one that makes me shake my head constantly. I’ve learned more in the last year than i have over the couple decades before simply by running the lvs32. Fish are totally whack, and they can’t hide that any longer.

mojo wrote:

Sounds like that could save me a hundred bucks over buying a Li-ion aftermarket battery.

Lol. I run mine in a simple bucket based on prior bucket experience, so maybe you can save a few pesos by avoiding the clunky shuttles..

I was out with a group this weekend, only one of the other 4 was an avid ice angler. I think I sold two more lvs setups just from them witnessing the unit in action. The one guy interested never even caught a crappie before, but likes getting outside and has two young boys. We basically started using the thing like missile command/battle ship, made a ring around it and hopped to the coordinates with a couple vexilars. Near the end of our hour of fishing we probably had 50 fish stacked under us in a 5′ wide, 40′ deep barrel. I wish I took a better screen shot, I only snapped the one picture.

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Mojo if you’re located near the twin cities I’d be happy to give you a few combos to start with as well as some odds and ends. I know you said you’re looking to buy quality equipment, which I can respect, but if you’re also looking to have some stuff to tide you over and get on the ice fast I can help.

Just looking at your post made me grin…. I had two divorces in 5 years I know how it feels! lol.

If I were starting from scratch, I’d go with a Helix 5 or 7, lite flight and an insulated hub with an otter sled for carrying it. Rods depend a lot more on budget and what you want out of it, but you can get by with an affordable rod and spring bobber or jump up into a TUCR/JT if you know you’ll be panfishing primarily and want to get something higher end right away. Throw in a buddy heater and you’re pretty much good to go. You can find a lot of this stuff on the secondary market for cheap in a couple months too!

catmando wrote:

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Your post reminded me of my nephew……who said this, upon finding out his dad was getting married a 3rd or 4th (?) time……”I don’t know why my dad is in such a hurry to get married again, he obviously isn’t any good at being married”

lol, 23 years the first 1, 2nd the mistake, Bitten and Shy.

If you are wanting to start out with some really good equipment I highly recommend JT Outdoor Products rods. I started with a couple last year and have added more this year. The new 35 Panhandler with the tapered spring bobber is a very versatile panfish rod and can work a number of different presentations with it. I went with the Sure Grip split grip model. I have been going with Okuma for reels. The Ceymar C-10 is a real nice size for a panfish rod and doesn’t break the bank. The Shimano Siennas are also nice and some people prefer the 13 Fishing Inline Reels for panfish. All personal preference there though. I run a Marcum LX-5i on a shuttle and am very happy with it but the new digital systems definitely seem to be the new popular way to go. Know a couple guys that run the Humminbird Helix setups and they are very happy with them. For an auger I would definitely look at the Strike Master Lite-Flite. Especially if you have the drill that is capable of running it. Great way to stay lightweight when walking out on the ice and nothing cuts as fast as a Strike Master lazer and I have used Jiffy and Eskimos too. My buddy I fish with runs an Otter flip over shack and got a hub this year too. They are very well made and nice shacks.

Not sure if you are needing anything for clothing or not but I highly recommend Striker Ice Gear. Have a jacket and bib setup and have been very happy with it. Depending on your temps the Trekker suit can be found on sale some places now. It is their lightest set in terms of insulation but sure still plenty warm in most environments. Added Baffin Impact boots this winter and have been super impressed with them as well.