Float tube fish finder

Still too much snow and shadow

Dozens of juncos are visible from my windows as they search the snow-pack for edible morsels. What they find is beyond me but they keep pecking away at the white stuff and seem energetic so their efforts are bearing fruit...or perhaps seeds. Ice fishing season is losing ground as snow cover on the lakes softens or melts into puddles; at least in the southern regions of Manitoba.

So what is the antsy fly-fisher, float-tuber and kayak fisher to do? I could cry about the coming cold front and its effect on spring but what would that get me? Tie some flies to augment the thousands I already have? I've already tied a few dozen in the last few days and the thought of more flies right now seems a bit like ordering fries after polishing off a 16 oz steak.

Ice fishing setup

Ahhh, I have it. I'd purchased a conversion kit last fall that would allow me to mount my Humminbird 385ci onto my float tube. I'd also bought an extra transducer and power cable and all the disparate parts rested in a couple of basement boxes. As it turns out, there was really very little to do to assemble the rig...just drill a few holes, thread the mounting box and transducer on a buckled strap and charge the battery. The included battery is only a 2.9 Amp/hr so it may not last a full day since my 7.2 Amp/hr battery won't work for two full days on the ice but I'll see about that later this spring. A couple of rants. Humminbird doesn't make cables for these applications ( at least I haven't seen any) and the standard transducer cables have to be coiled into many loops and hung onto the box...a messy solution. Secondly, when purchasing the attachment kit, the postage charged was significantly higher than the postage paid to ship it to me. Come on guys, why be so sneaky in trying to pick up some extra bucks for an already expensive proposition? End of rant.

My 385ci on the end of my Fish Cat 4

So now I can interchange my fish finder between fishing kayak, ice fishing bag and float tube. How well it works, how it may affect portability and whether the whole exercise was worth it will have to wait for another day. At least I'll be able to spot some huge fish under my float tube, if only in my day-dreams for now.