Are you ready for the 2020/21 ice fishing season?
With the cool, late summer days hitting us right now, soon comes the inevitable winter and frozen water. Simply put, it is a way of life up here in Canada. We anticipate it every year. Luckily, our fishing season does not stop, and, in fact, on New Year’s Day, many new fishing seasons commence.
By now, you hopefully have grasped the fact that electronics play a significant role in successful ice fishing. The “by guess, by golly” days of trudging out on the open snowy plain and guessing where to drill that first hole are fading rapidly. Now you can fire up a GPS unit, look for the perfect contour lines, deep holes or flats and make an educated start. But that’s only the beginning—the fun comes next. By switching over from GPS mode into fish-finder mode, the games truly begin.
The Importance of Good Fishing Electronics
Whether using traditional, SideVu or ClearVu, or the groundbreaking Panoptix or LiveScope modes, your catch rate is guaranteed to go up. Being able to scan a large area for fish, or to “coax” a fish into biting is a clear advantage when you’re ice fishing. This can only be done with good fishing electronics!
Angelo and Pete have been using Garmin portable units for years now and have nothing but high praise for the entire lineup.
“We’ve taken our Garmin portables from Nova Scotia to British Columbia,” says Ang. “And whether we are scanning in the world’s highest and fastest tides in the Bay of Fundy or scrutinizing the jagged bottom of a gin-clear mountain lake, each and every trip’s success was attributed highly to our fishing electronics.”
The expression “Don’t leave home without it” has never applied more than it does with your Garmin fishing electronics.
“Let me give you a little pointer here,” adds Pete. “You don’t need the absolute best of the best and most expensive portable units. Get what you can afford. We have used Garmin portables from entry-level to high end, and they all have produced fantastic results!”
One more extremely important note: These “Ice Fishing Bundles” are not just limited to the winter. A portable Garmin unit is also a fantastic open-water tool, meaning these kits have tremendous year-round value!
The following is the latest release in anticipation of the ice fishing season from our friends and partners at Garmin. (Please note, prices listed are in US funds). These new ice fishing bundles and kits will be available later this month.
From Garmin Press Release
DRILL FEWER HOLES AND CATCH MORE FISH WITH GARMIN’S NEW ICE FISHING BUNDLES
Enhanced lineup includes Panoptix LiveScope, UHD scanning sonar and new chartplotter and fishfinder options for hard-water anglers.
Garmin’s New Ice Fishing Bundles.
OLATHE, Kan., Sept. 9, 2020/Business Wire – Garmin® International, Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ:GRMN), the world’s leading marine electronics manufacturer1, today unveiled its newest ice fishing bundles in advance of the start of the hard-water fishing season. With anglers of every skill and budget in mind, Garmin’s ice fishing bundle lineup now includes options that extend from a 4-inch STRIKER™ Plus, up to a premium 9-inch ECHOMAP™ UHD 93sv with award-winning Panoptix LiveScope™. Each of the ECHOMAP chartplotter ice bundles have been upgraded to include support for Garmin’s Ultra High-Definition (UHD) scanning sonar, so anglers can pinpoint schools of fish faster with excellent resolution and target separation and spend more time on what’s important – catching fish. And when the ice thaws, all of Garmin’s versatile ice bundles can be easily transitioned to the boat so anglers can fish with their electronics all year long.
“Garmin’s ice fishing bundles give anglers all of the tools they need to help find and catch more fish,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. “From new dual-beam ice fishing transducers to preloaded mapping, UHD scanning sonar and industry-leading LiveScope, our robust lineup offers feature-packed solutions that will transform the way anglers’ fish on the ice.”
LIVESCOPE ICE FISHING BUNDLE & KIT
Paired with a large, 9-inch ECHOMAP UHD 93sv, the Panoptix LiveScope Ice Fishing Bundle allows anglers to take their fishing to the next level with real-time scanning sonar. It features two revolutionary modes in one transducer – LiveScope Down and LiveScope Forward – so anglers can see up to 200 feet under the water in any direction. Either view provides incredibly sharp, real-time scanning sonar images of fish swimming and moving toward or away from the hole and below the surface with remarkable target separation and clarity. The Panoptix LiveScope Ice Fishing Bundle offers full sonar capabilities, including an ice flasher, and support for UHD scanning sonar and CHIRP traditional sonar.*
Like all Garmin chartplotters, the ECHOMAP UHD 93sv has an easy-to-use interface that allows for customized combination screens, so anglers can easily access flasher, map, sonar and other data most important to them. It comes preloaded with LakeVü g3 maps with integrated Garmin and Navionics® data that cover more than 18,000 lakes.
The Panoptix LiveScope Ice Bundle includes the complete LiveScope System with a swivel pole mount, plus a 12Ah battery with charger and power cable – all in a convenient, glove-friendly portable bag for a suggested retail price of $2799.99. A new LiveScope Ice Fishing Kit that includes the LiveScope System, swivel mount and portable kit is also available for a suggested retail price of $1999.99.
ECHOMAP UHD ICE FISHING BUNDLES
The mid-sized ECHOMAP UHD 73cv and ECHOMAP UHD 63cv Ice Fishing Bundles both include a high-wide CHIRP ice fishing transducer with selectable beamwidth and provide crisp, clear fish targets with excellent target separation. The built-in flasher provides precise jig and fish detection as they swim into the sonar beam, and the unique ice fishing sonar mode increases the frequency for better quality images on screen. Both the ECHOMAP UHD 73cv and 63cv also support ClearVü scanning sonar* for nearly photographic images of what’s below the boat.
The ECHOMAP UHD Ice Fishing Bundles come preloaded with LakeVü g3 mapping, Garmin’s latest cartography with integrated Navionics data, for exceptional detail on more than 18,000 lakes. Featuring a 6- or 7-inch keyed-assist touchscreen display, anglers can easily create custom combination pages that combine sonar, flasher and map. Both the ECHOMAP UHD 73cv and ECHOMAP 63sv Ice Bundle include a rugged, glove-friendly carrying case, and are available now for suggested retail prices of $699.99 and $549.99, respectively.
The Panoptix PS22 Ice Bundle has also been updated to include the ECHOMAP UHD 73cv, and offers three types of sonar – narrow beam Garmin CHIRP traditional, Panoptix LiveVü Forward and LiveVü Down – with a suggested retail price of $1899.99.
STRIKER PLUS 4 ICE FISHING BUNDLE
For the ice angler who wants the best sonar available, plus the ability to create and store their own contour maps, the portable STRIKER Plus 4 Ice Fishing Bundle is the perfect entry-level fishfinder solution. The STRIKER Plus 4 ice bundle includes a new dual-beam ice fishing transducer with Garmin CHIRP traditional sonar for crystal-clear images in shallow and deeper water as well as remarkable target separation. Its built-in high sensitivity GPS lets anglers mark hot spots, and with Quickdraw™ Contours mapping software, it’s easy to create and store up to 2 million acres of maps with 1-foot contours. The new STRIKER Plus 4 Ice Fishing Bundle has a suggested retail price of $249.99, and also includes a rugged, portable carrying case.
All of the new 2020 Ice Fishing Bundles from Garmin are expected to be available later this month. To learn more and see Garmin’s full ice fishing product lineup, visit www.garmin.com/marine.
Engineered on the inside for life on the outside, Garmin products have revolutionized life for anglers, sailors, mariners and boat enthusiasts everywhere. Committed to developing the most sophisticated marine electronics the industry has ever known, Garmin believes every day is an opportunity to innovate and a chance to beat yesterday. For the fifth consecutive year, Garmin was recently named the Manufacturer of the Year by the National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA). Other Garmin marine brands include Fusion® and Navionics. For more information, visit Garmin’s virtual pressroom at garmin.com/newsroom or follow us at facebook.com/garmin, twitter.com/garminnews, instagram.com/garmin or youtube.com/garmin.
1 Based on 2019 reported sales
* Additional transducer(s) required.
About Garmin International, Inc.
Garmin International, Inc. is a subsidiary of Garmin Ltd. (Nasdaq: GRMN). Garmin Ltd. is incorporated in Switzerland, and its principal subsidiaries are located in the United States, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. Garmin, Navionics and Fusion are registered trademarks and STRIKER, ECHOMAP, Panoptix LIveScope and Quickdraw are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries.
All other brands, product names, company names, trademarks and service marks are the properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.
