Holiday Gift Guide for Ice Anglers: Gear They'll Use All Season

Buying a gift for an ice angler sounds easy until you actually start looking.

There are plenty of fishing gadgets that make good stocking stuffers, but if you're shopping for someone who spends a lot of time on the ice, the best gifts are usually the ones that become part of their setup every time they fish.

That might mean making their forward-facing sonar easier to carry, giving them a better way to control their transducer, protecting expensive electronics or upgrading a piece of gear they've been making do with for the last few seasons.

If you're looking for something they'll still be using long after the holidays are over, here are a few places to start.

A Better Way to Carry Their Sonar Setup

Forward-facing sonar has become a big part of ice fishing, but taking electronics out of the boat creates a new problem: everything has to become portable.

The graph, battery, wiring and sonar components all need somewhere to go, and the entire setup needs to be something an angler can actually carry from one spot to another.

That's where a sonar shuttle makes a big difference.

The Summit HD Shuttle is our full-size option and works well for anglers building a traditional portable forward-facing sonar setup, including systems that use an external black box. It gives the electronics a solid platform while keeping the battery, wiring and other components together in one portable setup.

For newer systems that don't require an external black box, the Summit Mini Shuttle offers a more compact option. It's especially well suited to Garmin LiveScope 2 setups and other compatible systems where an angler wants to keep the overall package smaller.

And for anglers who like the simplicity of a bucket-style setup, the Tallboy gives them another way to build around the way they actually fish.

There isn't one Summit Shuttle that's automatically better than the others. That's important if you're buying one as a gift. The right choice depends on the electronics they're using and how they want their portable setup to work. If you aren't sure, finding out the exact graph and sonar system they own before ordering will save you some guessing.

A Transducer Pole They'll Use Every Trip

A forward-facing sonar system is only as useful as your ability to point the transducer where you want to look.

On the ice, a good transducer pole lets the angler rotate the transducer independently of the graph and scan the water around the hole. When the fish move, they can follow them without constantly repositioning the rest of the electronics setup.

It's one of those pieces of equipment that doesn't always get as much attention as the graph itself, but it gets used constantly.

For someone who's been piecing together an ice setup or using a pole they're not particularly happy with, upgrading the transducer pole can be a much more useful gift than another tackle-store gadget.

The important thing is compatibility. Know which transducer they're using and think about how they fish. Some anglers spend most of their time sitting over one hole. Others are constantly moving, drilling and searching. The best setup is the one that makes that style of fishing easier.

Protect the Expensive Part

Sometimes a good fishing gift is a relatively small upgrade that protects a much bigger investment.

Forward-facing sonar transducers aren't cheap, and portable setups tend to put them in situations where they can get knocked around. They're carried in and out of vehicles, loaded with other equipment and moved from hole to hole throughout the day.

A transducer cover adds protection over the face of the transducer while it's being transported or stored.

It's a simple gift, but it's also the kind of thing an angler may keep putting off buying for themselves.

Summit offers transducer covers for several popular forward-facing sonar transducers, so you'll want to know which model the person you're shopping for uses. A Garmin LiveScope transducer and a Lowrance ActiveTarget transducer aren't interchangeable just because they're both forward-facing sonar.

If you can sneak a look at their setup before ordering, even better.

Don't Overlook the Battery

A new graph or sonar system gets most of the attention, but none of it does much without power.

If the angler you're shopping for is still carrying a heavy older battery or their current battery doesn't comfortably make it through the kind of trips they take, a lithium battery can be a meaningful upgrade to the entire setup.

The trick is not automatically buying the largest battery available.

A smaller electronics setup and a short evening of fishing don't have the same power requirements as a larger graph and forward-facing sonar running all day. Battery capacity should match the electronics, expected runtime and how much weight the angler wants to carry.

Summit Lithium offers 20Ah, 32Ah and 52Ah batteries for different portable fishing-electronics setups. If you're considering a battery as a gift, find out what electronics they're powering first.

This is one of those gifts where asking a couple of questions beforehand is worth ruining a little bit of the surprise.

Sometimes the Best Gift Is the Missing Piece

You don't necessarily have to replace someone's entire setup to give them something they'll appreciate.

Look at what they're already using.

Maybe they have the sonar shuttle but could use a better way to protect the transducer. Maybe they've upgraded their electronics but are still using an older battery. Maybe they're putting together their first portable forward-facing sonar setup and need a transducer pole. Or maybe they've accumulated all the major components and just need the smaller accessories that make everything easier to use.

That's one advantage of building a modular setup. You can improve one part without starting over.

And if you're shopping for someone who fishes both open water and ice, that becomes even more useful. Portable electronics don't have to be equipment that gets packed away when one season ends. A graph, sonar system, battery and other components can move between setups as the way you fish changes throughout the year.

That's the idea behind a lot of what we build at Summit.

Not Sure What to Buy? Start With Their Electronics

If you're trying to surprise someone and don't know much about forward-facing sonar, don't worry about learning every specification before Christmas.

You really only need to figure out a few things.

Find out what brand they use—Garmin, Lowrance or Humminbird—and, if possible, the model of their graph and forward-facing sonar system. A quick picture of their current setup can help too.

From there, you can narrow down which shuttle, transducer pole, cover, battery or accessory will actually work with what they already own. Because the best fishing gifts usually aren't the ones that get the biggest reaction when the wrapping paper comes off. They're the ones that are still getting loaded into the truck in February.

Shop Summit Fishing Equipment for sonar shuttles, transducer poles, transducer protection, batteries and portable forward-facing sonar gear built for the way you fish.