Ice fishing
has come a long way in the last several years, and the use
of electronics has grown immensely. Now we have advanced
underwater cameras that can tell you the depth, water temperature,
direction the camera is facing, as well as rotate while under
the ice, and this list goes on and on. Flasher units have
also evolved throughout the years, and have really improved
our efficiency out on the ice. Flashers have taken away a
lot of the guesswork that comes with locating fish and they
act as the fish’s mood indicator, letting us know what
they want. And along with underwater cameras and flashers
we also have handheld sonar. These flashlight size pieces
of equipment help enable us to find fish faster and easier
out on the ice. Electronics are definitely an important part
of modern ice fishing.
Underwater cameras come in all different models and makes.
The purpose of an underwater camera is to allow you to “see” what
is below the ice. I know this sounds obvious, but it has
several meanings. First off, an underwater camera allows
us to distinguish weed types and bottom content or structures
that are below the ice. This can be very important in not
only finding where the fish are, but also where the fish
might eventually be in the future. If you locate a nice patch
of weeds that are dying or dead, you might not find fish
there, but you can be safe to say that fish might relate
to that same area sometime down the road. Bottom content
can play a key role in ice fishing, and knowing the type
of bottom you are fishing can determine your success on the
ice some days. This is especially true when trying to locate
transition areas or areas where one bottom type switches
to another. An underwater camera can help us pinpoint those
areas. Second, an underwater camera will tell what type of
fish you are marking on your flasher. A flasher is tough
to beat when it comes to marking fish, but a flasher doesn’t
necessarily tell us what kind of fish they are. An underwater
camera will eliminate the guesswork and you can properly
equip yourself for what types of fish are below you. And
last, an underwater camera is a learning tool and can help
you catch more fish. Understanding how fish react can go
a long way, and knowing how fish react to different presentations
can go even further. Directly watching a fish allows you
to notice and pick out every subtlety in the fish’s
reaction to a presentation. This not only allows you to refine
your techniques, but it also makes you more aware of what
a fish likes and dislikes, something that can be an important
factor on tough days. Watching a fish slightly inhale your
bait only to spit it out a fraction of a second later can
be seen on an underwater camera and might be missed without
actually watching it on screen. Underwater cameras can teach
an angler important details about what’s going on below
the ice.
Choosing an underwater camera that best suites you is important.
Some underwater cameras come with all the bells and whistles,
while other cameras are more basic models but still get the
job done nonetheless. Some of the options available to us
today are underwater panning viewing systems, which allows
you to rotate the camera 360 degrees with the push of a button
or remote control, temperature display, directional display,
depth display, Nite-Vu lighting systems giving you more visibility
at night and in darker water, video recording capabilities,
as well as reinforced Kevlar cables. All of these features
have been designed to help make things easier on the ice,
and anglers have seen the advantages these features have.
An underwater camera that excels in these features is the
OVS 560 by MarCum Technologies. The OVS 560 comes in a nice
neat package and is very mobile and easy to operate, and
its performance is highly recognized by anglers. There are
several other options beside the OVS 560 as well. There are
other versions that have the same camera performance but
with less features. Choosing an underwater camera that you
are the most comfortable with is important. Other underwater
cameras with less features will get the job done just fine
and shouldn’t be frowned upon. Just like if you were
buying a new car, going with the luxury edition is nice but
isn’t always necessary, and the basic version will
still get you from point A to point B just the same, but
you just won’t have all the added features.
Flashers have also advanced in the last several years. New
zoom features, more power, split-screens and more potent
interference rejections have pushed flashers to a new level.
Flashers have become an important part of ice fishing, and
some might consider their flasher to be the most important
piece of ice fishing equipment they own, I know I do. Choosing
a flasher is similar with choosing an underwater camera,
you want one that is going to best suite your needs and your
style of fishing. A flasher acts as the fish’s mood
indicator, and its main purpose is to mark fish. Being able
to distinguish a fish from the bottom is important, and being
able to distinguish a fish from another fish is important
as well. Another important characteristic of a flasher is
the ability to mark your presentation. Being able to see
your jig on the screen and how a fish relates to it is very
important.
In recent years flashers have developed some new features
that make things more productive out on the ice. Zoom features
are pretty popular lately. The ability to zoom in at a certain
depth in the water column can have a big advantage in certain
situations. When fishing suspended crappies in 40 feet of
water, you have a tendency to focus on the depth the fish
are coming in at, so with the new zoom features you can zoom
into that 10 foot section where the crappies are showing
up. The advantage of this is that everything is “magnified” and
more precise in that 10 foot zoom window. Movements, both
from the fish and your presentation, are more precise, and
you don’t need to focus on unneeded space. But, we
can take this one step further. The zoom feature not only
allows you to see the 10 foot zoom window, but it also allows
you to see the rest of the water column as well. This is
possible because the screen of your flasher will split in
half once the zoom feature is activated, and on one side
you will see the zoomed in area, and on the other side you
will see the whole water column. So now you get the best
of both worlds. You not only get to see the level where the
school of crappies is coming through at, but you also get
to see when that crappie cruises under the ice shows up,
or when that walleye hovering just off bottom decides to
join the party. And the zoom feature can be distributed throughout
the entire water column, not just on suspended fish. Adjustable
zoom is a very useful and productive feature.
Power is another often overlooked characteristic of a flasher.
Having more power means you can mark more objects in the
water, and more precisely. Added power allows the flasher
to distinguish between two fish holding next to each other,
between a fish and the bottom, or between you presentation
and the fish with greater ease. Movements are more noticeable
and this can be important when focusing on bottom hugging
fish. We don’t want to spend time on fish that are
not hungry, but on negative days sometimes we might not have
a lot of options, so being able to pick out small movements
can be important when situations call for it. More power
means better target separation and more marked fish.
Interference rejection can play an important role when fishing
around other flashers. Interference only hinders our productivity
out on the ice, so we want to minimize the amount of interference
and maximize our productivity. The advanced features of interference
rejections today allow us to block out opposing signals,
and in return we get a clear screen. Adjusting the interference
rejection is as easy as a push of the button now, and the
results are phenomenal. No interference means fewer headaches
out on the ice.
Flashers like the LX-3 by MarCum Technologies are equipped
with these features. Adjustable zoom, split-screens, more
power, better target separation and stronger interference
rejections (IR) come standard with the LX-3. But just like
underwater cameras, there are other models available that
have fewer features but still get the job done.
Handheld sonar is a very efficient tool to have when trying
to locate depths and structure. Being able to shoot through
the ice with a push of a button has gained recognition immensely.
With the emphasis being mobility, we want equipment that
allows us to check a spot quickly and move on if it’s
not what we want. Handheld sonar allows us to do just that.
Now we can arrive to a spot on an ATV, snowmobile, truck,
or by foot and check the depth without even punching a hole.
Sure saves a lot of time and guesswork. The LX-i by MarCum
Technologies is an example of handheld sonar that can be
used to read through ice to check the depth without even
taking your gloves off or wasting any extra time.
Electronics are continuing to make the angler’s job
easier, and I can’t imagine what the future will hold.
We now have the ability to see below the ice and watch the
fish as if we are watching TV, we have the ability to watch
a fish rise off the bottom and take our jig as its happening,
and we can shoot through several feet of ice to get a precise
and accurate depth reading. Electronics are helping us catch
more fish!!! Matt Johnson |