Last 25 Years-Ice fishing advancements..wrote it for fun

[Burnham]

im open to some criticizing, i am a high schooler, wrote it for fun, and havent edited or spell checked it,etc.

The improvements made to ice fishing in the last 25 years is truly phenomonal. Today's ice fishing is very much like a very fun and realistic video game. The average ice angler today usually has invested more than $1000 in electronics and gadgets. Although spendy, these "toys" will assist in putting fish on the ice for people.

The most common gadget that is used on the hardwater is called a "flasher". This strangely named tool is utilized as a glorified fish finder. Most people find it so useful because that one can watch their lure, or bait move in the water column. As they watch this, as a result of the sonar technology it also allows them to visualize fish approaching their lure. This gives the fisherman the opportunity to understand the mood of the fish through the reactions to certain presentations. By watching the reactions, anglers are given the opportunity to alter their tactics accordingly, whereas if they didn't have a flasher with they would likely just state that the "fish aren't biting." This tool allows people to experiment with different colors, shapes and sizes of jigs to accomodate the mood that the fish are in at the time. There are many different brands of flashers on the market, personally i use a Vexilar Fl-8, i love it!! Some other very popular brands are marcum, hummingbird, showdown and zercom. Vexilar and marcum are the rivalry brands though, vexilar being considered the flasher that has withstood the test of time and marcum being the new innovative company. Both have many different models of flashers with different bells and whistles. Typically a new flasher will cost an angler 300-500 dollars, but as with anything else they can be found much cheaper on online auctions and such.

Another very commonly utilized tool in ice fishing is the underwater camera. Essentially, it is exactly as the name describes, a camera that is used underwater. Those that pursue fish on the ice use their cameras to watch their lure underwater so that they can physically watch the fish approach it. This is very helpful because one can see schools of fish and how they interact and compete for a jig or lure. Another benefit of an underwater camera is too see how the different jigging movements effect individual jigs and how the fish react to this. Everyone may claim that they soley use their camera as a way to produce fish, while it can greatly help with this, many(including myself)often find themselves using it "just for kicks", as it is very entertaining. There is nothing like watching a crappie slurp their flutter jig that is tipped with a wiggling waxworm. Many common underwater cameras are made by aquaview, marcum and fishtv. They vary greatly in price from a hundred bucks or so and up.

In the last decade it seems as if everyone has begun to use a gps system in their cars for roadtrips and everyday travel. I prefer the kinds that show me saddles and inside breaklines and turns on a lake. Many fisherman purchase handheld gps systems that are no larger than a cellphone for ice fishing. Other than a flasher, i personally believe that they are the most important tool on the ice. These systems allow anglers to have an idea of the lakes general habitat and where the fish will hold. They show where there are depth changes (as little as 1 ft.), show where weedbeds will be and flooded timber and such. Using a gps system is a huge advantage over the previously used compass and map as it is a lot more convenient due to the fact that it is much smaller in size, is often more accurate and is a lot faster in locating one's current position . Gps systems can be in black and white screens for a little over 150 dollars new, or can increase in price if you prefer it to be in color. Along with your gps, you will need to purchase a lake map chip, which are typically 100 dollars and are usually made by lakemaster or navionics. Commonly used gps systems include lowrance and garmin.

Once anyone gets out on their favorite lake they never want to spend the cherished time hassling around with equipment, they obviously want to be fishing. For this reason a power auger is a near necessity. Much like an auger used on land, a power auger(gas or electric powered) is used to break the barrier that is between you and the fish. During the beginning of the ice fishing season, when their is not as much ice, a cheaper hand auger may be sufficient. During the middle of the winter when the ice reaches thickness of over 20, even 30 inches, one can see the obvious benefit of a power auger. A power auger is much quicker in this situation, uses significantly less effort by the user and in general is just a lot less frusterating. When using a hand cranked auger with over 20 inches of ice, you can expect to be spending at least 2-3 minutes exhausting your energy on a single hole, only to discover that there are no fish there. Very frusterating! It becomes even more frusterating when you locate fish, and then realize the school is moving out, causing you to kill your arms drilling holes in search of relocating the fish. I've had past experiences with situations such as this. Power augers are typically used by those that fish regularily, and are used to drill dozens of holes in minutes in advance so that they can follow the fish if needed. The auger market has many brands including Strikemaster, Eskimo, Frabill, Jiffy, Nils. Power augers typically cost 300 dollars and above if new, and hand augers can be found even below 50 dollars at some times. If you don't want to fork out hundreds on a power auger, i recommend the strikemaster lazer hand auger, and have heard good things about Nils hand augers. If you are choosing to get a hand auger be sure to get one with a 6 inch diameter or smaller unless targeting large fish, the smaller diameter is a ton easier to drill with and will save a lot of energy, thus allowing you to drill more holes!

All of the advancements made in this great sport have been made or become commonly used in the last 25 years or so. During this time significant advancements have also been made in the fish house industry, ice fishing clothing industry and in many other aspects of ice fishing. It was not at all long ago when ice fishing consisted of sitting in a permanent house, looking down a hole or at a bobber hoping to get "lucky". Methods like this are still used, but are becoming obsolete. Those that want to have a great time in winter need to give ice fishing a try, whether it is trying it by themself or going with a friend that has some equipment already. It is very likely that they will be more than happy to take you under their wing. All of the said gadgets and electronics are not needed to go ice fishing, one can get out fishing on the ice for very little money, much cheaper than open water. But if you want to excel, or at least fool yourself into thinking you're exceling on the water, then you will want to make investments in these tools.

Tight lines,

Ryan Burnham

[Burnham]

anything haha?

[RonWBasser]

That pretty much sums it up, well put.

[icefishing21]

That pretty much sums it up, well put.

Yeah ill say!

[hydro]

Nice article and very well written! I would, however, challenge you to expand the scope a little more.

Since you write about the technology in ice fishing from an electronics based view, why not try and go back farther to the things that got people onto the ice over the last 50 years. Interview some "Old Timers" in the 70+ range and ask them what changed their access and success at ice fishing in the 50's and 60's. You might find some interesting but simple things, like the ice auger, warm boots, vehicles that move across the ice, and even the fiberglass ice fishing pole. While I'm kind of an old timer myself (I'm 54), by the time I started ice fishing, many of these advantages were already in place. Here's a picture from about 1976, note the high tech gear. Not shown is the Strikemaster hand crank auger which was a world of improvement over the spoon auger I started with and the Lawrence "Green Box flasher.

[MarkAlm]

Good start, but I have to agree with Hydro that the boots and clothing have come a long way. As far as the power augers go, our dad had a electric auger back in the 60's that was made with a aircraft landing gear and I still think it was the fastest auger that I ever saw. NICE PIC HYDRO!!

[09ultra]

Very well written article. I enjoyed it. I do agree that writing about what the old timers used would amaze you, I to remember the spoon auger and fiberglass rods.Makes you wonder what it will be like in 10,20 years from now.

[Burnham]

thank you for the advice. i was just bored and figured i would write about somethint that interests me for once(instead of a school paper). right now i just finished(on paper)one about early ice and the proceeding lake turnover and how it effects panfish. maybe if i have time i will continue to do it for the heck of it. going farther back and asking old timers does sound interesting too!

thanks!

[Phred52]

Burnham, Even before the fiberglass rods there were some of the 'leaders' that were taking the old steel summertime rods that had become bent, they'd drill holes and drive the rods into short lengths of broom handle with 2 nails sticking out for winding the line onto. Preceeding them there was the solid sticks with the pegs in the side that had the steel pick in the end so it could be stuck into the ice next to the hole. They were a 'treat' to use! You basically were 'deadsticking' the whole time out. Spoon augers: When sharp, they cut a hole lots quicker than the alternative. Dull, you would get lots of excercise, and you didn't move around much. As a rule though, most the holes were chopped with heavy chisels or sawn with ice saws, if you were lucky, you or someone you knew had a gas chainsaw with a long bar to saw the holes. But someone ALWAYS ended up getting VERY wet that way. Baits, 'Pickled minnows in a jar' is what I remember the most. Sometimes, before the freezeup, we'd seine or trap a bunch of fatheads or sucker minnows, keep them alive as long as possible and when they'd die they would go into a bag of salt in the freezer to preserve them, did it work?? Well, we did catch fish. Maybe not as many as today, maybe more...we had no 'controls', and yet, we were still fishing!! Phred52

[jjohnson5150]

Very nice write up.