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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

in the cloudy first few feet

Have you ever noticed that the first few feet on Hummingbird and Vexilar sonars always seem to have a lot of interference? I cant speak for Marcum flashers as I have never used one, but I always seem to have some trouble getting a good reading right below the puck. I've spent 95% of my time ice fishing jigging close to bottom only raising bait to suspended fish that move in on the sonar. The last few weeks I'm really beginning to rethink my approach.

We spent the morning fishing and we were just slaying perch off the bottom. They were extremely small perch but they managed to hold our interest for a few hours. Wondering where the hell all the panfish where was kinda mind boggling. Deep study of my Hummingbird led us to believe that there was something moving around in the cloudy first few feet.

We peered down the hole and we were just straight dumbfounded at the giant school of sunnies cruising just a foot below the ice. Needless to say, the flashers were turned off, the windows were closed, and we spent the rest of the day in a dark shack sight fishing just under the ice.

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10 comments:

  1. Bill TrussellMarch 5, 2014 at 9:22 AM

    Blake
    Surprise to me that fish would be cruising as close to the surface in water temps that cold. thanks for sharing

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    Replies
    1. BlakeMarch 14, 2014 at 7:30 AM

      we have had some great success fishing right under the ice this year, as ice anglers, i think we are to quick to always get that jig down to bottom and pound mud

      Delete
  2. AtlasMarch 5, 2014 at 9:31 AM

    That's both awesome(that you visually saw the fish and acted on it successfully) and frustrating. I have a hummingbird depth finder, is that the case with them as well? Anyhow congrats man looks like quite a catch, and bluegill of that size are sure fun on a little rod.

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    Replies
    1. BlakeMarch 14, 2014 at 7:34 AM

      maybe i need a bit of practice with my settings but even on my buddies vexilar there is always a bit of distortion up high. i back off the gain a bit but not enough to lose the reading on my jig...

      Delete
  3. SavageMarch 5, 2014 at 11:42 AM

    I have the Vex and I have found if i turn the bottom zoom off and run in low power mode the surface clutter clears up a little. Nice pile of fish!

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    Replies
    1. BlakeMarch 14, 2014 at 7:36 AM

      thanks for the tip, i have an ice 35 and it is the entry model in the hummingbirds

      im pretty sure it lacks a lot of the features that higher price models have

      i still have a few button i can press though, thanks bro

      Delete
  4. dead fisherMarch 7, 2014 at 10:12 PM

    It's interesting that in those hours of catching perch not a single fish just below the ice didn't intercept your bait on it's way down. A similar thing happened several weeks ago. We were after whities and lakers in 65 fow with no action all morning except for an occasional herring (cisco),so down went the Aqua View and right under the ice there were 20" herring everywhere. We caught hundreds! An important lesson was learned...don't rely too much on a single source of info.

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    Replies
    1. BlakeMarch 14, 2014 at 7:40 AM

      the camera is something im leaning towards for next year, the info gained is from watching the fish eat can't be beat...

      sight fishing them under the ice i couldnt believe how many times we were getting bites and they were only hitting the head of the jig

      now i dont feel so bad for all the swings and misses, it leads me to believe that the fish never really had the bait in their mouths!

      Delete
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