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ice fishing without a fish finder

4K views 20 replies 14 participants last post by  Bondo 
#1 ·
what is the best way to get into fish if you dont have any type of finder. I wanted one but could not afford it, needed gear more than i needed a fish finder(broke two of my ice fishing poles at the fishing pier at blackwell and lost all my jigs fishing for crappies in the spring as of oct 30 all i had for ice fishing was my shelter two tip ups and a auger. Spent about 180 dollarrs on new gear) Now that it is sinking in that my dad refuses to buy me a fish finder(says i have to get one with my own money) i have to come up with a plan to get into fish without one. Any help will be apreciated THANKS
 
#2 ·
ohh forgot to mention i fish mostly for left over trout at blackwell, i also fish for bluegills,crappie,walleye,bass,and perch. lakes i plan to fish are mostly blackwell(silver lake), busse, axehead, local ponds, montrose belmont harbors, herrick lake, wood dale grove, and beck lake.
 
#3 ·
Scout the water you plan on fishing before ice-up. They will hold on structure all the time so if you can find where they are holding now you will have a good idea where to start after ice-up. Also drill bunches of holes. I've seen where drilling a hole 2 foot away from the first one will produce fish while the original one wouldn't. Keep changing your lure depth, even if you have caught fish at a certian depth, crappies will stack up and I've read they will not strike down to a lure but they will strike up to a lure. Keep moving, if you don't get a strike in around a half an hour try a new spot.
 
#4 ·
eg If I had no electronics, I would look for the areas that had allready been drilled. If there is more than 3 or 4 holes in the area, someone has done the work for you. Otherwise it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
 
#5 ·
First thing I would look for would be a way to earn some extra
cash :lol:

I spent a couple years with no electronices ( the old clip on weight to check the depth) and had very limited sucess catching fish :evil:

Now that I have a Vex. it is the only way to ice fish to have any
luck.

jeffster
 
#6 ·
what about the old days

what did people do before the vexilars?they fished-maybe didnt catch fish all the time,but hey who does?get a map of those lakes and look for designated fish cribs and structue,fish will always be there,move around,pay attention to what the others on the lakes are doing.ask your local bait shops,pay attention to whats working for people on these boards.you see some of these guys with all the elaborate set-ups,the expensive rods ,the expensive shelters,gas augers,ect. ect.,but look at the guy who is sitting on a upside down bucket,with just the basics,who moves around and does some homework before he gets on the ice,99% of the time he is gonna have the most fish.i have all the elaborate stuff,and when i get on the ice with all that crap,i stay in one spot all day,cause who wants to move all that stuff all day long.on days when i want fish,im on the bucket,have to admit though that i always have the vexilar with me....
 
#7 ·
I ice fish backwell sometimes and was there about two years ago and they had home made fish cribs on top of the ice all around the island
about 10 - 20 feet off the shore of the island, I think thats about 14-20 feet of water. Becareful by the island ice can be thin there. fish the weed channel.Hope this helps.

Rp
 
#8 ·
ok now my dad says he would buy me either an vexilar fl8 SE or an Aqua Vu Z series for christmas. i cant decide which one to go for i am tempted to get the aquavu but am afraid the cable would spook the fish plus i am afraid of snagging the cable. i am leening more towards the vex since everyone out there uses them, but think that all it will pick up is weeds. Any help on which unit is best for ice fishing will be greatly apreciated. THANKS.

temps going down after sunday, but back in the 50s by thanksgiving :(
 
#9 ·
The vexilar will help you find and catch fish, the aquaview is more to watch the fishes reactions once you have found them. When I first started using the vexilar it took a few trips before I really got the hang of it. Now I wouldnt go ice fishing without it. So in the next month check out vexilar.com and do a web search on the vexilar for tips and tricks. Good luck
 
#10 ·
Ditto DaFish's comments, go for the vex first. Actually i have a Zercom Colorpoint that works just as well. ( I'm not getting into a discussion here about the pros and cons of either or , everyone has they're own opinions) Once you have this tool at your disposal and get a feel for it as to decipher what the weeds and bottom structure is, you can see at what depth the fish are located in and adjust your lure presentation to them. My friend has both the Vex and the Aqua-vu, it's nice to see what kind of fish they are , but the Vu only sees 1 direction or level unless you adjust this everytime a fish comes into the cone angle of the Vex/Zerc.
 
#11 ·
Vexlar or Aqauvu? Tough choice,I got both and found if i'm fishing my usual spots the Aquavu works best,mostly fish for perch,and it allows me to pick out larger fish from the school(also found that the larger perch tend to hit alot softer than the smaller ones,with the cam once they suck in the bait you set the hook,you wont miss many.)
.On the other hand the Vex will put you on some good spots on unfamilure water once you learn how to read it. If the choice is being based on economics go with the Vex, cheapest Aquavu I've seen is $400
and the Vex goes about $300 with all the bells and whistles
Good luck, Beast
 
#12 ·
Look, start with the basics early on in the season. Fish the weed lines. gills, crappies and bass will be there. Later in the season fish the deeper holes that you can find with a clip on weight. Set out your tip ups off the weed beds and wham you could land a northern if they are there or a bass or two. People have been ice fishing a long time before the vex's came along.
What ever you do get out there and don't give up. Also if you don't catch something quickly drill another hole and keep moving.
 
#14 ·
ThANKS EVERYONE FOR THE REPLIES. I think i will go with the vex since an aqua vu wont do me any good in stained water. man i just cant wait for ice seeing the temps drop after sunday just is making me more anxious but then after thanksgiving they go back up into the 40s 50s range :( . now all i can do is fish a few lakes i plan to ice fish so that i could maybe find last minute fish locations. hopefully we get the ice as soon as possible or else i will just explode. every night before i go to bed i take a look at my ice fishing gear in the corner of my room fixing tip ups checking my jigs, making sure i got the jigs i want etc etc. My goal for this years ice fishingf seasons is to at least triple the amount of fish i caught through the ice last year which was two rainbow trout, about 9 small bluegills, one 7.5 inch bluegill(caught icefishing deep in the weeds at blackwell) and about 5 small bass(caught them jigging a sweedish pimple over the christmas trees in front of the fishing pier at blackwell). hopefully ice comes soon so i could get my gear out of the corner of my roon and onto the ice!!!
 
#15 ·
I think everyone feels the same as you egcthatsme. I figure we got a month to get ready till the ice comes. Which isn't that bad I still need to make some bench seating for my shanty, and make some minor repairs/ improvements. I am going to put up some pictures of last seasons catch in the shanty to boost morale.
 
#17 ·
Hi egcthatsme,
I met you last year at Blackwell.
Be nice to your Dad, you shouldn't have any problem doubling your fish total in the first few times out after getting the hang of the Vexilar. :)2
If you see marks off the bottom or move your jig and see a mark move towards it, it's a fish.
Pay attention to how they react to different jigging motions and once you get obe to hit, just repeat. :p
You're in for a real treat this winter...... er, well, as soon as we get ice :wink:
 
#18 ·
Thanks again Ed for letting me use a vex at blackwell on 12-30-02. That day when you let me use the vex was my first time ever ice fishing prior to that i have heard of vexilar but was told that a vex isnt really needed to catch fish through the ice. From what i saw on the ice last year a vex really helps a whole lot most of the times i ice fished at blackwell i got skunked but when i went to talk to a someone who had a vexilar they usually had a few bluegills and crappie. This year with the help of my santa christmas present(vexilar Fl8 SE) i hope to be one of the fisherman who actually catch fish instead of freeze to death. This whole fishing season i have been anxiously awaiting for 1st ice, now knowing that i would be fully armed i have been keeping a close eye on the weather i pray every night that we get 1st ice by dec 20 because that will be my 1st day of christmas break and what better way to enjoy it that a day spent out on the ice.
 
#19 ·
FL-8

EGCthatsme,

How do you find fish without a fishfinder? Here's my strategy.

I believe that if I'm aiming for shallow water fishing (less than 6 feet) I probably don't need my FL-8. I will look for other ice fisherman in an area that I know to be shallow. Then I'll "gypsy fish" all the holes that have been already drilled. I'll spend 5 minutes on each hole as I walk around. I saw this done last winter in March with very good catches of panfish.

If you have an FL-8 in shallow water the cone revealing fish is so narrow that it's not useful.

If I know I'll be ice fishing in 10 - 20 feet of water than I'll bring my FL-8.
 
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