After all this talk about open water trolling I figured I better spend a little time talking about contour trolling, as that is what most people in the Midwest can associate with when you talk about trolling.  Contour trolling is much different than open water trolling yet a lot of the same principals hold true.  No matter whether you are trolling open water or contours, my set-ups remain pretty much the same with a few slight changes between the two.  I still use long trolling rods with either Fireline or Fluorocarbon depending on the clarity of the water.  The only real difference is in my planer board placement which I will cover in detail below.

As we discussed earlier, open water trolling focuses on large open water areas that contain very little, if any structure.  We are targeting fish that suspend in the water column and feed at various levels in the water column depending on the conditions.  That could mean trolling the bottom in 35 feet of water or trolling 8 feet down over 35 feet of water.  Open water trolling is about covering a lot of water and spreading your lines out looking for fish that are feeding off the bottom.

Contour trolling on the other hand is about being precise.  Generally when contour trolling you are trolling along a precise depth of water on a steep drop or are following a pronounced weed edge or transition area.  Where open water trolling is about spreading your lines out, contour trolling is about keeping your lines in tight focusing in on that specific depth the fish are holding.

Often times while contour trolling you can run your lines directly out the back of the boat with the rods in the rod holders or in hand.  This is probably the most common form of trolling in the Midwest on both lakes and rivers.  By running all your lines off the back of the boat, you know your lures are all running at the same depth you are reading on your graph.  While this works well and is common practice, you are missing many of the most active fish.  There is no doubt that contour trolling works well, but I would argue that the most active fish holding on the contours are not on the bottom, but are up off the bottom feeding.  Walleye are notorious for feeding up so by pulling the bottom of the contour you are sure to be missing a few of these active feeding fish.  Because of this I prefer to pull one planer board, roughly 20-30 feet off the deep side of the boat, with a crankbait that is set at the same depth as the ones running behind the boat.  If you can imagine trolling along a break in 12 feet of water, you have most of your baits running just off the bottom in 12 feet, then add in that last line on a planer board, running 12 feet down off the side of the boat over 20 feet of water.  Trust me on this one, it works and will increase your catch.

OK, now back to contour trolling.  I mentioned contour trolling is about being precise.  LakeMaster has done a wonderful thing by surveying many of our favorite lakes and given us the data that we can put in our GPS that gives us 1 foot contours on many popular lakes across the Midwest.  By doing so, LakeMaster has taken contour trolling to the next level.  You can now set your lines for a certain depth and follow that contour on your GPS using your LakeMaster chip versus having to find where the contour goes by trial and error.  Not that trial and error does not work but if you want to put more fish in the boat, you have to have your lines in the water.  LakeMasters contour chips allow you to keep at the target depth and keep your lures running clean.  There is nothing worse than getting all your trolling lines set and then find out you just drove into a shallow weed bed and have to reset them all.  Thank You LakeMaster!

Hopefully this little piece helped spell out a few differences between contour trolling and open water trolling.  Also, I hope everyone that only contour trolls experiments with putting that planer board out the side and looking for other fish besides those bottom huggers.  There will be a lot more to come on trolling.   In fact, I will be doing a lot of contour trolling at my next tournament at Red Wing Minnesota in two weeks so check back for those live updates and pictures.

Since Blogging Live from the FLW tournament on Lake Erie I have been getting a lot of questions in regards to pulling planer boards and open water trolling.  Most of the question have been in regards to the type set-ups I use from the rod and reel down to the terminal tackle as well as where to start when open water trolling.  All the questions are great and they give me ideas to blog about.  After doing this for so many years I tend to take a lot of this for granted so getting questions from readers gives me fresh ideas to write about.  Open water trolling is very basic by nature yet very complex when you have to fine tune what you are doing.  Open water trolling walleye does not require a lot of equipment but a few pieces are a must.  On my must have list would be a line-counter reel and planer boards.  After that, just about everything is optional.  Yes, some long trolling rods help and yes, rod holders make things much easier, but, in all honesty you can live without them when you are getting started.

Early in the year when the water is below 50 degrees I prefer to pull crankbaits.  Usually I start the year with deep diving crankbaits with a large profile pulled slowly.  As the water temps increase, I usually downsize the crankbait size and increase the speed.  As the water in spring warms up walleye become more aggressive and will chase baits pulled at greater speeds.  As surface temps and conditions change so does the area in the water column that fish feed.  But, no matter what when the water is cold I will be pulling larger profile cranks with a less aggressive slow wobble to them.

Now, back to my set-ups.  I run Diawa Sealine line counters for the most part and also have a few Accudepths.  Both work well for their intended purpose.  With line counter reels you want to make sure you spool all your reels with the same diameter line and you fill them all with the same amount of line.  If you have different amounts of line on each rod or different diameters of line, you will not be consistent from reel to reel when letting out line.

To determine how deep a crankbait is running you  need to know how much line you are letting out.  Almost all crankbaits have published dive curves now so that you know how deep they are running based on the amount of line you have out.  For instance, I know when I let out 100 feet of line on a Rapala Deep Husky Jerk, I know that bait is running roughly 16 feet down.  For this reason you will hear a lot of pros talk about running 45 back or 100 back and what we are talking about is how many feet back behind the planer board we are running.  It is not very often we talk about actual depth, as that is a given based on the type of crankbait once you know how far back it is running.  The only thing that changes this is if you use a very narrow diameter line like Fireline.  Crankbaits will dive deeper than the published diver curve with narrow diameter lines because there is less water resistance.

That brings me to planer boards.  Planer boards are used to spread your lines out.  Planer boards allow you to run your baits away from the boat thus not spooking the fish when fishing shallow.  In addition, planer boards allow you to run all your legal lines without having them all tangle when you get a fish, which often happens when all your lines are run out the back of the boat.  Planer boards are a very important part of open water trolling and used by almost everyone that does.

I want to thank my good friend Kooty who reminded me I forgot to cover setting multiple boards out.  While setting multiple boards on each side of the boat you want to run the shallowest baits on the very outside of your spread, thus getting them farthest from the boat.  As your boards get closer to the boat you want those baits running deeper.  This way you get to cover more area in the water column and giving your inside boards a chance to still get hit.

That brings me to the tough one, where do you start?  Well, there are a lot of factors that determine where to start trolling. But, I can tell you the first Basin area outside of  a river is a great place to start.  As post spawn fish dump out of rivers they stage over deep water to feed before heading back to there summer locations.  Immediately after spawn can be tough as they take a few days to recover, but once they decide to feed the open water bite can be a blast.  As the water warms over the summer months, many big walleye will suspend over deep water.  I use my Humminbrird 1197C to locate areas that are holding large bait like tullibee.  When you find schools of bait like this, you can be sure the large walleye are not far away.  I know this does not give all the answers but it is a long summer and there will be a lot more to come on open water trolling to come.  From pulling spinners to summer cranks, hopefully by the time the summer is over we have covered it all.

I continue to get emails from people that want to know more about tip-up fishing pike late ice.  Tip-up fishing pike late ice is very popular because it is by far the best opportunity on ice to tie into the biggest fish in the lake you are fishing.  Most of these fish are females that are full of spawn and are hungry.   Most Northern Pike will be at their maximum weight toward the end of March and thus the trophy potential is excellent at this time of year.

Big pike prefer big bait!  No matter what your choice of bait is, when you are after big fish, you better have big bait.  Since water under the ice is still cold, large female pike are looking for a big easy meal.  I prefer to use large dead bait on quick strike rigs but others use large sucker minnows.  Generally I let the fish tell me what they want to eat that particular day.

For dead bait, my choice is smelt.  Whole, frozen smelt is an excellent choice of bait because they are available in many different sizes and hold together well when hit by a pike.  Smelt give off plenty of scent, which is really what attracts large pike.  Occasionally I use very large sucker minnows hooked on a quick strike rig, but late ice it is tough to beat large dead bait.  Despite nature telling those large female pike they need to feed to support their eggs, they still do not like to exert the energy needed to chase food.

The set-ups I use have been covered on the blog already but they are pictured here again.  This quick-strike rig is homemade by me.  I have tweaked my quick-strike rig over the years, but this is the best overall version.  You can buy ready made rigs from the stores, but most include 2 support wires, which I do not care for.

When fishing dead bait late ice you are usually fishing shallow, sometime very shallow.  It is very rare that I fish deeper than 12 ft when targeting pike late ice and usually like to find 3 ft of water under the ice.  Big fish are accustomed to feeding shallow late ice as that is where the big prey are usually found.  As long as there is a foot of water between the bottom of the ice and the bottom of the lake, I will give it a try if the area looks good.

Since I am fishing very shallow late ice, it is not uncommon for me to lay 1/2 of my baits on the bottom or withing 6 inches of the bottom.  Despite most fish preferring to "feed up" late season pike will comb the bottom looking for an easy meal.  Laying a few baits on the bottom is a must when fishing late ice.

When looking for spots to find late season pike they are pretty easy to locate, any kind of flowage or culvert with moving water is an great starting spot.  However, outside a large shallow bay or river is where I usually start.  The later it gets in the year, the shallower I will fish.  Of course it always seems the closer you are to that dangerous open water the better the fishing.

The best pike fishing is right around the corner for most of the Midwest.  I won't start chasing trophy pike for a couple weeks yet.  I leave for a trip to Canada on Thursday so look for some live blogging from the Sioux Narrows, Ontario area with hopefully some trophy Lake Trout, Crappies and walleye. Get those tip-ups ready, that trophy pike is waiting for you.

We are getting very close to that time of year when the bite for most species really turns on.  I know many people have been complaining this ice season about the tough bite in many parts of the Midwest.  The reason for the tough bite in many parts of the Midwest is simply we had a lot of snow cover this year.  Not only did we get a lot of early snow, but the snow covered stuck around until recently which has significantly impacted the bite on many lakes.  In addition, the snow made lake travel tough as for much of the typically good fishing time early ice we had a lot of slush to deal with.  But, essentially the tough bite can be attributed to low Dissolved Oxygen levels in many lakes across the Midwest.

The air we breath as humans is 21 percent oxygen.  Obviously, fish need oxygen also and the oxygen in the water available to them is called dissolved oxygen.  Fish use their gills to extract oxygen from water just as we use out lungs to extract oxygen from the air.  Most fish do well when dissolved oxygen levels are 5 parts per million or higher.  When dissolved oxygen is less than 5 ppm they become uncomfortable and their normal patters will change.  Most fish will begin to suffocate and die when dissolved oxygen levels are at 2 ppm or less.  Depending on the length of time dissolved oxygen levels are low, you can end up with either a full winter kill or a partial winter kill.

Dissolved Oxygen levels in lakes are significantly effected by the amount of light penetration.  Snow cover on ice significantly decreases the amount of light penetration under the ice.  A 1961 study by Mackenthun and McNabb found that less than 1 % of light passed through 16 inches of ice covered by 2 inches of snow.  Without light, plants die instead of producing dissolved oxygen through photosynthesis and to make matters worse, oxygen is used through the process of decomposition further complicating the problem.

In the presence of low dissolved oxygen levels in lakes it is common for fish to become lethargic.   Fish will move less during the day and in most cases feed less.  As a result of these circumstances fish from these lakes grow slower also.  As anglers we notice this behavior when we fish a lake that the fish won't bite during the day or only for a short window in the morning or evening.   In addition, when oxygen levels are extremely low, the bite may be nonexistent.

The good news now is that for much of the Midwest the snow is gone or almost gone.  Many lakes that were at or near partial winter kill levels are benefiting from the recent thaw that took place.  The increased light penetration should benefit most of our lakes and save a few.  In addition, we are very near runoff season which will reoxygenate most of our lakes albeit they are still ice covered.  So, don't give up on the season, you may be missing the best bite of the year. 

I have had three different questions over the last four days that all related to the time of day that fish bite.  In general what all the questions asked was why do fish bite during the day on some lakes and only morning and evening on other lakes?  Or why can't I find any fish that will bite during the day on my favorite lake?

The answer to this question is very complex because there are a lot of variables that come into play based on the lake you are fishing.  When looking at what time of day the fish will bite you need take into account the following things; the type of lake, dissolved oxygen levels, depth of water, current weather conditions, light penetration, the forage base, time of year and water clarity.  All of the above can and will effect the bite and whether the fish will bite all day or only at the "peak" times.  It will be impossible to cover all those but here are a few things I look at.

The depth you are fishing is a huge part of what time of day you get fish.  If you like to fish shallow or a lot of your favorite spots are shallow you are going to find that the morning and evening time is going to be best because fish usually use shallow water to feed and then stage in much deeper water during the day.  Which brings me back to the fact, if you are looking for a day bite, look much deeper than you fish in the morning or evening.

Dissolved Oxygen levels also have a lot to do with the time of day fish bite.  If you fish a lake that is fed by a river and it maintains good oxygen levels in the winter, the fish are more likely to be more active, more aggressive and feed much of the day.  In addition, the fish in these lakes will in general be bigger.  If oxygen levels are low you will find fish only move to feed the last hour of the day and for a short period in the morning, which brings me to my next point.

Water clarity has a lot to do with the time of day of a bite.  If the lake you fish is crystal clear during the winter you may have a very hard time getting fish mid day.  In very clear lakes fish usually seek out the cover of weeds or suspend in very deep water.   In both of these cases they can be very hard to find and still may not bite when you do find them.  Often times very clear lakes yield a morning and evening bite window that is very short.

You can't trump the weather!  You may do everything right and you are on a lake you know they are going to bite during the day but you can not trump the weather.  The weather always wins or holds a better hand.  Some days fish are just not going to be active.  When the weather shuts the fish down on a particular lake, make note of the conditions.  Weather effects all lakes differently so make note on your particular lake when weather changes effect the bite.  Usually over time you can establish a pattern.

Forage base and fish population also have a lot to do with the bite.  If the fish don't need to feed because there is plenty of available food and there is not a lot of competition for it, they generally only feed the last few hours of the day and in the morning.  If there is a large population of fish and the competition for food is great your odds of finding fish during the day are excellent, as they are forced to look for food all day.  Anyone that deer hunts can relate to the same concept and it holds true for most animals.  Lakes with large fish populations are obviously going to be better "day bite" lakes because of this concept.

Those are a few of the reasons why fish bite at different times on different lakes.  As a general rule though, if you are looking for a day bite, look to deep water.  If you only have an hour or two to fish in the morning or evening, look shallower.  This does change based on the time of year but as a rule for most of the winter you can plan on deep water during the day and shallow in the evening.  Have you ever thought to yourself while crappie fishing in the evening, "where are these fish during the day?".  Well, they are over deep water and if you are lucky enough to find them, the bite will be excellent!

Hopefully this answered a few of those "time of day" questions that were sent it.  As I stated earlier, this is a very complex subject that would take a book to explain and then I still wouldn't have all the variables covered.  Hopefully this helped put a few pieces of the puzzle together.

It is no secret that I have a real passion for trophy Bluegill.  To this day I have yet to catch a Bluegill over 2 pounds, but I keep trying.  I don't recommend anyone who fishes Minnesota set 2 pounds as their trophy mark, as they are very very rare.  However, Bluegill over a pound or greater than 10 inches can be found in many lakes across the state and with some careful planning you can find yourself that trophy you are looking for.

I have had the opportunity to fish Bluegill in 5 different states and no matter where you fish, Bluegill over 10 inches are hard to come by and are considered a trophy in most people's book.  Granted, as you head South the growing season in much longer and you will find less fishing pressure, both of which will help grow big bull gills. But, to find those fish in Minnesota you have to do some planning.

First you need to fish a lake that can grow big fish.  The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has classified Minnesota's lakes into 43 different types based on physical and chemical characteristics.  In basic terms, if you are looking for a lake that can grow big Bluegill you need to find a lake that is eutrophic or fertile enough so that the fish grow fast.  Generally these lakes carry a higher number when classified by the DNR.  These lakes are usually easy to recognize because they are relatively shallow lakes with heavy weed growth in the summer and often times hard to fish.  However, in the winter as the weeds die off, the fish can be easily targeted as their movement becomes very predictable.  Picking a lake that can grow big fish is paramount in your quest for that trophy Bluegill

Second, you need to time your efforts.  Fishing a lake during mid summer when weed growth is choking out the lake is not a good plan.  I prefer to target trophy lakes prior to the spawn when the females are full of eggs and will weigh the most that they will for the year.  Bluegill are prolific spawners can handle the pressure of being targeted during the spawn, however, releasing most of the fish this time of year is a good idea.

If you are not much for summer fishing and just like to ice fish those trophy gills there several additional things to need to consider.  I target trophy Bluegill in shallow water early and late ice but mid winter, you will find me chasing them deep around the basin areas of most lakes.  Timing when and where you target fish is another key to being successful.  Just putting time in on the lake only takes you so far, you have to fish the big fish where they feed.

Most lakes that can grow very large Bluegill don't have a huge population of Bluegill.  Most of these lakes are well balanced with a good predator population to keep the numbers of small fish in check.  In addition, in most lakes the very large bluegill stick together.  If you find you are catching a lot of small fish there is very good odds that you are not fishing in the right area.  Once you find trophy class fish, you usually don't mark as many fish and they can be tougher to get to bite.  But, in most cases you can get a few of them to go if you can find them.

Lets assume now you did find some trophy class fish.  It is very important in most lakes to release the fish that you are not keeping for the wall.  Bluegill over 10 inches are rare and in some lakes can still grow bigger.  For the most part, in Minnesota your Trophy class fish are going to be near 8 years old and getting toward the end of their life expectancy.  However, many of the 10 inch fish you catch in a eutrophic lake can and will get bigger, so put them back to catch another day! 

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Minnesota's great lakes.  Lakes such as Leech, Winni, Cass and Mille Lacs all have Bluegill populations that get very little pressure.  Because the fish get little pressure they are able to grow to a ripe old age.  In addition, these lakes are moderately fertile so the Bluegill can and will grow big in the absence of fishing pressure.  Fishing pressure has a lot to do with growing big bluegill.  Lakes that see a lot of fishing pressure where limits of eater size bluegill are kept daily have a hard time growing very large fish.  Because it takes so many years to grow a 10 inch bluegill, if a lake sees a lot of pressure, most of the bigger fish get kept and never see their true potential.

I hope that everyone that reads this learns a little more about targeting trophy Bluegill and in addition, learns the importance of putting some of those trophy fish back to grow even bigger.  Minnesota has proven in can grow Giant Bluegill so good luck and make sure you have your camera with!

I was recently asked a very interesting question.  Mike emailed and asked what is the key to being successful on the ice?  At first when I got the question there were a lot of different things that came to mind but no matter what, I kept coming back to one thing.  Keep after them! 

So now your asking what does keep after them have to do with being successful on the ice?  Well, it is actually pretty simple, I keep after the fish.  I go after them versus letting them come to me.  Long gone are the days of drilling a hole and setting up shop for the day waiting for that evening bite to kick in as the fish start to roam the lake and feed.

It all starts by drilling a lot of holes.  Often times that means several hundred holes when the fish are not cooperating.  Yes, drilling holes can be a lot of work, but unlike open water where you can cover a large area by casting around the boat, the only way to find them on the ice is drill holes and look for them.

There are many times I set up my ice house simply for a warming shack and often times I don't set it up at all.  From there I travel light, basically my Humminbird, bait and ice rod.  I bounce from hole to hole looking for fish.  If I find some active fish I will stay as long as they are willing to bite.  If the fish in the hole won't bite or leave I am on my way, looking again.  Often times as you move hole to hole you can figure out a pattern as to which way the fish are going.  If you pay attention to where fish are at and where they go when they leave you can pattern them fairly well and move to the hole they are heading to next.

I am sure to some this is starting to sound like work but it is well worth the effort.   There is no doubt that by keeping after them, you will put more fish on the ice and find that ice fishing will is more enjoyable.  In addition, I can promise you will get a really good work out!   So, next time you are sitting in your ice house wondering when or if the bite is going to start, remember they are always biting somewhere, so keep after them.

This piece is in response to a question I received from Joe asking about how I deal with cold front conditions when high pressure has moved in and you are battling some fish that are unwilling to cooperate under these conditions.  Joe is hoping I can offer some suggestions that will help him concur these conditions on the ice.

Before we get ahead of ourselves need to step back and talk a little about pressure.  As humans we are relegated to looking at a barometer to determine pressure changes.  Ok, yes I know, everyone has an uncle or grandfather that can tell when the pressure is falling because their left knee starts to hurt.  But, if you don't, you need to look at a barometer. Fish and most animals are much different, as they thrive in an environment where pressure, in combination with temp, time of year and daylight often drive their daily habits.

There is no disputing that changes in pressure effect fishing.  However, how and to what degree is something that can be debated forever.  For the sake of this piece we will deal with the scenario Joe asked about, cold front conditions with high pressure.  Anyone who has ever ice fished can related to these conditions, as we tend to see them a lot in the upper Midwest.  In fact, this weekend was a prefect example of these conditions.  So, what do I do to get fish to bite under these conditions? 

First, to be successful in tough conditions, choose a lake that is known to have a good bite going this year.   Poor fishing conditions are not the time to be out sampling new spots or lakes you are unfamiliar with.  Pick a proven lake and a proven spot and you will up your odds significantly.  You know, one of those lakes that seems to be a good lake for ice fishing year after year.

Second, fish when the fish are biting.  I know this changes from day to day but for the most part, fish are more aggressive in the morning and evening so plan your trips around the time they "should" be biting.  They may not be biting, but your up your odds significantly by fishing when the should be biting.

Use good equipment!  Anyone that reads this blog knows I run Humminbird Flashers on the ice.  At a minimum, a flasher is a must under tough conditions.  When fish are not biting, it certainly helps to know they are down there.  Using your flasher, you can see how the fish are reacting to your bait.  Can you get that fish to chase your bait?  Will that fish come up more than 3ft off the bottom?  What is their reaction when you jig aggressively?  What do they do when you stop jigging?  A flasher will help you determine the mood of the fish which is key to putting together the pieces of the puzzle.

Now lets add a camera to the equation if you have one.  If you have an underwater camera, this is a perfect time to drop the camera and see how the fish are reacting.  If you can get fish to bite on camera, you will do very well,  no matter what the conditions are.  Since the conditions are so cold outside, slowing down some and sitting on top of your fish and trying to pluck a few of those tough biters with a camera is a great way to beat the pressure.  A camera will give you that visual so you can actually see the fish approach your bait.  You can watch them move forward or backward, depending on what you do.  This information provides a couple more crucial pieces to the puzzle.

You have now deployed all your technology and still think the bite is tough.  This is where you have to start thinking about the situation.  You noticed the fish will chase some, but will not bite.  Time to change up your presentation.  As a rule, under these conditions I would go small.  Small bait, small jigs, small minnows or whatever I am using, under tough conditions it is going to be small.  The next rule of course is slow.  Instead of fast or aggressive jigging action, you have to slow it down.  Sometimes little to no movement is the key and sometimes it is just a slow steady take away that will get them to commit.   When I say slow, I mean slow.  But, use the technology you have to determine the best approach.  Ninety percent of the time the slow takeaway is deadly under tough conditions.  Just pull it away from them at a very slow and steady speed and they usually can't resist.

Yes, these times can be frustrating but that doesn't mean that the fish won't bite.  By doing even a few of the things mentioned above you will put more fish on the ice in tough conditions.  Remember, if you let the conditions beat you, they will!  You can get fish to go under the worst conditions because they are always biting somewhere!  This is something I have to remind myself a lot when things get tough.

Yesterday I received an email question asking about shooting through the ice with my Humminbird units.  Basically, I was asked, is it possible to shoot through the ice with the new Humminbird ICE series flashers?  So, before I responded with the easy answer, YES, I thought I would go out put a little more testing behind it.

For those that are not familiar with the question, what was being asked is, can the Humminbird ICE flashers shoot through the ice without having to drill a hole and still give you the depth of water?  The really cool thing about the Humminbirds is you not only get the bottom reading but you get an instant reading on the LCD display that tells you the exact depth.

While out chasing crappies yesterday I decided to take some time to set up my testing and this is how it went.  First, I drilled a bunch of holes to fish out of and noted the depths of each.  Then I picked a spot that I knew the depth and cleared off the snow to expose some ice.  As is typical for this late in the year, the ice was very rough and not ideal for trying to shoot through.  After clearing some snow and I dumped a little water on the ice and placed the transducer on the ice.  Instantly I had a bottom reading.  I was actually surprised, as usually you have to apply pressure to the transducer and move it around until you find a flat spot.  That was not the case, I just set it down and got an instant reading.

As I mentioned earlier, I was really surprised I was able to shoot through that rough ice.  But, before I got back to crappie fishing my curiosity was killing me, I had to know how much ice I was shooting through.  Of course, I didn't have anything along to measure accurately and I knew as soon as I put this piece up someone would ask that question.  Off came the SNOSUIT, and out came one bare arm.  Down the ice hole went my bare arm until the tip of my finger touched the bottom of the hole.  As my arm proceeded down the hole I was starting to think my arms were not going to be long enough.  Much to my amazement, and thankfully so, I hit the bottom of the ice, just before my chest was tight to the ice.  BURR!  Out came my arm and I put the tape to it.   Twenty-three inches of solid ice!  That is the last time I will be doing that this year unless I am chasing after a trophy walleye.

I was really impressed that I was able to shoot through 23 inches of ice with a rough surface.  I decided I should dig out the MarCum LX-5 and give that a try also.  So, I set up the MarCum LX-5 next to the Humminbird and after some work, I was able to get the LX-5 to shoot through the ice also.  I had a much harder time with the LX-5 because of the size of the transducer.  With the rough ice, it was hard to get that large transducer to make good contact.  But, after a few minutes I was able to get a flat spot worked out and the LX-5 would read through the ice also.

To answer the question posed to me yesterday, Yes, you can shoot through the ice with the Humminbird flashers very easily.  As a side note, when it gets this late in the year I rarely try to shoot through the ice anymore.  It is much easier to pop a hole in the ice as most lakes have very rough ice from frozen slush earlier in the year.  But, it was refreshing to know that it is not an issue should I decide to skip drilling the hole to determine the depth, even with thicker ice.

After reading my piece on Embrace Technology you finally went out and bought that flasher/sonar that you have always wanted, but have been intimidated by.  Lets assume with my advice you decided to invest in a great piece of technology and bought the new Humminbird ICE 55.  Nice work!!

You spent 10 minutes getting the unit assembled and another 3 minutes skimming the manual and you are ready to go.  Tomorrow you are going to hit the ice running and chase down those active fish that are always on the move.  But hey, you are armed with a great piece of technology that can make it all possible.  No longer are you confined to the bucket letting the fish come to you, you are going after them.

As the big day arrives you decide to give a couple ice fishing buddies a call.  Your buddy Greg brings his MarCum, Gary brings his Vexilar and together you hit the ice in search of a fresh meal of fish.  As you drill your first set of holes and set-up to fish, there they are.  Your Humminbird ICE 55 lights up like a Christmas tree as you drop your transducer down the hole.  You just hit the proverbial ice fishing jackpot!  As you ease your jig down the hole you watch on your Humminbird as the first fish comes racing off the bottom to meet your jig 8ft up.  Wow, that is cool!  You set the hook and within 5 seconds have a nice mid-day crappie laying on the ice.  You are thinking in your head, this technology is AMAZING, why didn't I listen to Scott Steil earlier (shameless plug).

With much anticipation, you holler to Greg and Gary to come on over as you just found some really active crappies.  Without hesitation they grab their flashers and set-up next to you.  WHOA, what just happened?  You can't see bottom anymore and your flasher dial is spinning in circles.  This really sucks and Gary and Greg agree, what the heck is going on?

You are experiencing interference at is best right now.  Anyone who has ever ice fished before can relate to this.  The good news is, with a few tips we can get this scenario resolved so our flashers play nice together.  Try the steps below and you will have very little interference with todays modern flashers.

First, if you have a dual beam transducer, use the narrow beam on any unit that has it.  On the Humminbird, you hit the BEAM button once and you will see the narrow beam displayed on the LCD screen.  By doing this you limit the angle of the signal you are sending out and will help eliminate the problem with signals overlapping under water.

Second, adjust your gain so that you are using the minimal amount needed to still see your jig.  On the Humminbird you hit GAIN one time and then turn the top knob and the gain will adjust and will be displayed on the center LCD.  Using to much gain will result in your unit picking up excess signal from other units and will give you more interference on your unit.

Third, lower your transducer farther into the hole.  The deeper your transducer is, the less angle you will have at the bottom of the lake where the problem of signal crossing is happening.  I prefer to have my transducer just below the bottom of the ice, as you will get a lot less reflection off the hole.

Forth, use the Interference Rejection or Noise feature on your flasher.  Often times you can do this as a first step and don't have to do anything mentioned above.  But, as part of my routine, I do all of the above first before I use my Interference Rejection feature.  On the Humminbird hit the NOISE button once and then use the top knob to change the noise level.  By doing this you are basically changing the signal put out by the transducer so it won't match the signal put out by another unit.  Ok, that is an oversimplification of the feature but that is basically what it does.

Now that you have taken all or some of the above steps you are back to icing crappies.  All your flashers are playing nice together again and you can look forward to a fresh meal of crappies.  Remember, most problems you experience with a flasher/sonar are a problem for others also no matter what brand they are running.  Don't be affraid to ask or email if you are having other sonar related issues, as we are here to help.