Being Mobile On The Ice.
Technology has made it so much easier to move around on the ice. GPS, map chips, lithium batteries, battery powered augers, dependable transportation, portable fish houses, light warm gear all contribute to making your experience on the ice better and easier.
And what we have learned over the years is that in order to be consistently successful on the ice you need to be mobile. Fish move daily and over the course of the wintertime. Being mobile can really increase your odds of staying on top of the fish. Sometimes being mobile is simply being able to move about easily throughout a bay when targeting bluegill. Good electronics and the use of “tools” such as the Roamer Shuttle allow you to use almost any flasher on the market and have the convenience of a beautifully designed setup to be able to hole hop with ease.
Shed the Weight
One of the keys to improving your hole hopping experience is to shed the weight of the old lead-acid battery. With Lithium technology, all of a sudden, you have all the power you need but a fraction of the weight. This makes the whole ice fishing experience so much more pleasurable. Now the kids don’t have to grumble about moving around because the units are so light.
Other Mobility
At other times being mobile means to be able to go from one lake to another or from one part of the lake to another part. Good spots or good areas are out there. Oftentimes we do not know why fish tend to be in certain areas but if you keep exploring you will find treasures out there.
We all know plenty of anglers that just go to the one spot that had produced for them in the past. The hope is that if I go to the same place, do the same thing, at roughly the same time it will produce the same result. There is nothing wrong with that as nature can but doesn’t always work that way. The more you are willing to adapt, learn, explore and put forth the effort the more successful you will be day in, day out. Having a strategy is always a good idea when targeting new water.
Strategy
If you are by yourself, then pick out a place on a map or better yet using your map chip in your electronics such as the MX-7GPS. Pick out an area or piece of structure that makes sense for the fish you are after. The next day or time out go to an entirely different part of the lake and fish that. The best section of the lake has a way of letting you know provided that you dedicate yourself to the plan.
The quickest way to figure out a lake is to work together with a few anglers and split up. This way you can dial things in over a weekend versus the course of a few weeks. If you can dedicate full days on the ice then you can fish a morning in one part and an evening in another. You are doing your best to be efficient with your time and be willing to learn. The rewards of this effort can be pretty special.
As stated before, there is nothing wrong with parking in a good spot and waiting for the fish to come to you. But for those that want to grow and improve on their angling skills you need to be willing to take risks and explore more. Once you give it a shot you’ll be having so much fun that cabin fever will be a thing of the past and you might even pray for a late spring.
