We’re nearing the end of walleye season in MN, and things have gotten a bit tougher. Snow is deep and ice is thick(er), and the amount of available light at depth has been cut dramatically. Your early season haunts are likely nowhere near where you are ice fishing now, and at this point, it’s more about just getting bites rather than talking about how many you’re catching.
The “dog days” of summer mark the end of the early summer feeding binges that most fish including bass go through. Not only are lakes really warm but they are chock full of food including insects, frogs, crawfish, baitfish and fry from all species. Suffice to say that fish have plenty of food and cover available to them. So consequently it can make it just a little tougher to entice a fish into taking your presentation.
A lot of anglers will set their minds on fall when temperatures will cool down and fishing will generally be a little easier. However you don’t have to leave the boat in the garage until then, simply refine your strategies to start catching fish again.
Panfish, specifically bluegill and crappie, are the most sought after fish throughout the entire United States. Anglers of all ages pursue them for a lot of reasons. They are good to eat, plentiful, and seem to always be willing to bite throughout the entire year. Walleye and bass anglers can get skunked on any given day but a panfish angler seldom fails to connect in an outing on the water.
This makes them a perfect species to pursue anytime you have the family and or kids on the water. The great thing about summer is that it can be really easy fishing. By mid-summer the fish have completed their annual spawning and have transitioned out to where they will spend the summer months.
It’s amazing how many anglers have an underwater ice fishing camera for winter use, and forget to pack it in the boat for fishing opener. In fact, open-water applications abound when it comes to everything from species identification, to finding green weeds, or simply identifying water clarity traits from one end of the lake to another.
The fact that now your underwater camera for fishing can be so much more mobile is a major benefit to its use, and the fish-finding information you unlock with it is rather limitless. Here’s just a few ways and reasons to get more use from your winter camera, come spring, summer and fall.
It’s a magical time of year. The ice on the lakes is pretty much absent. The landscapes that were not so long ago covered in snow now show glimpses of life again. Grass is turning greener, plants are blooming, birds are chirping. Spring has sprung.
To many anglers that means one thing – the Wisconsin Fishing Opener is coming. The Wisconsin Fishing Opener is traditionally on the first Saturday in May. This year it falls on
Underwater cameras are undoubtedly one of the greatest technological advancements in the sport of fishing these past few decades. Anglers in recent generations have come to depend on cameras to do far more than help them watch fish eat, but to observe their surroundings, study fish behavior and movements, even learn how fish certain baits better. Not only then has it been a technology that’s useful in its own right, but the simple fact is that underwater viewing has helped push forward the sport of fishing in general. From evolutions in tackle design, reels, and line, to changes in the way we fundamentally fish, looking at the underwater world through a camera is here to stay.
Underwater fishing cameras are recognized as a valuable tool for ice; however, they can be just as beneficial during the open water season – and for many of the same reasons. Open water electronics continue to evolve to new lengths every season but they still leave things open to interpretation. Underwater cameras, however, are capable of answering questions that other electronics cannot, as well as teaching anglers more about what they’re seeing on their electronics. They are an angler’s eyes below the surface.
There is no doubt that underwater cameras have had a huge impact on the growth of ice fishing. With a stable platform of ice to set up on, a camera is a perfect tool to be able to peer into the underwater world below. There is nothing better than being able to literally watch fish behavior and watch the fish strike your presentation. There is so much to learn from this simple viewpoint that children to veteran ice anglers get mesmerized while watching the screen.
Tony Roach is no stranger to that game, as he fishes across northern Minnesota each winter, doing his best to put clients continuously on panfish, perch, and walleyes. It should come as no surprise then that underwater viewing systems are a key part of his strategy, and have been since their inception.
His camera and digital sonar approach mimics his now-famous “ice-trolling” concept of roaming select structural elements while drilling holes continuously, in an effort to both locate fish and stay on them. Few have drilled as many holes in the hardwater as Tony, and fewer yet have followed that up with as much underwater viewing as he has either.
The upshot is a 1-2 punch of underwater viewing and sonar that focuses on two main parts; the finding, and then catching, each of which utilizes different strong-suits of cameras and traditional sonar.
There is just something about seeing it happen with your own eyes. Imagine a jumbo perch roaming through a weed bed in search for an easy meal with its eyes going to and fro looking for its victim. They casually swim the edge of the cover until they catch a glimpse of the bait hovering just above the top of the weeds. Because you are fishing amongst the weeds, underwater cameras simply give you the best opportunity to be successful. Flashers and depth finders will often pick up the weeds making it hard to see fish and your bait. Underwater cameras allow you to see where the fish are and where your bait is.
