It could be the most common question found on internet forums, Facebook groups, and among the freshman class of ice’s newest anglers – “Sonar or camera?” Sounds like a simple question. Multiple choice even. The answer has always been straight-forward too, with most experienced anglers leaning towards a sonar first, then purchasing a camera to eventually fill in the knowledge gaps as needed depending upon their species of interest.

Open Water Mapping with the MX-7GPS Fish long enough, and you’ll find spots that border on magic.  Sometimes they’re seasonally…

TONY ROACH AND JOEL NELSON TALK ABOUT THE PAST 20 YEARS AND EVERYTHING THEY HAVE LEARNED A ANGLERS THROUGH THE LENS OF AN UNDERWATER CAMERA.

New Hope, MN (10/25/2021) – Marcum Technologies, the undisputed leader in underwater viewing, takes an on-ice staple and improves it with lighter, longer-lasting lithium batteries.  A new generation of anglers takes for granted what cameras have brought to the sport.  Inline reels and the effect of lure-spin was revealed through watching fish swim away on an underwater camera.  Winter panfish location and the connection to green standing aquatic plants, along with countless other observations; all brought to you by underwater viewing, now made better with a little help from an advanced fuel source.

“They’re right where we left them,” I blurted while quickly dropping another small sucker to whoever was stealing them below. It was a private thought that worked its way out on last season’s first-ice-foray. I was pretty certain they were walleyes, as I’d fished them in the months leading up to ice. They remained right off of a point on the first shoreline break where we’d had two flags fly before drilling the rest of the holes. We jigged up a few perch and walleyes amongst those tip-ups right at dark, before gingerly creeping back to shore. We were on solid ice, a good 6 inches of it, but you never can be too careful. Even when well-prepared, I’m not the guy creeping on a few mere inches like I once was. Age, kids, and some dodgy experiences will do that to you.

Earliest vs. Early Ice for Panfish  Deer season is nearly behind most of us, and thoughts of ice fishing get…

Many times, these locations are consistent producers during all months, yet others are specifically good for ice and not during the bulk of the open-water period.  The latter types include shallow transitions from mud to sand, or sand to rock, as well as small gravel or rock patches marooned again in shallow weeds or non-like surrounding substrates.

Early ice fish push to these places, especially after sundown in clear-water systems.  Spots that are no larger than a kitchen table can seem impossible to drill out and find, while they stick out like a sore thumb once you drop the camera needed to discern sand grains from gravel.

Basic sonar technology is a great asset to ice anglers during the summer and fall months, as few things hide from it, even in heavy weed cover or timber.  Even if you don’t own this technology, chances are you know someone who does, or better yet, invest in a unit that does both sonar and GPS so your ice spots will transfer to summer and vice versa.  Spend time getting to know the system in either case, and make sure to idle at the proper pace to provide the very best image you can. 

Midwest angler Joel Nelson knows a thing or two about ice sonar.  As MarCum’s longest tenured pro-staff member and media personality, he’s been running a MarCum since the brand’s inception.  Though he could run any fish finder on the planet, he’s an avid fan of the M1.  “It’s really a sonar that takes me back to some of the original MarCum units that just flat caught fish,” says Nelson.  “You get exactly what you need in an ice locator, ready to fish out of the box.”  Nelson logs thousands of miles across the ice belt each season, fishing and filming for a host of TV and video segments, all while toting an M1.  “I appreciate so many of the MarCum units in the lineup, but I’ll always have an M1,” says Nelson.      

Minnesota’s early May fishing opener is a date most avid walleye anglers have circled on the calendar, but long before May is the pre-opener down on Pool 4 of the Mississippi River.  Warm spells in February, all the way through the traditional opening day, offer anglers a great chance at not just knocking the rust off, but catching both numbers and size for walleye and sauger both.  
As Joel Nelson says, “There’s no better feeling than the slight “tick” of the rod tip or a line-jump as a shallow-water walleye inhales some plastic. “

Press Release – New Hope, MN (10/22/20) – Two decades ago, MarCum released its first underwater viewing system, giving eyes below the surface to an entire generation of anglers.  Their world has been forever changed because of it, from the way modern ice anglers’ fish to the equipment they use, underwater viewing has shaped the evolution of the sport.  While the systems themselves have also evolved through the years, the one thing that remains consistent over time is the amount of information anglers glean when seeing underwater for the first time.

The dog days of summer and that’s your green light to grab your MarCum flasher or digital system from the garage and give it a once over and top off the battery.

The first step in your pre-season routine should be checking your batteries. Most flasher failures on the ice are caused by a bad battery, so now’s the time to inspect your MarCum’s power source.

“You could be kicking yourself later if you don’t take a minute to check everything out now,” says MarCum Pro-Staffer, Joel Nelson. “Nothing will wreck a good day of fishing faster than a bad battery, because there’s nothing you can do about it out on the ice.”

Press Release – New Hope, MN (9/29/21) – Marcum Technologies, the undisputed leader in ice-fishing-specific sonar and cameras, takes tech to the next level. Their long-held principle is that features are useless unless they help an angler catch fish, and that can be seen throughout decades of innovation. Patented technology like moveable zoom that led to angler’s ability to target fish anywhere in the water column was the first ping heard round the world among the ice sonar community. They followed it up with additional advancements to help distinguish echoes from noise in an interference rejection system so advanced, it’s also patented.

Water temperatures that build into the high 60 and 70 degree marks will definitely get fish moving, and that usually coincides with a few hatches.
Bugs crawling out of the deep mud get rafted against the main-lake structure, and signify some of the initial pushes to offshore humps, bars, and reefs. It’s often when casual walleye anglers, or those who see early mixed bags of walleyes with crappies and gills, stop catching them.

Anglers don’t always follow, sometimes because they’re not required to. This is a dynamic time of year as the summer food chain ramps up production. That means anglers don’t always have to look deep to find fish, and several patterns can be going at the same time.

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.

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.