New Hope, MN (11/18/21) –Based on the growing demand for MarCum products in Eastern Canada, the Minneapolis manufacturer has engaged Raytech Electronics, a warranty and maintenance service center to enable owners to receive service without having to hassle with international shipments. Raytech will be handling warranty and non-warranty repairs for MarCum consumers starting November 17th, 2021. This new relationship is expected to decrease repair service times by at least 5 business days for Eastern Canadian customers.

Every year, a new set of anglers both young and old learn to use ice fishing sonar or flashers for the first time.  That said, I encounter many anglers on the hardwater each year that still have their ice sonar depth finder on default factory settings from when they bought the unit 10 years ago.  Whether you’re brand new to the game, or it’s old-hat, here are some answers to age old questions along with new ones to keep it interesting and catch more fish.

Who doesn’t have boxes of jigs laying around?  No matter the species, it could be the most universal, widely copied, and versatile lure of all time.  If we’re talking live bait, it’s the best delivery method for meat that I know of.  If plastics, well there’s usually a jig involved here too. 

Starting with a standard jig-head, you have to think about what you’d like to do with it. If you’re threading on a fathead minnow, a will be the logical choice. The same can’t be said if you’re looking to fish plastics, as plastics fish best with an aggressive wire keeper.

As for other features and color, think about the water clarity you’ll be fishing in. Anything with a blade or propeller adds flash and vibration, which may be a necessary part of the presentation. Big minnows call for a , and suspended fish call for a that rises above a weight on the bottom. So many jigs, so many scenarios, but you need to match the style of jig to the type of fishing you’ll be doing.

Scott Mackner, known by his handle 330 Maniac, is an avid fisherman and content creator from Minnesota. He is known for his fishing and trapping videos, his knowledgeable skill set and his ability to chase down a multitude of species.
He recently sat down with us to discuss why he made the switch to MarCum. From target separation to customizable zoom, Scott breaks down the top 5 reasons he chooses the LX-7 Combo over anything else.

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.

Everyone has personal preferences when it comes to their ice fishing sonar. MarCum has you covered whether you like the proven technology of an ice flasher, or the customization and cutting-edge performance of a digital system.

It’s important to note the differences and strengths between systems, as each category has come a long way in recent history. 

From the industry front-runner in ice electronics, comes a new leader in the batteries that power them. It’s only fitting that MarCum Technologies, in the quest to constantly improve their ice offerings, brings advancements not only in sonar or cameras, but the very power-plants that fuel them.

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. 

While the idea of finding your ice-spots in a boat isn’t a novel one, serious ice anglers should make this a priority this season.  No doubt, it’s easier to drive around and scan structure for fish now vs. doing it one ice auger hole at a time come November and December.  Advances in electronics make it easier now than ever, such that you can map new water and mark spots with GPS/Sonar combos like the MarCum MX-7GPS.

There’s a lot of ways to catch fish during the lazy summer months, but it’s worth remembering that fish are pretty fat and happy right now.  Weedlines are well defined, bait is plentiful in most lakes, and warm water temps mean fish are at peak metabolism.  While they need to eat often, it’s not hard to find a great place to get dinner.  The menu options are varied as well, so it tends to take most fishing patterns and nullify the amplitude of their effectiveness.

“Before underwater cameras, I used to think that certain weed-beds held bass, and others had the panfish I was after.  Careful study and lots of on-ice viewing showed that most often, the best weeds and weedbeds held both, but few panfish roam edges or openings in the presence of predators.  Two-feet can be too far if you’re trying to get a bull gill to come from cover and eat.  Punch a hole right on top of them, where they don’t have to leave the safety of cover, and you can pluck them from where you never thought they existed.”

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

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.

Leaves are gone from the trees, and that’s your green light to grab your MarCum flasher or digital system from the garage and get ready for the ice-fishing season.

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 ICE FORCE 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.”

If new to the sport or have taken a few years off, one glaring change from mere seasons ago is how Lithium fuel sources have taken the ice by storm. For good reason too, though there is a slightly higher cost of entry, the benefits of Lithium battery technology are many. For most anglers, the weight savings alone are enough to switch out their old Sealed Lead Acid (SLA) batteries, with new Lithium versions weighing less than half of their predecessors. You’ve also got longer run-times, even from batteries with similar amperage output that are not Lithium. That means you can fish for durations numbering days, not hours, with anglers often only re-charging their batteries after a long weekend of use.

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.