Quick poll: Fish w/ or w/o sonar

[hardwater diehard]

I can fish without my Vexilar flasher ...but I can catch fish with my Vexilar flasher 

[Super-ice-bird]

I like to use sonar on lakes where only two poles are allowed because I tend to sit in one place. But in lakes where I'm allowed  six lines I barly ever use it.

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

Yes, flasher.  But sometimes I let my partner that doesn't have one, use mine, and I go without it for a spell.  I still do pretty well without it.

[FrankM]

No electronics for ice fishing yet. Somehow I manage to catch enough fish without them.

[jstruck]

Yes.  Flasher. It spoils you. After having one, it is tough to go without.

[littlehead]

yes....started this year.....marcum showdown

   how do you like the marcum showdown

[Drifter_016]

1/ Yes
2/ Flasher

[derek_buck]

I use a sonar.  It is a flasher( Marcum VX-1P) Its the cheapest one Marcum makes but it gets the job done for me.  I like it mostly just to show if there are fish below me or not, and I don't need an expensive LX-9 for what I use mine for.

And I think you are right in saying Ice Shanty isn't an accurate representation.  I have 3 buddies I regularly fish with(four counting myself.) Of us four, only two of us own flashers, and use two that own flashers use Ice Shanty. 

[Ice Scratcher]

Just to add.. Like I said I used sonar for 20 years and have given it up..

I found it to be very frustrating on some days, you would mark fish and try to get them to bite.. If nothing bites, I would find myself cutting off jigs that were known producers to try, eventually, everything in the box and still no bites... Fast forward 15 years... Then they came out with underwater cameras and I thought now I'll really know what's going on... Yep you guessed it, there were fish down there! Still couldn't get them to bite..

Then it happened... 2011, the ice was so thin I went out with the least amount of stuff possible, including electronics.. Just a spud, a couple schooleys, and some waxies.. Had some of my best known producing jigs on and tried a few different spots.. Finally got into them and I slayed em! That was in my area, only a 2 week season, for a lighter weight person.. Most guys never got out that year around here.. That 2 weeks was some of the best fishing I ever had...

The next season (2012) back to my same old tactics, sonar, camera, cutting off jigs that usually work to try something else.. After a few weeks of that I started to remember how good I did without electronics the last year.. So I started leaving them home, and I started getting limits again! So I have gone without since..

I have realized that just because your marking fish, and even seeing them, means nothing if they are not feeding in that area...

I have since found hole hopping like a mad man, with a couple good producing jigs, at least for me, will out produce hitting only 1/3 the number of holes with all the equipment..

Since then, I have also been in spots pulling bull gills in numbers and someone with a sonar comes nearby and the bite shuts down except for dinks.. They get bored and leave and the bulls start up again.. This is in 8fow... I think the bigger sunfish can get turned off by sonar sometimes... Here is an interesting thread about the first day I came to that realization..

Titled "Vex Hex?"

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=453364

I know I am going against the grain of the ice fishing society here but I like catching the most and biggest fish I can, so there.... Will there be exceptions where a sonar might have made a difference, sure, but those are exceptions and rare for me.. If the fish aren't biting and your jigging and presentation are well executed, a camera and sonar wont help a bit! IMO electronics just add weight and take up time, and possibly turn off fat pumpkins! lol...

So there...

<*)))>{

[dekatronic]

Just to add.. Like I said I used sonar for 20 years and have given it up..

...

Thanks for your rationale, as most of us that have improved our hookup rate are probably wondering why you'd ever give it up. 

People have caught fish long before sonar was invented, so you are right that it isn't necessary for success.  In my case I fish water columns as deep as 120' which often precludes assuming that the fish will reside at a specific depth. Yesterday one person caught a single fish whereas I was able to locate them between 45-60' and happened to catch my limit.  They were not using sonar so unfortunately they had to rely on educated guesses to find fish.

Sonar certainly doesn't guarantee fish, but in certain conditions it is an important component to improving catch rate.

[Gills-only]

Just to add.. Like I said I used sonar for 20 years and have given it up..

I found it to be very frustrating on some days, you would mark fish and try to get them to bite.. If nothing bites, I would find myself cutting off jigs that were known producers to try, eventually, everything in the box and still no bites... Fast forward 15 years... Then they came out with underwater cameras and I thought now I'll really know what's going on... Yep you guessed it, there were fish down there! Still couldn't get them to bite..

Then it happened... 2011, the ice was so thin I went out with the least amount of stuff possible, including electronics.. Just a spud, a couple schooleys, and some waxies.. Had some of my best known producing jigs on and tried a few different spots.. Finally got into them and I slayed em! That was in my area, only a 2 week season, for a lighter weight person.. Most guys never got out that year around here.. That 2 weeks was some of the best fishing I ever had...

The next season (2012) back to my same old tactics, sonar, camera, cutting off jigs that usually work to try something else.. After a few weeks of that I started to remember how good I did without electronics the last year.. So I started leaving them home, and I started getting limits again! So I have gone without since..

I have realized that just because your marking fish, and even seeing them, means nothing if they are not feeding in that area...

I have since found hole hopping like a mad man, with a couple good producing jigs, at least for me, will out produce hitting only 1/3 the number of holes with all the equipment..

Since then, I have also been in spots pulling bull gills in numbers and someone with a sonar comes nearby and the bite shuts down except for dinks.. They get bored and leave and the bulls start up again.. This is in 8fow... I think the bigger sunfish can get turned off by sonar sometimes... Here is an interesting thread about the first day I came to that realization..

Titled "Vex Hex?"

http://www.michigan-sportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=453364

I know I am going against the grain of the ice fishing society here but I like catching the most and biggest fish I can, so there.... Will there be exceptions where a sonar might have made a difference, sure, but those are exceptions and rare for me.. If the fish aren't biting and your jigging and presentation are well executed, a camera and sonar wont help a bit! IMO electronics just add weight and take up time, and possibly turn off fat pumpkins! lol...

So there...

<*)))>{

<*)))>{

.                                 I wouldn't know what to do if I caught more fish, have plenty now, some think they can't fish without, its all in their head, you can catch fish without just like before!  Spending time in a hole trying to catch a fish that will not bite is the biggest mistake I see, work the hole up and down twice and move!  I get out fished very few times with flasher guys I fish with, I'm always on move looking for aggressive fish!!

[Ice Scratcher]

work the hole up and down twice and move!  I get out fished very few times with flasher guys I fish with, I'm always on move looking for aggressive fish!!

That's about it for me as well... A minute, maybe two.. Then move..

I'll actually drill about 15 holes before I even drop a line unless there are a bunch of abandoned open holes...

<*)))>{

[Gills-only]

Another video game for adults!! I guess I'm OLD SCHOOL!!!!

[milo44]

yes flasher and love it

[Muskietim]

Yes both son-in-law finally bought a sonar so now I can use both when he is not around.

[dekatronic]

Another video game for adults!! I guess I'm OLD SCHOOL!!!!

Hahaha! Totally!

[gearheart]

Yes. Flasher. If the battery quits I go home.

[Big Ice Hole]

Flasher for 4 yrs, just bought a sonar

[Ice Scratcher]

Flasher for 4 yrs, just bought a sonar

Flashers and graphs are both sonar.. Same stuff, just different ways to interpret the "pings"....

<*)))>{

[Swift]

Yes and have used one for over 40yrs. Got over 30 years out of my Green Box and actually miss it

[Zhitnik44]

I use a Marcus lx7, it has both flasher and graph, i prefer to watch the flasher mode. Using some type of electronics is definitely an advantage to not using.

[Drift Dodger]

1. Yes
2. Flasher

I primarily target walleye and perch (northern pike are also present) on a lake with plenty of structure at depths up to about 40 ft, but typically from 20 to 30 ft. The narrow 8 degree beam of my LX-5 significantly reduces the 'dead zone' when fishing drop-offs. I use the 20 degree beam on flats unless I'm in close proximity to other anglers over deeper water ... really don't want to see their lure action.

[Spider1]

yes, flasher.

I got a couple graph's for lending out.

[glenm]

Yes, Humminbird ICE 45.

[12aapoda]

yes...with flasher

[multispeciesangler]

Yes - Vex - can't leave home without it!

[mr tip up]

1.  Yes
2. flasher

[IM-POUNDING- R -U]

Yes Vexilar FL-20

[Chris338378]

YES - a Showdown Dual Beam since 2012 and won't fish without it ever again.

[buckskinner14530]

yes vex fl20 would rather go with out a pole than a flasher.