MyFishFinder.com Just like iceshanty but warmer
I don't run any electronics on the ice either, but I'm not that old yet... maybe just old school The kind of fishing I do, if you actually do some legwork and homework in open water time, you don't need them, anyway. Fish are generally just swimming stomachs... they follow food, and the food follow structure and temperature patterns, it isn't rocket science. 🤷♂️
Exactly right! Where I fish, both in open water and the hard water the fish tend to stick pretty close in all seasons. Some days they feed and other days they have lockjaw. What I find to be most different when Ice fishing is the time of day. In open water my best bet is early mornings and dusk but under the ice things don't follow that plan. Getting on the ice at the crack of dawn doesn't seem to be any better than showing up at 8 AM. Start keeping track of the time of day when you get flags or catch fish and you will probably do just as good at those times a few days after. Just last year we set up at 5 AM and never caught a fish or had a flag until 9:30. The following day we arrived at 8 and again, 9:30 we started getting fish and flags. It seemed to turn off before noon on both days also. The following weekend the lunch bell rang around 11:30. I found things similar while trolling in open water. We trolled around the lake with the same speeds, depths and lures and had no hits and then on the forth pass we slammed them. Our lake is like a big round fish bowl and if you are there when the dinner bell rings you probably will catch fish if all the rest is right.
Well, I've been noted to follow my nose and stomach to food too....