taking the sport out of it.dont believe in them

[walleyewalt]

fellow fisherman, would like to take the time and see what you guys and girls
think bout eletronic fishing devices. i personally dont like them  they dont seem very
accurate. except for depth. as far as finding fish ive caught fish i couldnt see on my hummingbird 100. im i doning something wrong?

[tommy-n]

Good electronics do more than just show the depth, they can show you fish, weeds,your bait, bait fish ect. They can also show you how the fish react to your presentation, if I don't mark fish in 5 minutes I am on the move. And if I mark fish I can't get to bite I'll go find other ones that will or run out of time trying. I have two vexilars and would not ice fish without one, period. Just to give you a idea how sensative it is, If I drop a single spike down my hole I can watch it fall 30 ft or more as long as it stays in the cone angle. Or if you put a bb shot on your line above your teardrop it will also show that, when walleye fishing I can tell you if I still have a minnow on my hook. Hope this helps a little

[jasonmeekhof]

A lot of the problem i found in the past with electronics is the setup or the transducer angle. If you have a fish id program that gives you the little symbol for a fish they arent as accurate and generally dont show as much detail of the bottom like weeds, stumps, bottom hardness, etc. Switching to raw data mode enhances your ability to find and identify fish and bottom structure. Also the angle of the transducer is critical. I have a humminbird paramount wide 3d hard wired in and i cannot get the angle right. I also have a portable lorance that i know right where to stick, and at what angle. i can get up to about 45mph and still get a reading. Also take into consideration water clarity and sensitivity settings. If you are fishing deep or clearer water you can go more sensitive but if you are shallow or murky turn it down or you will not be able to separate the readings. Play around a little and you should get a lot better result. Everyone has electronics because they work, just mess around until you get it reading right and you will love it.  Any questions hollar [email protected]

[tommy-n]

As far as I am concerned a flasher is the only way to go, you need something with real time to show how the fish react to what your doing.

[walleyewalt]

thanks , maybe its time for a new gadget

[Reel Wet Ride]

I think I've responed to a nearly identical post else where on this site, but because I like hearing myself talk, I'll reply.   Let me first address your first statement about accuracy of some of the units. I can't vouch for all the units out there, but a friend of mine has a Vex 18 and it is an amazing piece of equipment. I've had the pleasure of using it more than a few times and to be honest, as soon as we get some more ice I'm going to buy one. I use small horizontal jigs when panfishing. I can see that thing all the way down fishing 30 fow. Couple that with the bottom zoom feature and I can tell you when I'll catch a fish. For me, it makes fishing fun. I like catching fish.  Now I know that there are pureists out there, and I respect that, I'm not pushing my view onto anyone. But here's why I'm pro electronics: I work 6 days a week. That leaves me a day and a half to fish everyweekend if I'm not already committed to family/friends/travel/ a hangover....ect. So when I get to opportunity I want to catch fish, somthing the vex clearly helps. Some may say that it makes it to easy, takes the sport out of it, well, yeah, it kinda does. But some could argue that using metal drivers on the golf course is cheating, those are also the people that still have real woods in their bag. Technology (for the most part) helps people become more effiecint or benifits them in some way, you can either accept it or shun it. I accept it. Fishing for me can be compared to those who go to church. The water is my church, its where I go when i need to connect without having a man standing behind a book telling me what to believe. When I'm fishing, I'm going to enjoy the company of my friends, the setting sun, that feeling you get when the chill in the air fills your nose and reaches your lungs. When I go fishing, I take the time to embrace those things regardless if there's a little blue box sitting on the ice next to my hole or not.

Jeez I need some ice around here, I'm getting deep.
RWR

[fisher50]

No idea what a Hummingbird 100 unit is.  I have had a Hummingbird flasher that worked very well.  Model 100 sounds like it may be a very basic entry level machine.  If that is true, you may have a very low pixel count.  That could explain some things.  All flasher and graph unit have dead zone(s), an area where fish will not show.  The higher end units might perform better for you. 

As for the "taking the sport out of it" comment.  I disagree.  The fish have all the advantages.  Anything I can use to help me catch fish is fair game, as long as it is legal.  Besides, knowing they are there does not make them bite your line.  I use a Vex in the Winter and would not like to be without it.  I have fished with people that do not use one, and sometimes they outfish me, and sometimes they don't.  I like the toys. 

[spoonfed]

proud owner of a vex. amust ice fishing.IMO.the sensitivity is amazing.i'll punch 15-20 holes and move constantly, if it shows no fish, move.best $$$ i spent on ice fishing.

[Lobes]

Electronics ... I'm all for it.
I'm probably more supportive to it because my job revloves around high tech electronics and I can relate to how it can help. But in order for technology to he helpful, you still need to rely on the basics of knowing you continually keep learning and keep paying close attention to detail. And paying attention to detail is what makes fishermen and hunters get good at what they do. The electronics help, but you still need to learn how to be a fisherman first. Some people learn that the hard way by dumping huge bucks into electronics and can't figure out why they are not automatically catching limits of lunker fish. Of course many of those will start out by blaming their equipment for that ...
 

[walleyewalt]

sure i like to know hw deep the water is , but its more fun to me to try and locate
a certain spieces of fish and then get those fish to bite without seeing what the fish is doing. thats fishing to me. walleyewalt

[walleyewalt]

Electronics ... I'm all for it.
I'm probably more supportive to it because my job revloves around high tech electronics and I can relate to how it can help. But in order for technology to he helpful, you still need to rely on the basics of knowing you continually keep learning and keep paying close attention to detail. And paying attention to detail is what makes fishermen and hunters get good at what they do. The electronics help, but you still need to learn how to be a fisherman first. Some people learn that the hard way by dumping huge bucks into electronics and can't figure out why they are not automatically catching limits of lunker fish. Of course many of those will start out by blaming their equipment for that ...
 

i remember my dad takin me to grand traverse bay in the late 70"s to fish lakers in the west arm .left at 4 in the mornin before we got out of the harbor , fish were jumping.
didnt know at the time they were browns.ended up casting mepps to them and bam fishon
been hook ever since.didnt take ele to find them .right place right time.point, just knowing
fish cycles is have the battle to catching them.in my opinon you guys dont fish as much as i do .
i fish the lakes that i fish all the time so i get to know there patterns . and will try different things till they bite.just using ele. for depth.when ice fishing i remember spots that i fished
that produced during summer and fall and try those and they usally produce and i also use the search and find method.ive seen them working and have witness big walleye and perch
being spooked by under water camera

[reelbigfish]

The old electronics versus fishing in the dark ages debate marches on.  It bothers me that there is so much emphasis being placed on the use of a machine.
With all the technocrats and the yuppie puppy elitists ("what brand of expensive
flasher do you use") It becomes a debate between the people willing to spend way
more than it's worth on a piece of hardware and those who don't have the bucks
or who would rather try a simpler approach to ice fishing.  A vex or LCD is a useful
tool for finding suspended fish in deeper water and most of my fishin buddies swear by them but I perfer to take on the challenge of finding and catching fish without one.  I catch way more fish than I care to clean now.  What's next a machine to
hook the fish and reel it in for me.  Maybe I should join the Amish cause I'd like
to go back to a simpler time when it was a fairer contest of me versus the fish. JMO
Ted

[walleyewalt]

The old electronics versus fishing in the dark ages debate marches on.  It bothers me that there is so much emphasis being placed on the use of a machine.
With all the technocrats and the yuppie puppy elitists ("what brand of expensive
flasher do you use") It becomes a debate between the people willing to spend way
more than it's worth on a piece of hardware and those who don't have the bucks
or who would rather try a simpler approach to ice fishing.  A vex or LCD is a useful
tool for finding suspended fish in deeper water and most of my fishin buddies swear by them but I perfer to take on the challenge of finding and catching fish without one.  I catch way more fish than I care to clean now.  What's next a machine to
hook the fish and reel it in for me.  Maybe I should join the Amish cause I'd like
to go back to a simpler time when it was a fairer contest of me versus the fish. JMO
Ted

right on ted
pretty soon with all the new eq. we finally overrun the fish and wont be able to keep fish in our lakes.dont get me wrong im for fishing and do a lot of it and keep my limit every chance i get ,just dont think its much fun to watch a fish on a camera take your bait and you set the hook. seems kinda mechanical to me

[Lobo]

right on ted
pretty soon with all the new eq. we finally overrun the fish and wont be able to keep fish in our lakes.dont get me wrong im for fishing and do a lot of it and keep my limit every chance i get ,just dont think its much fun to watch a fish on a camera take your bait and you set the hook. seems kinda mechanical to me

I am with you two there! I do have an older Hummingbird I use on my boat but use it more as a depth finder then as fish finder. Have never tried it on the ice. I may be "Old Fashioned" but keeping it as simple and inexpensive as I can makes more sense to me and seems more challenging. I still seem to catch fish and have a great time.

[rendo]

 box it up and send it to me I,ll use it

[Lobo]

box it up and send it to me I,ll use it

Nice try rendo  but I think I'll keep it !  I use it a lot in summer to find structure and depth but seem to get a lot of false indications of fish and have gotten a mess of nice ones when it only showed a few dinks in the area.

If I could afford to invest in any more fishing electronics it would be a camera. I would love to see just what is going on down there ! Can't see too much peering down an 8" hole 

[skulldugary]

I don't have a Vex but do use an older Eagle portable.One thing about electronics is if you are fishing in 40' of water for crappies and they are suspended at lets say 22' with out a graph or flasher you'd never know at what depth to fish for them....and while you are fishing the whole water coloum trying to find them they could move on...

[bobt0248]

I go both ways. I have a vex and do like to use it a lot of the time. It is more useful to me in deeper water while fishing for gill and crappies. I tend not to bring it with me when I fish shallower water like Lk St Clair where most of my fishing is done in water depths averaging about 4 to 6 foot for perch. It is not as useful to me at shallower depths so it is one less thing that I have to carry around.

Bob

[Reel Wet Ride]

How did it go from using electronics to fishing with a super computer that does all the work for you? The last time I checked I still have to walk across the ice, still have to drill the holes, still have my hands and feet get cold.

Now, if I go back to my parents home in Hillsdale, do you really think I need a vex to tell you where the fish are? Of course not, I fished that lake almost everyday from the time I was to small to stand on my own to just two summers ago. Thats 23 years of lake experience.

But I heard the word sport somewhere in this discussion, which translates to compitition. Put me and another guy on a nuetral lake, middle of nowhere. I fish with the vex he fishes with a lead depth finder to read depth, I wonder who'll catch more fish that 1st day?  Now take the compitition part out of it, guess who still catches more fish that 1st day?  See what I'm getting at? 

[walleyewalt]

How did it go from using electronics to fishing with a super computer that does all the work for you? The last time I checked I still have to walk across the ice, still have to drill the holes, still have my hands and feet get cold.

Now, if I go back to my parents home in Hillsdale, do you really think I need a vex to tell you where the fish are? Of course not, I fished that lake almost everyday from the time I was to small to stand on my own to just two summers ago. Thats 23 years of lake experience.

But I heard the word sport somewhere in this discussion, which translates to compitition. Put me and another guy on a nuetral lake, middle of nowhere. I fish with the vex he fishes with a lead depth finder to read depth, I wonder who'll catch more fish that 1st day?  Now take the compitition part out of it, guess who still catches more fish that 1st day?  See what I'm getting at? 

hmm! i dont know bout that

[walleyewalt]

hmm! i dont know bout that

and the last time i checked you drive your car or atv.etc. on to the ice,
you use your gas auger to drill your holes and you got batteries att.to your socks called warmers. so dont tell me you are doing all the work!

[skulldugary]

Using electronics does'nt mean you are going to catch fish but it is a TOOL to improve your chances.It's kind of like hunting with scopes,scent lok suits,tree stands,and compound with all of the toots and whistles,it garrentees nothing but  puts things in your favore..

[Lobo]

walleywalt said " But I heard the word sport somewhere in this discussion, which translates to competition"

I always felt the competition was between me & the Fish !
Not the electronics industry and the fish. 

I think I already have the advantage. At least I would like to believe that I am smarter then they are. 

  Then again, some days I am not too sure about that eather. 

[Reel Wet Ride]

I was simply stating that on a nuetral lake that neither one of them have fished, A good fisherman with a vex or other comparable unit would outfish a guy without one 9 out of 10 times. That one time takes into consideration the time a guy sits down on the spot and catches a ton of fish, cause it happens. I would say it would be hard for anyone to debate that.

It could also be that I'm not an ice fishing freak. I ice fish becuase the lakes are frozen and its my only opportunity to enjoy the activity that I love. In the summer my methodology is completly different. So maybe thats it.

I don't own a 4-wheeler, a power auger, or even a soft cushy seat for the bucket I use to sit on. I don't own $300 dollar boots (though I should) and I don't consider myself better than anyone on the ice/lake. Except that guy who drives his sled over my holes or rides his jet boat within 50 feet of my boat....I am better than that guy.

I'm not really a bad guy, I just like to stir the pot and raise a lot of eyebrows. I think it has something to do with not being hugged as a child.

   

[fishuhalik]

I have a flasher and wouldn't trade it for the world, but I do think that they have led to the fishing out of many lakes.  I remember about 10 years ago when not nearly as many people had 'em, there was a lake that very seldom had people on it, then someone w/ a vex discovered the fish suspended, and the lake was fished out in a winter.  My dad and I knew that the fish were suspended, but most everyone else that fished the lake was fishing the normal 3 ft. off bottom.  However, I also only have maybe if I'm lucky one day a week to get out, more realistically 2x a month, and I like to capitalize on every opportunity I get. 

[WntrMrngWood]

fishahulik,
i think you raise a valid point about the number of fish being caught in the grand scheme of things now compared to before 1:2 fishermen had and used electronics successfully.    I have a hard time believing it to be to the extent of "fishing out" the lake, but i and everybody i know with a vex catch a lot more fish than we used to. 

ReelWetRide, here's a hug ( )

[Ice_breaker]

  Yup-yup pros and cons to everything 
Even though we've been bouncing weights off the bottom beneath the ice for years. Spudding holes and manual drilling take there toll on the middle-aged outta shape body. So, yes I did miraculously purchase a handheld polar vision sonar last year (no bigger than a flashlight, and floats just in case). It has a fish icon on the readout saying there's something down there, I'd guess we have to figure that one out for ourselves. First trip out was a journey not even 100 yards off the access at young state park near Boyne (Lake Charlevoix) I did a double take on the depth reading of 49 FOW (That was a spooky moment, and definitely was not expected).  BUT, all n all, if we are trying to travel as light as possible, we can basically keep walking until we get to a proper depth. Then after drilling then proceeding to peek down the hole for water clarity, weed beds, fish jumping out the hole (yeah dream on), etc. My buddys have those vex's, and for some strange reason they have not opted to carry them the last few years. Anyhoot, when we get some safe ice to return (s.e. MI), then we'll be playing some more. Otherwise for now being bored silly and the cabin fever is getting an early start.    keep doing an ice dance, maybe the ice god's will get generous again 

[walleyewalt]

thanks for the response guys i read everyone and they are all valid
and some were even funny : :)sound like a great bunch of guys wouldnt mind
fishin with any one of you lot of knowledge. see you on the hard water
                                        walleyewalt

[FishDaddy09]

If you guy's really want an even playing field with the fish you should just cut a big hole in the ice and jump in and wrestle 'em! LOL  I happen to like my ice fishing toys and will use anything I can to tilt the balance in my favor.

[mineral723]

While I don't have a vexilar, I would definitely buy one if I had 200 bucks sitting around not doing anything.
Hey, I've got news for you "purists".  We're at the top of the food chain (human beings, that is).  It's comfortable here at the top.  Enjoy technology.  If you don't, someone else will.
While you might outfish a hole on a private lake, here on Erie, St. Claire, and Huron I don't think it would be possible to outfish the great lakes with a handful of dudes with sonar equipment and a case of beer.  I'd be more worried about commercial fishing destroying perch populations than some guys in shanties.