Spring finds serious game hunters perusing the aisles of sporting goods stores, picking out the essentials to plan for a hunting season that might take another six months to arrive.
In the meantime they'll look at aerial photos of hunting properties, strategically plant crops and spend countless hours behind equipment and machinery while molding their land into the ideal hunting area. Many hunters are devoted to this process of preparation and it pays off. This same dedication can yield positive results for ice anglers as well and it's not too early to start.
One of the major differences between ice fishing and open water angling is the amount of time and effort it takes to locate structure. It's easy to engage the boat's trolling motor while keeping a keen eye on the electronics to move gracefully over structure, continually moving to discover new areas of potential. But during the ice season your mobility and thus your ability to see the underwater environment below using electronics changes from a linear, horizontal picture to a vertical spattering.
With ice fishing, there are large gaps between holes and although augers are faster and gear is lighter and more portable, there is still considerable effort required to effectively locate structure and fish below the ice. However, a little preparation now will make locating structure months from now much easier. This can be accomplished by taking your boat out for some fall fishing and "structure hunting."
To effectively locate potential areas for ice fishing while sitting in a boat, you'll need some type of sonar system, more commonly referred to as a "fishfinder" or "depthfinder," and an accurate means to mark the position, preferably by using a GPS unit.
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A handheld GPS is best since you won't have to transfer waypoints from a mounted unit on your boat to a handheld unit to take out on the ice, although some recent handheld GPS models have the capacity to support a memory chip that can be swapped between a boat mounted and handheld GPS. It essentially works in the same manner as a computer floppy disk, but instead of storing documents or pictures, it stores the positions of your saved fishing spots.
Using your sonar as your eyes under the water, begin searching for structure related to the various species of fish you may be targeting this winter. Maybe you'll pass over a secluded rock hump that looks appealing for walleye or a drop-off adjacent to a massive flat for pike.
Weed clumps are also highly productive during the ice season, and there's no better way to locate their various positions than using sonar. Some of the weeds do die throughout the fall and winter, but the majority that actually turn brown and fall to the bottom to decompose will do so before the lakes freeze. These are definitely potential hotspots to record for further use and can easily be saved on the handheld GPS.
Another less technologically sophisticated method of marking a spot for later entails triangulation. While positioned over the desired structure, visually find a prominent landmark from three different angles and the next time you want to land on your spot, find the landmarks, cross your fingers and have faith in a little luck!
