February 04, 2013

I've always been the kind of guy who needed to be dragged, usually kicking and screaming, toward any technological advances, whether at work or play. Even today, I'm not really happy I can't type on an Underwood. And those lead type days weren't so bad, were they. Maybe I've inhaled too many darkroom chemicals over the years.

The same holds true for my recreational pursuits. A persimmon driver stayed in my golf bag for, I admit now, far too long. I toted those Grumman canoes – yeah, those aluminum models – through the backcountry until near paralysis convinced me that Kevlar is the way to go. Or a Radisson. Or better yet, a Hornbeck.

So I'm not sure what convinced me, pretty early on in my ice fishing time, to go the high-tech route a little bit. No, not a power auger; that would have had blood-letting written all over it. Not a snowmobile; a little exercise wouldn't hurt, and the cash could be converted into hunting and fishing trips to faraway destinations.

But I did, early during my hard-water excursions, go armed with a flasher, those fish-finding pieces of magic which, once you get used to them, read like an open book. It's almost like cheating. In short order, I giggled as I jigged up perch after perch, predicting their strike simply by watching the lines on my Vexilar flasher and understanding what was happened. Even Paula was impressed, until she learned it, too. Then I needed to buy another one because she always had it with her.

What, in my mind, is even better about the Vex is that it tells you where the fish aren't. In many cases, you don't even need to drill a hole. Clear the snow off the ice, make sure there's some water on the transducer to get a connection to the water below, and it will quickly tell you what lies beneath. That saves a lot of time when you're running and gunning your way around the ice, and saves a lot of hole drilling as well.

Flashers have, not surprisingly, seen even more advancements in recent years, but the premise remains the same. The lines on the flasher reveal the bottom of the water you're fishing, your bait or lure, and what may be lurking nearby or ready to bite. You're squeezing a three-dimensional picture into two dimensions, but with a little practice you can even tell if it's a big fish down there or just weeds. Keep in mind, too, it doesn't guarantee the fish will bite, but it will tell you if there's hope.

If the flasher seems a bit technical (trust me, it isn't) you can also go with an underwater camera. And yes, the do what the name implies, actually showing a TV-type view of what's going on down there. I look at it more as a toy and the flasher as a tool, but some anglers combine both, and the underwater camera is great to have when you're taking kids out onto the ice.

Today, I wouldn't leave home without my Vexilar (there are other fine models available as well). It has saved time in locating fish, helped me ice more fish – primarily perch – on several Adirondack waters, and saved me a lot of effort in drilling hole after hole in a frantic search for a big school of ringbacks.

But yeah, I still wear wool.

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