Ice Tech Means Ice Stewardship

Long gone are the days of ice anglers layered in red flannel shirts and woolen pants staring down holes as they patiently wait for a fish or the coming of spring. Ice anglers today are equipped with digital lake maps, GPS fish finders, and advanced Sonar options that make anglers more potent than ever. And like the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.”

For a few short weeks in spring and fall, favorable water conditions can be found throughout an entire body of water and fish spread out and become challenging to find. But that doesn’t last long as summer and winter seasons settle in for months at a stretch.

Tools and Methods

Guiding year-round, Brad Hawthorne lays out the seasonal differences. “Summertime you can cast 40 yards and cover all the water along that stretch. On the ice, you get to cover the lake 8- 10 inches at a time – depending on the size auger you use. So, you better do your homework and figure out where the fish will be. For me it’s always been a LakeMaster solution, so I always have a LakeMaster card plugged into my Helix units. The 1-foot contours show me all the places’ fish are likely to congregate. The detail and the accuracy are unmatched. I’ll even use the mobile version on FishSmart. I just download whatever lake I’m fishing, and I can walk around the ice as I follow a depth contour. Then I just use my tracks as a guide and drill the holes where I just walked. I know that my customers are right on the most productive areas.”

However, in winter, fish often gather around predictable features and structure that offer the food and conditions they need to endure the difficult environment that lasts four months solid, making them targets for an extended period.

Who Says Winter’s Tougher?

“Getting to fish on ice is so much easier than summer,” explains Hawthorne. “Once the ice is safe, anyone can access the fish. You don’t have to be a master in boat control, and you don’t have to have a 20-foot boat that will take you safely to the middle of the lake and back again. Take Lake Mille Lacs; the resorts plow 40+ miles of roads enabling people to drive right up to the most productive areas of the lake. You can literally get there on a bicycle if you wanted to.”

Helix 7 units provide the next level of power with built-in GPS for navigation and real-time Sonar to see the smallest jig movements and watch fish come to inspect the bait, but it’s the new Sonar types that have become effective. Humminbird’s MEGA 360 on ice enables anglers to drill a single hole, deploy the 360 and then look in all directions to find schools of fish or the structure that will hold them when the conditions change. Once fish are found, this is where MEGA Live Sonar really comes into play. Hawthorne notes: “I’m able to point the Sonar beam in the direction of the fish. Watching the fish react to my presentation allows me to quickly figure out the mood of the fish and adjust to help my clients catch fish.” Hawthorne continues: “The combination of MEGA 360 and MEGA Live on ice has been a remarkable help to find and catch fish – especially in the toughest conditions.” So, when you become much more effective when things are tough, anglers are more effective when fishing is easier. The net effect is that catch rates continue to climb as a result of mapping GPS and advanced sonar options.

Hawthorne goes on to explain, “We are the biggest predators on the fish. What I mean is not only our big pike and muskies predators and not only are we predators in the summertime, but ice anglers can be the peak predators of an entire lake system and food chain, so it’s more important than ever to be mindful of how we are catching and harvesting fish.”

Give Them a Rest

If fish aren't being caught in too deep of water where they suffer from barotrauma, fish can be caught and released very effectively in cold water conditions. That said, given all the technologies that anglers have at their fingertips, it should be easy for most anglers to go out and catch a few fish for a meal whenever they like. So, like the flannel shirts that are gone so is the notion that one must fill their freezer with fish from a single hot bite. Sure, we don't catch a bunch every time we go out but with all the technology a good fish meal is closer than ever before.

Hawthorne interjects: “I love catching fish and I love teaching people to fish. And for me a meal is nice occasionally, and then keep a few for a Friday fish fry. I’m all for that, but I don’t feel the need to keep fish every time I’m out on the ice.”

We Are the Best Stewards

But especially on the ice, you have to police yourself and be a good steward for the resources. You can’t rely on the fisheries management to adjust the limits when the lake gets out of balance. It takes a year or two for a lake to get noticed, then it must be studied, and data gathered to understand the situation. Still more time is required to create an action plan and ultimately get that action plan approved by an agency or state legislature. In the end, it may take 4-8 years to even begin an effort to restore balance. So, the conservation and stewardship responsibilities are on us all from start to finish.

These days we have innovative gear at our disposal and technology as our guide, so anglers can locate and catch fish for fun and for an occasional nice meal of fresh fish. And we all have technology to thank for the ability to do so. This real-life situation from Brad Hawthorne provides a great example of how innovative technology can lay the foundation for better sustainability and stewardship in the outdoor activities we love going forward. Johnson Outdoors and our family of brands including Minn Kota, Humminbird, and Cannon, have valued sustainability and environmental conservation, since its founding. To read about how the rest of our brands are proactive around environmental solutions, visit the Outdoor Adventure Blog.