How to Use a Fish Finder When Ice Fishing

A fish finder can give you an edge when ice fishing. Not only will you be able to know how deep the lake is beneath the ice, you can see echoes of fish, so you'll know if you've cut your hole in the ice in the right location to catch fish. A fish finder uses an echo sounding system to locate the lake bottom and give a digital readout of the depth. Echoes are returned to the fish finder when transmitted signals strike the lake bottom and bounce back. You'll know how much line to feed out from your fishing pole and when to move on and cut another hole.

Things You'll Need

• Ice Fishing Saw
• Ice Fishing Pole
• Fishing Tackle
• Bait

Instructions

1. Take your fish finder out to your fishing hole. Fish finders for ice fishing are portable and therefore battery operated. Check to make sure you have a spare set of batteries in case your batteries run out.

2. Lower the transmitter through the fishing hole in the ice, and determine the depth of the lake. This is usually given as a number the fish finder display. Feed your line from the fishing pole to this depth. In ice fishing, you can usually see your jig on the fish finder display, which helps you to judge the depth of your line.

3. Look for fish. Fish echoes appear as short curved lines in between the ice and the lake bottom, which will appear as a jagged line near the bottom of your display. If you see fish on your display, you know you've found a good fishing spot on the ice.

4. Adjust the fish finder sensitivity of the echoes on your display are too faint. Adjust the noise filter if there appears to be a lot of random static on your display.

5. Move on to another fishing hole if you don't see any fish activity on your fish finder display. This is a great advantage to owning a fish finder.

Tips & Warnings

• Cut several holes in the ice and use several lines to increase your chance of success. Read your fish finder instruction manual. Although the principles for using a fish finder are similar for most models, they can vary.

• There are thin patches of ice through which you can fall. Be certain you're on ice sufficiently thick enough to support your weight.

Resources

• Fishing Regulations