Still Getting It Done.  Even the old FL-20, which had some target separation issues under the ice, still shows fish under the ice and helps increase success in those winter angling outings. Simonson Photo.

By Nick Simonson

The Thanksgiving table wherever we are for the holiday has always been about options.  As a kid, I had the easy choice of grandma’s turkey, along with a side of Swedish meatballs, and was able to easily pass over the traditional Norwegian offering of lutefisk and save that for the older generations who still took a chance on the smelly lye-cured fish for dinner.  With picky eaters of my own now, their grandma has a spread set out for them this week which includes rigatoni and meat sauce for my youngest, burgers cooked earlier in the week for my oldest, and for the rest of us, the traditional turkey, stuffing and potatoes I recall from my youth. Whether a traditionalist or of another epicurean angle, having options at the table, and with the approaching ice season, is always a good thing.

With the selection of technology now available, the generations also have more and interesting ways of getting the same things done.  Odds are, some of you are reading this column in traditional print, while others are pulling it up on a website via your computer or phone, and the remaining eight or nine of you out of my dozen and dozen of loyal readers gleaned the first paragraph on social media, realized you were already full and moved on to the Black Friday pop-up advertisement in your feed.  Likely, that ad set out a number of ways to find fish on the ice this year, and that technology too has changed, advanced and provided more options than ever before, another good thing when it comes to getting what you want on the ice.

I’ll be the first to admit, like my love of the traditional print media that opened this option of communication for me and my enjoyment of the outdoors with you each week, I am a sucker for an old standby on the ice.  Be it my first unit, a Vexilar FL-8, with its whirring circular display that buzzes and shifts slightly throughout a trip on the ice, or the more advanced FLX-28 that I tote, but note that it is now way behind some of the newer options available, these classics that I came up with still get the job done and help me catch fish, and I don’t see much reason to change.  That’s not to say bigger and better fish-finding technology on the ice isn’t available, it’s just that I choose not to go there in spending several thousand dollars for the real-time live sonar readout of my surroundings under the ice.  Whether it’s the price tag or the principle of such an option almost seeming unfair (I know, you still have to get the fish to bite) which I lean on to justify my fiscal conservatism, I’m happy where I’m at and cast no stones toward those who enjoy and employ such a cutting-edge option.  As the sales splash through this week’s circulars inserted into a favorite newspaper or show up in the sidebar of your favorite social media, the options are all on the table for upgrading on-ice technology.  Which like the compact disc, cassette tape, or even the old eight track, suggests that once upon a time, there were no sonar options for ice anglers, and the outing consisted of simply measuring out the line, sliding a bobber stop, and watching a foam float twitch in the freezing surface of an ice hole.  Primitive, yes, but even that got the job done.  I’m just glad it wasn’t me freezing out there on the hardwater with nothing to watch but the creep of ice crystals across the hole, having entered the world of ice angling basically born with a sonar unit of some kind in hand.

This season, no matter how you find fish on the ice – or as you plan your early morning trip on Friday not to the field or the water, but perhaps your favorite sporting goods store – how you may want to find them in the future; consider the sliding scale of technology available.  There’s likely an option for every budget and every preference on how you fish, and how fair to make it for those perch and walleyes out there.  Choose yours accordingly – traditional, advanced or cutting edge – and make the most of the reliable standards or those souped up options now available to take onto the ice and find success…in our outdoors.