By Bob and Ginny Riege

Sonar shines when chasing suspending fish. These electronics cut down on search time by displaying fish where they are within the water column. If you own a unit with dual beam transducer, set it to the wide cone angle setting, such as a 19 or 20 degrees. This provides the greatest amount of coverage to track down hovering crappies. Use the interference rejection settings to combat display clutter when fishing close to others. Be mindful, however, that a wide cone angle can portray a false bottom when near deep, steep structure because it will consider the shallowest depth in the cone as bottom. You know you’re in a deep zone when you watch the screen and see the jig fall to bottom as it keeps peeling line. When this occurs, move to a new hole, or adjust the sonar to a narrower transducer beam, such as 9 degrees. This said, if fish are suspended above it, then the false bottom is a non-issue.

Regardless of cone angle, when chasing suspended crappies, I increase sensitivity, or gain, more than when I’m focused on bottom dwelling species. This amplifies the weakest fish signals occurring at the edges of the sonar’s cone angle that might not display on a lower setting. A faint flicker on the screen is an important clue that fish are in the area.

After suspending fish are located, sonar’s feedback allows for precision placement of a jig in the water column. This helps curtail the common mistake of fishing below suspending fish. Always start with the bait positioned well above fish signals. Don’t be shy about positioning a lure five to 10 feet (or more) above fish displayed on electronics. Crappies are up feeders and, when active, will rise several feet to eat. Keeping the bait well overhead also ups the odds it will be seen and attract more sky looking suspenders far off to the sides of the ice hole.

Another virtue of dancing bait well above a fish’s head is that getting a crappie to swim up a fair distance to inspect a bait seems to whet they appetite to attack. Sonar allows you to watch this unfold. If fishing high above fish doesn’t pay off, you can lower the presentation. It’s common too to hook a few active fish at first by jigging high and then getting more neutral ones to bite after you drop the bait farther down within the pack.

Although portable sonar has the leading role in hard water exploits, an underwater camera has merits on clear water systems. One virtue is that it helps locate prime structure and cover.

Whether you’re ice fishing or fishing in the open water, an underwater fishing camera will help you become a better fisherman. For years I relied on my Vexilar flasher to see underwater for me when ice fishing. And yes a flasher will help you catch more fish. But a flasher can’t tell you what species of fish is below you, or separate fish from tree branches nearly as well as an underwater camera can. After using an underwater fishing camera both ice fishing and in the open water I have witnessed first hand just how valuable of a tool an underwater fishing camera is. Now Vexilar has combined the underwater camera with the flasher unit and have named it Double Vision. “The Fish Scout Double Vision system starts with a great 16:9 wide-screen color monitor, 80 foot of cable, a color/black and white camera system that automatically shifts from color to black and white mode in low light conditions. Your Fish Scout Double Vision system has its own carrying case with two options for over- hole suspension arms and even a battery status indicator. This system comes with a 9-amp hour, 12-volt battery and a 1-amp hour battery charger.

An underwater camera can also help you understand the layout so you can position holes over the best spots. Observing crappies through the years has revealed valuable insights about their hovering habits and preferred winter habitats.