Pond Boss Forums INTRO New Forum Member Introduction Love The Pond

Corgi,
I confess my interest and ignorance on your vexilar? How in the world do you watch fish going up and down after your lure with that gizmo? HOw does it have a motor in it? I see that the new fishfinders have pretty amazing view of actual fish swimming up and down or following lures but I have no idea how that machine does it. I guess I'm showing my millennial-properties?

Welcome to Pond Boss. Any question you have the brain trust here will be able to answer.

Beautiful place you have there.

Greg

One of our 3 corgis, Forrest wanting to go for another paddle boat ride.
Our compressor sits under the small house on the dock.


Fish jumping. I was taking pics of the wood duck family and later while
viewing the pics on my pc, noticed the LMB.


One of our 3 corgis, River watching the outdoor channel. Our other two
could not do what she does, which is just watch.


Found these last spring back in the woods.


Male wood ducks sure are pretty


Pileated Woodpecker


Indigo Bunting


Flicker


Lit up



Hello


Half beard and friend.


Sometimes two heads are better than one.


Plump porky passing pond pic


Turkey stumping. "If elected, I promise to ban Thanksgiving dinners."

You may be referring to underwater cameras which are fun to watch, but the vexilar is a sonar unit that pings sound to the bottom and comes back to the receiver within the transducer. The time it takes to return determines depth. This same sonar signal will also bounce back off any fish in the path and they too will register. Even schools of minnows can be seen.

By turning up the gain, I can see my small jig, see the pics on the previous page, and they show up as a small red band between the surface ( 0 ) and the whatever the bottom depth might be which is also represented as red. The jig can be seen going to the bottom and when slowly swimming it upward, and fish that may be following it will also show up as a band. The red band representing the fish and the smaller red band representing my small jig are easily seen. When the red band that represents the fish swims up to and blends in to the red band that represents the jig, pay very close attention to the spring bobber, as that is when a very subtle bite occurs. It's almost like cheating to be able to watch them this way. I can also observe their behavior in how much they are willing to move for a proper presentation. One can see when they are aggressively biting, when they are going off the bite, and when they are in a totally negative mode.

Back in the early 90's, a much smaller number of guys were using Vexilars, but go to any lake ice fishing in the northern tier of states nowadays, and everybody has them. Many models that range in price from a little under $300 to over $600. They do make a huge difference.

I usually drill about a dozen holes 10 yards apart, walking away from my portable shanty and then back again drilling a hole every 10 paces or so. I put down the auger and then take my Vexilar to the first hole I drilled and put the transducer in the hole and look. I'm looking for either suspended fish which are very easily seen, or fish near or on bottom which are a little harder to see, but a few seconds watching the screen will tell you if anybody is home. If not, move to the next hole. Lather, rinse, repeat. Some days, it takes augering only a few holes to find them, and other days 50 or more. But once found, let the dance begin. I also will drill a few more areas near any productive holes I've found and move from hole to hole in a general area, as staying at one hole is not as produtive as moving from hole to hole picking on active fish.

Welcome to the forum corgi
You have a beautiful place and looks like a game preserve. Whatever you are doing, keep doing it cause it works. Great pictures. Enjoy looking at them.

Spectacular pics, really enjoyed them. You have quite a place!

My ice equipment looks a lot like yours except I use bait casting reels and fly fishing reels which cause me fewer line tangles with light # test line 1-2 lb. I also make my own spring bobbers. I like ice fishing best with frozen minnows on small ice spoons. I make most of my ice spoons. I never got the knack for using the jigs. How much snow is on the ground now? Usually at CMU when the snow started it stayed until spring melt.

I also love light line. I usually use McCoy Mean Green in 1 lb test. The "spikes" and "mousies" are larval bait that is actually a couple varieties of caddis. I usually buy a 1000 of each at the beginning of the ice fishing season as they keep well in cottage cheese containers in the side door of the frig. Just make sure the lids are back on tight when grabbing a few for the film canisters on a fishing trip. Wives don't take kindly to loose maggots roaming about in the bottom of the frig or on the floor. Much like the larval stage of a Mayfly, is called a wiggler at bait stores, and my fave bait for perch.

Right now we have about a 1/4 inch of snow, although we will probably get an inch or two in the next couple days, and then up to a half foot by the end of next week. A fairly mild winter so far, although we are about to get our first real cold blast of the winter with single digit and low teen temps predicted, along with sub zero wind chills. Winter in Mich. It could be in the high 30s or 40s a day or two after the cold snap.

J


McCoy Mean Green 1 lb.


Mayfly (hexagenia limbata)


Mayfly nymph "wiggler". I have a hatch of these in our pond that happens nightly for
over a week. Fish stuff themselves when this hatch is going. After 3 years in the lake, river, or pond bottom, they finally emerge from their larval casing and as winged Mayflys,usually mate shortly after getting wings, where they die shortly after mating. The female will die after spending her eggs into the same body of water starting the 3 year cycle over again. An amazing life when you think about it. They grow about a half inch per year for 3 years before emerging. One of my favorite baits.


Mousies and spikes (larval caddis)


The thread art I do on rods I build sometimes takes longer to do
than glueing the 1/2" cork, reel seat, and wrapping thread for the eyelets on the blank.


Another bird pic taken from the man cave. Rose Breasted Grosbeak


Nuthatch

Since you are now retired, why not write an article (1-3 parts) about ice fishing for Pond Boss magazine? I am still to busy to get that done. Plus I have other articles that I am slowly working on.

Bob Lusk is always looking for mag articles of any type about ponds. It would fit nicely in the On Northern Pond section. Contact him if interested. He prefers 2-3 pg articles between 750-1500 words. One can't really say much in two pages if a few pictures are added. I think there could easily just be one article about ice fishing safety. One article on rods & depth finders, one on bait, one on using the bait to find and catch fish. He pays a small amount for articles.

Another fine addition to the forum....... Cool thread!