By Matthew J. Breuer
Imagine sitting in a fish house, bent over, staring down a tiny hole punched through a giant sheet of ice. You see weeds, the mucky lake bottom, your line, jig and bait. Suddenly you see movement out of the corner of your eye, and you realize it’s a fish. Your heart drops when you realize it’s swimming toward your bait. You try to stay steady, you try to remember to breathe…. suddenly the fish slurps up your bait with an effortless inhale and you set the hook.
Seeing is Believing
When talking about “sight-fishing” us diehards are referring to targeting fish that we can physically see moving in the water, and reacting to our bait. Whether it is with an underwater camera while sitting in a buddy’s permanent shelter, or laying down on the ice with your face in a hole and your hood covering your head to drown out the light, it’s something every angler should experience. It’s not only fun and exciting, it’s also the best way to learn how fish act and react in the water.
What to Watch For
Nearly every fish that swims can be targeted in a sight-fishing scenario. I’ve caught trout suspended 10 feet down over 60 feet of water that I was able to see hit the jig while staring down an eight-inch ice-hole. I’ve also watched walleyes on an underwater camera come slithering through a weed bed to inhale my minnow while I was targeting perch. Of course bluegills and crappies love cabbage weeds and coon-tail, and they are often found roaming through shallow water, especially late-ice, when the shallows are rich with oxygen and full of forage. These areas with green living weeds are the best places to start. If you’re new to sight-fishing, panfish are also the best species to target to get you interested and excited about it.
Take Shelter
One of the most important things you need to make a sight-fishing adventure successful is a good quality shelter. You’re going to want to stay warm for stability, and you need the shelter to be dark enough so you can see the light below the ice. I have been running Fish Traps from the Clam Corporation for many years now, and I haven’t found a shelter that didn’t keep out the light well enough so that you can see your jig and fish. Clam also has several models with thermal fabric, which helps the shelter retain heat. Since you’re going to be fishing in shallow water or targeting fish that are going to be riding high and tight to the bottom of the ice, you want to be as quiet as possible. Even the sound of a noisy heater or shuffling around to get comfortable is enough to scare off fish in shallow water. The Fish Traps are comfortable enough that you shouldn’t need to shift and shuffle much to get cozy. You can also turn off your heater if the fish seem spooky, because your shelter will stay warmer with the thermal material.
Clear the Ice
Using your standard eight- inch auger will work just fine for sight-fishing, but life gets easier with a 10-inch hole. If you want to make looking down even easier you can drill two holes side-by-side so they overlap, making a 15”x8” hole to look through. A person can even drill three holes in a triangle making a large pyramid-shaped hole in the ice, making sight-fishing a breeze. There are people out there so serious about sight-fishing that they cut spearing blocks allowing them to see a giant area below. The bigger the hole in the ice, the bigger the area a person can watch and fish in.
Electronic Advantage
Your Vexilar should always be at your side when you’re on the ice; however, people often ask where my Vexilar comes into play while I’m out sight-fishing. When you’re trying to find the spot you’re going to fish, you can use your Vexilar as your eyes beneath the ice. Your Vexilar can tell you depth, bottom type, if there are weeds below, and most important, if there are fish present. Your Vexilar also provides you vision when you sit up to take those much needed breaks from leaning over the hole. If you want to use your Vexilar to the fullest, try this neat little trick next time you’re out sight-fishing. The new FL-22HD comes with the new Tri-Beam Ice-Ducer which has three beam angles in one transducer, 8, 12 and 20 degrees. Set your beam angle at 20 degrees so you can acquire signals from the very tips of your Vexilar’s reach. Drill a hole five to seven feet out from your corner of the Fish Trap and set your transducer away from the shack. This gives you another set of eyes outside of your shelter, so you can tell if fish are moving in, or are in the area. If you’re fishing with a buddy, and he sets his electronics up outside of the shack you’re covering an even bigger area.
Another piece of electronics that can be a lot of fun is an underwater camera. Cameras like the new Vexilar Fish Scout 1000 add a whole new element of excitement to fishing, and redefine the term “sight-fishing.” With a seven-inch 16:9 widescreen LCD color monitor and 80 feet of cable a fisherman’s vision underwater is extended greatly, and in crisp-clear color. Drilling a hole for the camera five feet outside of the shelter and pointing the camera at the area under the shelter allows an angler to see exactly what’s going on below their feet. Another option is to hook the cable on the clip on the back of the camera, causing the camera to point straight down. This allows for anglers to see downward, giving the same image as standard sight-fishing, but allowing an angler to do so in much deeper water, all without having to lean over the hole.
Go Get ’Em
For those of you who’ve done it, you know what I’m talking about. For those of you who haven’t tried it… heed my advice and get yourself within an eye-shot of some panfish and watch them inhale your jig. There’s nothing like it.