What does electronics have to do with ice-fishing? Well, actually quite a bit these days; in fact batteries and electronics play a big role in almost everything we do these days. Just the other day I had to get a tiny battery replaced in my wife’s car so she could start it before she goes out on cold mornings and don’t forget to charge your phone each night either. Well guess what, even the “Frozen Chosen” have opted to make more use of electronics out on the ice.

In the “old days”, I’m talking back in the 60’s, ice fishermen poked a hole in the ice using a metal spud bar; it was hard work and very noisy as well as sloppy but it got the job done. Then along came hand ice augers; these devices drilled a hole much quicker and cleaner and every serious ice angler had one. Eventually many of the more avid ice fishermen switched to the more efficient and also more expensive gas powered ice augers. While they drilled a hole fairly quickly and with a bit more ease they too had their hang-ups. For one thing the gas powered augers were much heavier to lug out on the ice and of course you had to keep them fueled and ready to run-if it didn’t start you were out of luck.

Bring on the battery operated ice auger. While these augers are similar to the gas powered augers in appearance they are smaller, lighter, quieter and probably faster. Along the same lines was the introduction of the hand held battery operated drill-that’s right, a carpenters drill with a 20 volt lithium battery and a simple adapter that fits on in place of the hand device atop the drill bit. These drills are very light and more compact and easy to transport and they drill very effectively; I can drill a hole as fast or even faster than the average gas powered ice auger. On a single battery I can drill enough holes to keep a half-dozen fishermen busy all day and still have power left at the end of the day. I also carry an extra battery just in case but I’ve yet to use it.

Not only has electronics changed the way we get to the fish but it’s also changed the way we find or locate the fish we are after. In the “old days” we drilled a hole, hooked a lead weight on our rod or tip-up and dropped it down the hole to determine the depth. We would often start by fishing our jigs and bait a few inches off the bottom; if we got no hits we moved the lure up a bit in the water column and fished it some more. This process continued until we got some action and then we concentrated at that depth.

To some degree we still practice a similar technique but now we can “see” the depth we are fishing in and we can even “see” the fish or at least the marks that represent the fish. Enter the portable, battery operated fish locater or depth finder. These are the same devices found on many fishermen’s boats except they are designed for the ice fisherman. I usually drill three holes fairly close to each other; the depth finder goes in the middle hole and I rig an ice-fishing rod for the holes on either side. The beauty of these electronics is that you can determine where the fish are in the water column much quicker than the old techniques-of course that doesn’t mean you are going to catch those fish.

Throw in your phone with GPS and a pair of electric socks and you have entered the electronic age of ice-fishing.