Moving around

[hlfmoon]

I have never understand why people move around when icefishing. I know a lot of experts say if your hole is not producing drill another. But anyone with a fish finder can tell you the fish come through in schools. I have sat anchored in my boat and every 20 to 30 minutes have a school come past. So do not think it is a matter of moving, but what and how you are presenting your lure or bait.
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[wiperhunter2]

When you are in a boat you can see the depth and structure as you move around, checking the bottom. Thats hard to do with ice on, unless you have a GPS and have spots already marked. Depending on what the bottom looks like, fish will follow a certain contour and stay at a certain depth. Yes, they stay close to the bottom most of the time but not always. Unless you have a depth finder that reads through ice, you need to drill a hole a check the depth. You might get lucky from time to time and catch fish as they come through but it is very unlikely you can do that all the time. Sometimes you can look at the land and see a point that extents out into the water or you have fished a spot so much that you know where to drill your hole. We fished at the Gorge yesterday and were seeing schools come through but they were closed mouth, different presentation or bait made no difference. It wasn't until we drilled our 17th hole that we found active fish. This is just my opinion of course but it will be interesting to see what other think. WH2
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[DKSRenegade]

I disagree with you on this. If I am looking for perch and drill a hole in 12' of water, I'll never catch a perch. If I move to 25' of water and start catching perch and then in a few hours no perch, I must move out to deeper water to find them.
Now if I'm fishing at Strawberry in July, in a spot that has been good in the past, I may be able to stay and wait for the trout to come by.
If I found the fall Brown Trout fishing great while they were on their redds, that doesn't mean that next spring I will find them theren in the same spot.
You can't lump all fishing together that easily. At least I won't. I would rather move around and find the fish where they are located.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]You have to keep in mind also that merely seeing fish on sonar is no guarantee of action. Fish hang out in different areas for different reasons sometimes. If you find them in their feeding areas, you might catch fish. If you see them cruising through, suspended at mid depth, after they finish feeding, you might not get bit.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Also, you cannot generalize across the board. There are quite a few species to be caught, and each one can act differently on different days...or even several times during the same day. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]It is not unwise to move if you are not catching fish, but only after you have exhausted all of the options for catching them at the first spot. Without a sonar you are handicapped. But, some folks handicap themselves with a sonar by remaining at a spot, waiting for fish to turn on, rather than looking for more active fish. Sometimes you can find a hot school only a few feet away from a neutral or negative school.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]In the final analysis, it takes a combination of skill and luck to find the fish and catch them. That is one of the elements of ice fishing that appeals to so many anglers.[/#0000ff]
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