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The Panfish Finder
By Ted Pilgrim

To anglers who eat, sleep and breathe "humpback" panfish-ponderous bluegills, crappies, yellow perch-the early and late winter ice periods could just as well last all year. Shallow water, weeds, great sprawling flats and fish that like to bite-at least, if you can find them. Indeed, for many humpback hounds, finding fish on large flats remains a mystery. Brian "Bro" Brosdahl, confirmed leader of the panfish pack, calls these fish "bulls in a haystack," and rightfully so. Particularly on large lakes or other waters hosting low density panfish populations (low density equals humpbacks), discovering their position can be a trick. Lacking a certain "fish finder" and a game plan to match, the task is certainly a daunting one.

On the North American Ice Fishing Circuit (NAIFC)-the ultimate test of panfishing skill-top anglers have over the years refined just such a game plan. For tournament aces like Joe Pikulski and Tony Boshold, use of a virtual fish finder-a panfish finder like a MarCum VS825C underwater viewing system-remains the heart of their respective tournament programs.

"Anglers on the NAIFC are so talented across the board that winning requires a little something extra," says Pikulski, who along with partner Myron Gilbert, won a fourth Team of the Year title in late winter 2009. Known as the "Ice Trollers," Pikulski and Gilbert drill holes far and wide, viewing in each hole with a MarCum 825. Consequently, they're typically the first team to sniff out fresh pockets of bluegills and crappies. Though the duo doesn't necessarily see eye-to-eye on who's the tougher driller, Pikulski has the last word. "Usually, Myron ends up having all the fun with the camera, while I'm buzzing around drilling zillions of holes."

A similar game of drill and conquer is carried out by Tony Boshold and Bob Horn, as well as Dave Young and partner Mike Boedeker-2nd place and 5th place teams, respectively. In Boshold and Horn's case, the fish finding process goes two directions, covering separate areas of each lake. "During prefishing, Bob and I go our separate ways," says Boshold. "We'll look at a map first thing in the morning. Each of us picks three or four different unexplored areas of the lake, and then we zip off to check 'em out. Sometimes, we won't see each other again until dinner."

Like Pikulski and Gilbert, Boshold and Horn rely foremost on their "panfish finder," a color MarCum 825 camera. For the Ice Trollers, the deal goes something like this: A spacious weed flat is 'mapped' on the ice by walking off the outer perimeter of the flat, drilling additional holes every twenty feet or so-this is best accomplished using a handheld GPS loaded with a LakeMaster map chip. Following closely behind, the viewer (usually Gilbert, says Pikulski) submerges the MarCum camera, twisting the cable to rotate the lens for a full 360-degree view of the terrain. Once the outer edge has been drilled out and viewed, the drilling angler moves up onto the flat, making a parallel path of shallower holes. When the MarCum reveals the first several panfish, more holes are drilled in a circle pattern around the "fish" hole. Concentric circles of holes widen around the fish hole until the main grouping of fish is discovered. In tournament competition, of course, too many holes aren't always a good thing, which makes the MarCum camera even more valuable. "When we find a big school," Pikulski continues, "eventually word gets out and company arrives on the scene. Open holes can become fair game for our competitors and a ton of extra holes are like an invitation to these guys."