Flasher info

[SD1797]

Hi all you fishermen/women. First post to the fishing forum. I have been wondering how these flasher units actually work and and thought who better to ask than the knowledgeable AO crowd. I understand they're some sort of fish finder but that's about all I know lol. Any enlightenment to my idiocy greatly appreciated!

[splake0]

Watch u tube videos on them.

[shorthair ptr.]

I love mine, it's a Vexilar. I'm sure they've changed quite a bit over the last few years so be sure to research. I've been using mine for about 5yrs now and love it.

[YeeHaw]

I just got a l
new to me Vexilar fl-18 a little over a month ago, and I now wonder how I ever fished without it. Well worth what I paid. Wish I would have got one years ago.

[RavYak]

There are two types of flashers, the older style mechanical flashers and the newer digital flashers. The advantages of a mechanical flasher over digital flasher is that they use less power(around half as much), are cheaper and in some cases have better target separation. The main advantages of a digital flasher are more options such as a sonar chart(can view history), GPS, camera.

Another thing to consider is if you want single beam or dual beam. Dual beam flashers with a narrow beam help in deeper water and when trying to fish sharp dropoffs/structure. The reason for this is that a wider beam will pick up the highest point as bottom giving you dead spots if you are on a slope or lumpy bottom and also as it will show less clutter on screen as it is picking up less fish. Lots of guys are plenty happy with their single beam flashers but with practice you will definitely be able to fish more structures more effectively with a dual beam model. One thing to note is that there are a few flashers that are dual beam with a wider beam, this would help in shallow water but give no advantages in deeper water.

Next thing to know is target separation. With smaller target separation you can pick up separate targets easier. If fishing for a school of fish say perch then a smaller separation will allow you to see individual fish whereas a large target separation might just show a blob. Most units are around the 2-2.5 inch mark but a few can go as small as 0.5-1 inch which would help in certain situations.

One other thing to consider that I have seen complaints about and noticed first hand at Cabelas is that the Vexilar units(or some of them anyways) emit an audible hum that annoys some users.

[snortwheez]

The biggest plus to me with the flasher is the fact you can pick out what fish are active below your hole...
When using my dad's Humminbird ICE 688CI HD COMBO, I can set the sensitivity to pick up what jig/lure i'm using as it falls. Any fish that are interested you will see the line start to rise/drop to your bait if there active.
9 times out of 10 if the lines meet, be ready to set the hook....

[RavYak]

My last post explained differences but what I didn't do was explain real benefits.

One of the biggest benefits is determining depth. If you carry some water around you may not even have to drill hole to read depth(put water down and can shoot right through ice). This can save a lot of time when looking for a certain depth. If you are good at reading your flasher you should be able to determine bottom type too which can help in locating fish.

Next benefit is being able to see if there are actually fish around. If there are fish around you should be able to see them on flasher at some point, if you don't see anything it is probably a good idea to move. If you are seeing marks but just not getting bite you know to change your lure or wait for the bite to start.

When you know you are on the fish you can use the flasher to get a fish to bite. Sometimes you need to hold still, some times you need to jig slowly, sometimes violently and with the flasher you can see when a fish is interested and adjust your technique as required to get him to bite.

A camera will help you do most of the above(except not as good for depth) but one of the main advantages over a camera is that you can spot suspended fish you might normally miss if your camera is on the bottom.

[SD1797]

Thx for the info fellas!

[Alberta Bigbore]

Ive used a Humminbird Ice-55 in the past.

But just did an upgrade to the Vexilar FLX28... it blows the Humminbird Ice55 out of the water..

I was thinking of Marcum LX5... but my FLX28 does so much more. And i didnt even consider a marcum LX7 or 9......as i didnt want the hassle of upgrades.

[Dr. Fish]

Originally Posted by Alberta Bigbore

Ive used a Humminbird Ice-55 in the past.

But just did an upgrade to the Vexilar FLX28... it blows the Humminbird Ice55 out of the water..

I was thinking of Marcum LX5... but my FLX28 does so much more. And i didnt even consider a marcum LX7 or 9......as i didnt want the hassle of upgrades.

Your missing out, like going from an Atari to a Xbox360. Rarely have any upgrades and they are dead simple to install.

[Double-Eh]

I'm suddenly thinking of getting some kind of flasher, but I cannot decide which. The first issue is cost. Those things are pricy little toys.

But as for what I'm looking for, I just want something I can plunk in after drilling a hole and seeing what the depth is, and assessing what the bottom may be (weeds, or sand, etc).

Where is a good place to start?

[Dean2]

Originally Posted by Double-Eh

I'm suddenly thinking of getting some kind of flasher, but I cannot decide which. The first issue is cost. Those things are pricy little toys.

But as for what I'm looking for, I just want something I can plunk in after drilling a hole and seeing what the depth is, and assessing what the bottom may be (weeds, or sand, etc).

Where is a good place to start?

The Vexilar will tell you that WITHOUT drilling the hole.. Just pour a little liquid on the ice and it will shoot right through it. I have had a Vexillar 8 for the past 25 years and can't tell you how many hundreds, probably thousands, of hours it has operated ice fishing from -50 to +10.

Pulled behind quads, Skidoos, sleighs pulled by dogs, used in tents and open ice. Loaded into airplanes, left in the cold for weeks on end, charged with solar panels and generators, run completely flat and not recharged for a week. Anything you can think of to stress equipment has been done to it. It has even been on quite a few fly in trips. It has never required service and it is only on the second sealed battery. Target separation is as good as it gets and the rig is pretty much bullet proof.

To me a good quality flasher is very well worth the money. It really does help you catch a LOT more fish.

[EZM]

I use the flasher when in deeper water. I find the camera more the "go to tool" in water from 3 feet to about 20 feet in depth.

As RavYak mentioned, the camera will miss stuff that is above it that a flasher would pick up, but my camera Marcum 825 does give me depth, temp, direction which are nice features. You can see what's happening at your hook, and more importantly, how the fish are reacting to your movements.

Keep in mind in 20 feet of water your camera can only see the bottom 4-5 feet or so - so you are missing the top 15 feet ..... on the other hand .... a flasher, even with a "wide cone" would only see a small area right below the transducer - so at 10 feet down, it's only reading a circle about 3ft in diameter. Anything more than 3 feet off to the side, in this case, isn't picked up.

Flashers are excellent tools. They shine in deeper water and features like dual cone, built in GPS (on some models) are awesome.

For X-mass my wife got me a LX1 flasher (looks like a flashlight). Because it's exactly like a flashlight, its very easy to tote around scouting for a new spot without carrying around a full size flasher and the cords. It's great for shooting through the ice to find depth and, believe it or not, it marks fish. The only issue with conventional Flashers through the ice to find depth is they need to be in firm contact with the ice (no snow cover) so, as mentioned, you need to scrape down to ice and wet it a little to get a good reading.

I read on the ice shanty forum a guy has a big ziplock with half filled with water in it. He drops the bag on the ice and reads right through to the bottom. Other ideas I read, a portable tiger torch, ballon with glycol etc.... might seem like a pain, but it's less work than drilling holes all over the ice to find structure in an unfamiliar area of the lake.

Everyone knows how bad it sucks when you get all set up only to find you are a ways off the prime structure.

The LX1 seemed to be less "finicky" in this manner, I have put it down on ice before wetting it and it does give a reading sometimes, my other flasher has a little more difficulty getting an accurate reading but it is possible.

Flashers are great tools and you can do allot with them. I would suggest getting one with a mapping card and GPS so you can mark the good spots and return to them.

[splake0]

Just keep in mind Once you have a flasher you can never go without it.