Flasher on Shallow Water

[ajw2202]

Around me are several shallow lakes maybe 6ft max depth. I have an FL18 and I play hell getting it to dial in without the jig being directly under the transducer. Is that just how it works or am I doing something wrong?

[meandcuznalfy]

Are you using shallow water mode on it?

[DR.SPECKLER]

Should be marking it and almost be blobby in that shallow of water.i would be using lp mode and turn gain up until the jig is displayed.

[hardwater diehard]

If the ice isn't thick ..place the transducer just below the ice ..no float use the eye bolt and stopper ..LP mode ..AZ mode may work also ..gain should be as low as need ..your cone is going to be minimal depends on your transducers degree.

12 degree would be approx. 1 foot ..19 degree about 3 foot 

What degree transducer do you have ?

https://www.vexilar.com/blog/2019/12/04/choosing-a-transducer-beam-angle

[Ice_Fly_Guy]

Your cone is probably only 2 feet on bottom in 6 feet of water, so if your jig is 4 feet down, the cone there is probably only a foot or so.  It stands to reason that it is harder to get the jig to register.

[Kevin23]

vexilars are not very good in shallow water. Marcums are even worse as the non digital ones have a 2.5' dead zone at top.

My humminbird ice unit shows my jig from 6" on down and works very well in shallow water. I fish a lot of 18"-3' of dirty water, and while it doesn't provide a huge advantage it does show me when a fish is looking at my jig and doesnt bite.. You arent going to hole hop to mark fish or anything, your area of coverage is tiny. But it will show you your jig, a fish looking at the jig, and what he liked or didnt like about you jigging. You have to be sure and have your jig straight below your transducer, even other side of the hole is too far away sometimes.

[hnd]

the 18 has a 12 deg ducer so its pretty narrow which is why you are having a hell of a time seeing the jig in that shallow of water unless you are directly under the ducer. 

depending upon how much ice you have place the ducer just into the water not all the way down the hole.    Use LP mode but even in 6' of water, the return of anything on a vexilar is enormous and really makes it difficult to utilize in shallow water. 

the other brands (marcum, bird *marcum lcds won't show 2.5' and up) really shine in that shallow of water.   other LCD models may i have no idea. 

but remember that your cone angle of what you can see in 6' of water is 1.1 or so with a 12 deg transducer.  Very little visibility.  and the farther you go up the even less it gets.  any fish a foot up or so off the bottom will not show up unless its right on your jig. 

[Mancaveburnett]

I fish one pond with an average of 10' depth. In shallow water a flasher doesnt work all that well because your cone is so narrow. when a fish is right on top of the jig it is nice to see but other than that it doesnt do much good. Thats just my personal opinion.

[Gunflint]

I fish one pond with an average of 10' depth. In shallow water a flasher doesnt work all that well because your cone is so narrow. when a fish is right on top of the jig it is nice to see but other than that it doesnt do much good. Thats just my personal opinion.

Livescopes rock in shallow water due to the fact that the "cone"is well over 100 degrees. But, Livescopes lose their edge in deep water (over 80 feet or so) and flashers seem to do as good a job in deeper water.

[Iawinger]

When I had a FL18, I had a 19 degree ducer that I used when fishing shallow lakes, under 10 feet. Also used low power mode.

Only downside is spending 100 bucks for it.

[hnd]

Livescopes rock in shallow water due to the fact that the "cone"is well over 100 degrees. But, Livescopes lose their edge in deep water (over 80 feet or so) and flashers seem to do as good a job in deeper water.

i watched a guy use livescope in 4' of water. it was pretty amazing. 

[kpmswi]

I agree with Kevin 23,

Just yesterday I was fishing with two other guys in a shallow farm pond. The Humminbird would read to 2.5 feet the Vexilar 28 would read up to 3.5-4 but my Marcum LX6 usually only to 5 feet.

[ajw2202]

All excellent info thanks a bunch

[ralphy]

Anyone ever go to the backwaters on the Mississippi 2-6ft with a locator and get there ass handed to them by the guy working the water column?

[Kevin23]

Anyone ever go to the backwaters on the Mississippi 2-6ft with a locator and get there ass handed to them by the guy working the water column?

I fish the backwaters twice or more a week usually. With my humminbird I can see from 6" down to the bottom so I work the whole area for crappies. Usually the guys with no flasher are following me around or wasting time while I am catching fish. You absolutely don't need a flasher to catch fish, but like anywhere... it helps with telling you if the fish are there or not. How many times have you hopped a tree and didnt catch anything then another guy came behind you and started catching fish in that tree? with a flasher you can see that there are fish there and they dont like your jig, so a jig change could save you that spot. that's what I use a flasher for more than anything in shallow water.

Two days ago I fished a slough and was the only one with a flasher. I caught a few nice perch and lots of small bluegill (7.5 and smaller). I was the farthest back (worked my way back there) so on my way back out I walked by all the locals on their buckets with two rods. Just about everyone had a nice little pile of 3-5 bluegills in the 4-6" range, one guy had a nice perch. Talked to a couple guys, they were using the same as me for the most part.. 1/32 hair jigs and rembrandts. They didn't know the aggressive bigger fish were coming in just under the ice and not down by bottom (4.5' of water).

[defish]

vexilars are not very good in shallow water. Marcums are even worse as the non digital ones have a 2.5' dead zone at top.

My humminbird ice unit shows my jig from 6" on down and works very well in shallow water. I fish a lot of 18"-3' of dirty water, and while it doesn't provide a huge advantage it does show me when a fish is looking at my jig and doesnt bite.. You arent going to hole hop to mark fish or anything, your area of coverage is tiny. But it will show you your jig, a fish looking at the jig, and what he liked or didnt like about you jigging. You have to be sure and have your jig straight below your transducer, even other side of the hole is too far away sometimes.

Kevin - Are you using a humminbird flasher, or a helix graph flasher?  Thanks.

[Kevin23]

ICE series flasher, with a transducer arm and not the float.

[PikeKing23]

Why use a flasher that shallow?  Just look down the hole. 

[Kevin23]

Why use a flasher that shallow?  Just look down the hole. 

Because theres usually about 6" of visibility LOL

[defish]

ICE series flasher, with a transducer arm and not the float.

Thanks Kevin - this shallow water capability definitely makes a bird one of my top choices.

[kpmswi]

After realizing that my Marcum Lx6 would only read up to 5 feet I went back to my Marcum lx5 and could ready up to 2.5 feet, much better but no history like the Lx6 has.

[HWeber]

Flasher seems pointless under 10ft after using panoptix. Looking at cone sizes at 3-5ft I wouldn't buy any other unit to fish shallow.  At 2.5ft looks like a 20° cone is less than a foot

[kpmswi]

Flasher seems pointless under 10ft after using panoptix. Looking at cone sizes at 3-5ft I wouldn't buy any other unit to fish shallow.  At 2.5ft looks like a 20° cone is less than a foot .

Yes you are right the cone size would be very small. However I like to see where the floor is so I can fish right above it and see if a fish is moving in to look at or bite my bait. In my case there is a lot of area of the pond that is between 5 and 2.5 feet. Yes it would be nice to have a panoptix unit but hard for me to justify.

[Beardcat]

Reviving this thread because I have a follow up question related to all the great info...
When fishing very shallow (4-6 ft deep) local city ponds, making a flasher mainly only good for marking depth and not fish, how do you all go about fishing the water column to find fish? Do you start close to the bottom and jig your way up? Or do you start jogging just below the ice and work your way deeper? Thanks in advance for the advice!

[skifisher]

I would start at a few inches above the bottom, jig for a minute or two, crank up one or two cranks, repeat the jigging sequence altering the cadence, pause, and repeat, etc., etc., until you either hit fish, or you’re at the top of the hole. If no action after two or three repeated sequences, I’d move to another spot until I locate the fish.

[hardwater diehard]

I use to jig from the bottom up ...but then changed after reading an article or watched a video where the angler explained that your lure is way more visible from a distance when jigging higher up in the water column  ..add weeds or murky water and/or shallow depths even more so. When I scout with my camera on large flats I tilt my camera 45 deg down so I place it in my hole barely a foot ..a quick spin and note any structure fish etc ..if I am in a hole for a period of time (fussing with the camera or getting distracted looking at my tip downs etc) ..fish particularly pan fish come to investigate ..bumping the camera at times . So that my go to move .. I also pound the bottom if nothing is working on the shallow flats.

[Beardcat]

Thank for the info guys! Diehard, when you pound the bottom do you jig the bottom continuously or pound it a few times & then let it hover just above the bottom?

[hardwater diehard]

Thank for the info guys! Diehard, when you pound the bottom do you jig the bottom continuously or pound it a few times & then let it hover just above the bottom?

Pound a few times and then lift up 6 inches ..then do a cadence of a lift.. fall ...hold and jiggle...if nothing then reel up some a foot or so (unless real shallow)  and lift ...fall..hold..

Good video in general ..12:12 mark

[hardwater diehard]

https://www.in-fisherman.com/editorial/ice-fishing-perch-with-dave-genz/153676

[Beardcat]

Thank you! I just started ice fishing last year and appreciate the tips