Just ordered my first flasher. Any tips for a flasher newbie?

[jasong31]

Picked up the marcum vx1....

ANy tips for a flasher noob?

[John_Boy]

Best advice i can give you is to go fishing allot . it's pretty much self teaching .
Take your manual along to read during slow times , Good Luck !! You made a good choice .
                                                                                                       John

[Pasquatch]

Just keep fiddling around with it until you figure out what works where and when. Its really a matter of tweaking the settings to suit conditions and your preferences. Use it as much as you can, and read the manual. Practice makes almost perfect.

Good luck, and tight lines!

[ChillerThriller]

For the first learning curve fish with someone who has a camera at least once or twice to see what all the lines and stuff mean. Its really helpful. or you can look down the hole for a bit just to get the hang of what is what.

[WHITETAIL111]

Yeah....don't do it in public or around schoolyards...you'll get arrested.  Sorry...couldn't resist.

[MikeMunn]

You'll be surprised how fast you'll figure it out.  Read the manual a few times, watch the CD a few times if it came with one, and get familiar with the controls (that won't take long).  I found it a little easier using it on a body of water I knew pretty well first.  If I already knew I was in around 20' of water from fishing there in the summer, then it made it easier to have confidence in my flasher when it told me I was in 20' of water during ice fishing season.  Hope that makes sense.  I know when I first got my Vex I was a little nervous that I'd be asking my buddies questions on how to use it all day.  Instead, it took about 2 minutes to figure out and I had a fish on within 10 minutes of turning it on the first time (that might have been more luck than anything, but I did "watch" a fish inhale my jig).  Good luck!

[MarcumDude]

I'm in your boat....Picked up a Macum VX-1 back in JULY.  Talk about being anxious to try it out!!!  5 months staring at my new toy!! Ready to try it out this coming weekend!!!  Can't wait!

[PheasantTale]

Watch out for "noise" if you are too close to others with flashers.  It will give you signals that do not make any sense.  There is a button to push to alleviate the problem, but if you get a couple right next to yours, you may have to ask them to pull their transducers for a second to sort out what is noise.

[purduebass]

Buy twice as much bait as you used to buy!!!!  You will need it, flashers are amazing!!!!  Goodluck with your new unit.

[Icepuppy]

I agree with everyone, you have to try it to really see how it works.  The first time you see a fish beeline for your bait you have it all figured out!  The best tip I would give is to set the gain (sensitivity) low so you only see your lure/jig and then believe anything other mark you see, it's 99% going to be a fish.  See if you can find a frozen pond to try it, even if just for depth readings and if the ice is safe of course!

[mcully]

Charge the battery and don't leave it at home, you won't want to fish without it!