crappie fishing old-school

[sam2013]

This is my 3rd year ice fishing and I continue to do it the minimalist way.  My results have gotten better each year without adding all the gadgets to my arsenal, though I'm sure everyone that has all the gadgets greatly outfishes me.  Probably most people that fish the way I do outfish me as well.  Anyway, I am one of those people that gets a certain satisfaction out of keeping it simple.  I find it more rewarding in a way even though I usually don't catch as many fish as the next guy.  This DOES NOT mean that I dislike people who fish with all the gadgets, and I think people on this forum should be able to express their pride in fishing this way just like others express pride in all the fish they caught because they changed their presentation based on what they were seeing as they watched the fish on their screen. 

I may end up getting all the gadgets some day, but for now, I enjoy fishing the way I do without all that stuff.  Everyone uses this forum to promote themselves a little, including some of you who started giving this guy a hard time, so don't read so much into posts and create issues that aren't there.  To each his own in terms of how they want to fish and what they want to say on this forum.  This started as a post about a great day on the ice and that's all I thought it was.

[thefishingweatherman]

A flasher is a tool that can help anyone catch more fish, IF (and that's a big "if") you know how to use it. Anyone who thinks they can just buy one of these things and saunter out on the ice and start catching more than everyone around them is suffering from delusions of grandeur. The fundamentals of fishing require you know your target species, inside and out. That means knowing where they're likely to be, when, and why. Without that knowledge, your flasher is just another expensive toy that's bound to end up on craigslist before too long.

If you can learn your fish, AND learn your flasher, there's no doubt in my mind you will outfish anyone else... Sure, there are guys who don't use them out of principal and catch a lot of fish. There are also people who go out gold panning for the first time and find a 2 ounce nugget... Point is, over the long run, with knowledge levels being equal between two fisherman, the guy with the flasher WILL outfish the other one.

Any knucklehead can cut a hole off Hathaway point and happen upon a massive school of white perch. Been done to death, judging by the number of people I saw out there on Saturday. But when they're not there, then what? You going to rely on your spidey-senses and old superstitions to figure out where they are? A flasher wins every time for efficiency in those situations. Case closed.

[bootstrap]

in a couple of weeks a blind man will be able to catch one from shore.

[Light liner]

A flasher is a tool that can help anyone catch more fish, IF (and that's a big "if") you know how to use it. Anyone who thinks they can just buy one of these things and saunter out on the ice and start catching more than everyone around them is suffering from delusions of grandeur. The fundamentals of fishing require you know your target species, inside and out. That means knowing where they're likely to be, when, and why. Without that knowledge, your flasher is just another expensive toy that's bound to end up on craigslist before too long.

If you can learn your fish, AND learn your flasher, there's no doubt in my mind you will outfish anyone else... Sure, there are guys who don't use them out of principal and catch a lot of fish. There are also people who go out gold panning for the first time and find a 2 ounce nugget... Point is, over the long run, with knowledge levels being equal between two fisherman, the guy with the flasher WILL outfish the other one.

Any knucklehead can cut a hole off Hathaway point and happen upon a massive school of white perch. Been done to death, judging by the number of people I saw out there on Saturday. But when they're not there, then what? You going to rely on your spidey-senses and old superstitions to figure out where they are? A flasher wins every time for efficiency in those situations. Case closed.

Interesting, honestly the younger generation such as your self feel you "need" a flasher.
I've been ice fishing for over 30 years and started using a flasher about 5 years ago.
I don't always use it, but it's always with me.
Sometimes it's just not needed.
There's a lot of guys out there fishing that get piles of fish without using them.
look around next time your in the crowd over a school of fish.

[thefishingweatherman]

Interesting, honestly the younger generation such as your self feel you "need" a flasher.
I've been ice fishing for over 30 years and started using a flasher about 5 years ago.
I don't always use it, but it's always with me.
Sometimes it's just not needed.
There's a lot of guys out there fishing that get piles of fish without using them.
look around next time your in the crowd over a school of fish.

Nowhere did I use the word "need". Point is, you can catch more with one, than without, nostalgia value notwithstanding. For what it's worth, I don't own a flasher. But I have friends that do, and they out-fish me left and right. Yeah, it's not always needed, hence my commentary on Hathaway point. But like Bootstrap said, sometimes even a blind man can slay the fish...

[lowaccord66]

A flasher is a tool that can help anyone catch more fish, IF (and that's a big "if") you know how to use it. Anyone who thinks they can just buy one of these things and saunter out on the ice and start catching more than everyone around them is suffering from delusions of grandeur. The fundamentals of fishing require you know your target species, inside and out. That means knowing where they're likely to be, when, and why. Without that knowledge, your flasher is just another expensive toy that's bound to end up on craigslist before too long.

If you can learn your fish, AND learn your flasher, there's no doubt in my mind you will outfish anyone else... Sure, there are guys who don't use them out of principal and catch a lot of fish. There are also people who go out gold panning for the first time and find a 2 ounce nugget... Point is, over the long run, with knowledge levels being equal between two fisherman, the guy with the flasher WILL outfish the other one.

Any knucklehead can cut a hole off Hathaway point and happen upon a massive school of white perch. Been done to death, judging by the number of people I saw out there on Saturday. But when they're not there, then what? You going to rely on your spidey-senses and old superstitions to figure out where they are? A flasher wins every time for efficiency in those situations. Case closed.

I enjoyed reading this. 

[Lazybones]

A flasher is a tool that can help anyone catch more fish, IF (and that's a big "if") you know how to use it. Anyone who thinks they can just buy one of these things and saunter out on the ice and start catching more than everyone around them is suffering from delusions of grandeur. The fundamentals of fishing require you know your target species, inside and out. That means knowing where they're likely to be, when, and why. Without that knowledge, your flasher is just another expensive toy that's bound to end up on craigslist before too long.

If you can learn your fish, AND learn your flasher, there's no doubt in my mind you will outfish anyone else... Sure, there are guys who don't use them out of principal and catch a lot of fish. There are also people who go out gold panning for the first time and find a 2 ounce nugget... Point is, over the long run, with knowledge levels being equal between two fisherman, the guy with the flasher WILL outfish the other one.

Any knucklehead can cut a hole off Hathaway point and happen upon a massive school of white perch. Been done to death, judging by the number of people I saw out there on Saturday. But when they're not there, then what? You going to rely on your spidey-senses and old superstitions to figure out where they are? A flasher wins every time for efficiency in those situations. Case closed.

Interesting that you answered your own question before you even asked the question. If by "spidey senses" you mean knowledge and experience, and by "old superstitions" you mean the wisdom passed down by others that came before you then, YES! That is absolutely what you would use to find them.

Like you said yourself, the technology won't tell you where to drill the holes. The only thing it does is provided you with the instant gratification of knowing what is down there. Many of us knuckleheads have no problem dropping a bait down the hole to find out. I guess in some circumstances it tells you how the fish is reacting to the bait but some of us knuckleheads have a another way of telling. If the line ain't jerking it ain't working. Maybe I better try something else.

If fishing is all about "efficiency" and "out fishing" the next guy than you really do need a flasher to achieve your goals.

Don't forget to look up once in awhile though, enjoy the scenery.

[JMailbox8]

Interesting that you answered your own question before you even asked the question. If by "spidey senses" you mean knowledge and experience, and by "old superstitions" you mean the wisdom passed down by others that came before you then, YES! That is absolutely what you would use to find them.

Like you said yourself, the technology won't tell you where to drill the holes. The only thing it does is provided you with the instant gratification of knowing what is down there. Many of us knuckleheads have no problem dropping a bait down the hole to find out. I guess in some circumstances it tells you how the fish is reacting to the bait but some of us knuckleheads have a another way of telling. If the line ain't jerking it ain't working. Maybe I better try something else.

If fishing is all about "efficiency" and "out fishing" the next guy than you really do need a flasher to achieve your goals.

Don't forget to look up once in awhile though, enjoy the scenery.

 

[thefishingweatherman]

Interesting that you answered your own question before you even asked the question. If by "spidey senses" you mean knowledge and experience, and by "old superstitions" you mean the wisdom passed down by others that came before you then, YES! That is absolutely what you would use to find them.

Like you said yourself, the technology won't tell you where to drill the holes. The only thing it does is provided you with the instant gratification of knowing what is down there. Many of us knuckleheads have no problem dropping a bait down the hole to find out. I guess in some circumstances it tells you how the fish is reacting to the bait but some of us knuckleheads have a another way of telling. If the line ain't jerking it ain't working. Maybe I better try something else.

If fishing is all about "efficiency" and "out fishing" the next guy than you really do need a flasher to achieve your goals.

Don't forget to look up once in awhile though, enjoy the scenery.

Well, since troutcrazy's original post mentioned catching more fish than guys with flashers, (which I call outfishing), then yeah, that's what I am talking about here. Fishing is not all about that though - not sure how you got the idea that I might think that. My point was, all things being equal, a guy with a flasher will catch more fish.

By spidey senses and superstitions, I am talking about people who think they have some sort of proverbial dowsing rod for fish - that is, they can just sense what precise spot they will be in out on the lake, and therefore don't need a flasher. Experience and knowing the habits are something aside. For instance, I know that in the spring, the whites move into St. Albans Bay. However, they are not always in the exact same spot. So you've gotta go drilling holes to find them. I can go around with a flasher and I can know within a few seconds if there's a school below me. Without one, you have to drop your line down, sometimes pretty deep, jig for a few minutes, and then move on. All things being equal, the guy with the flasher will find them sooner, and thereby be able to catch more fish. Pretty straightforward.

In other situations, flashers are almost a necessity if you want to catch the most fish (which again, is the theme of this thread). Try jigging lakers on bottom the old way with a swim bait, right next to a guy with a flasher and see who catches more. Your jig won't tell you when a fish is closing in on your jig, (which is when you start reeling up and they give chase) but a flasher sure will... No amount of experience will tell you when a fish is about to hit down at 80 feet, that is, unless you think you have some sort of sixth sense.

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

in a couple of weeks a blind man will be able to catch one from shore.

We definitely rubbed elbows a couple years ago in Ferrisburg

[bootstrap]

We definitely rubbed elbows a couple years ago in Ferrisburg

highly possible. town is allowing only ferrisburgh residents to fish there as of this year.

[sam2013]

Amazing how this post that was originally about a nice catch of crappies became pretty much one guy, or maybe a few, trying to prove that guys with flashers will catch more fish than guys without one when nobody, including the original poster said that they catch more fish than guys with flashers because they DON'T use one.  Boooring...

[Lord_of_the_Perch]

highly possible. town is allowing only ferrisburgh residents to fish there as of this year.

Let me pay your water bill.

[bomo fisher]

Trout crazy looks like you found some nice fish , your welcome for all the holes that you cought um in