MyFishFinder.com Just like iceshanty but warmer
Thanks guys! I have enjoyed reading each and every one of your replies. For starters, I sure do have a smart phone, a TomTom and obviously a computer!! lol - I spend 40 hours a week on one at work. One guy mentioned that our whole lives are spent with our faces stuck to an electronic screen......Now, even while ice fishing!Life would be tough without todays devices, and I like most of us depend on them. Should ice fishing be tough without them, and become dependent on them? I guess based on some of the replies here, YES. In fact we could probably start a whole new thread that would read something like this "Would You Ice Fish Without Anything That Requires A Battery" Something tells me about 30% would never do it again! which is fine! Life is about choices anyways, right? And in 2016 we have LOTS of ways to do the same one thing.Now......Somebody PLEASE explain to me what a flasher is before I Google it!Thanks!
I don't fish with electronics partly for financial reasons and partially from a "purist" standpoint (as I have posted before elsewhere, I like to get away from the screens that are part of my everyday life). I also agree about the increased fishing pressure, though my local lakes seem to have more of an issue with overpopulation leading to stunted fish. Also, since we brought up deer hunting, I also hunt deer from the ground without trail cameras and use a smoothbore shotgun with only a bead.At the risk of sounding like a hypocrit, I am interested in electronics more and more because my baby girl takes up more and more of my fishing time and is too small to come with yet.It seems to me that the showdown is the only flasher option below $300 and there are at least a few cameras on the market below that price point. Given the comments in this thread, would it be more economical (or recommended) to get the camera instead in a one-or-the-other situation?
Get the Showdown first, you won't be disappointed with your investment. I have the Showdown Dual Beam for three years, no problems, and it's simple to use and understand.
I think you would enjoy a flasher. I have some of the oldest ones made. You need not spend a ton of cash to get your toes wet. Minimum level flasher will show bottom and fish but maybe not your jig. This level can be doctored to show the jig too by using a washer on your line a huge jigging rap etc. Right now I'm running a 30-40 yr. old Si-Tex SH-1 which will show bottom, fish and jig. A great starter unit would be a Vexilar SLT. A good price on one of these would be near a hundred. I'm good at finding deals if you need assistance. I have taken flashers on the ice and not used it; but not to many times. I also ice fish without the flasher but not much. A flasher can also be used year round.
No electronics here and my freezer miraculously gets full of tasty panfish every winter. How does that happen without a flasher? You guys can stare at your screens all day. It don't bother me at all. I like the idea of tryin to find them fish on my own. It's the thrill of the chase thing!! Btw, I do use a gas auger and modern equipment. Just no electronics. I'm stubborn, not stupid. One fellow mentioned about the extra pressure they put on lakes. That's an interesting point. I think it does put a lot more people on the ice catching fish and keepin them. These electronics give people who have no clue how to fish, an advantage. It's my choice not to use it cause I don't need it to catch fish. Everybody is entitled to make they'r own choices for they'r own reasons. It is kinda comical to read how butt hurt the flasher guys get when a guy says he likes to fish old school!! Ha ha!