Convince me to buy a flasher unit...

[bassinbrian_on_ice]

I never thought
i would buy one but my youngest son was watching another fisherman use his vexilar-he thought it was pretty cool.On the way home I asked him what would you rather have-game boys and x-box or a fish finder?His answer-fish finder-good boy-right answer. He now has a marcum vx-1 it works great.With rebate it cost right at  200.00. Sunday we will find out if he can outfish his old man. He is 9 years old

AWESOME 
I like my share of video games too, but when your kid chooses a fishing tool over a video game ... you done well grasshopper    Good luck ! My VX-1 has been awesome.

[zooplankton]

This is a must if you like to fish! I have a vex. fl-8se (my 2nd season with it). I also felt the same as you .......but I choked
-up the $........ it will change the way you feel about fishing, I would be lost without it ! it eliminates allot of guess work
on new lakes . Do your research .....you do not have to spend allot of $ ........you do not need anything fancy ....one word for you ....e-bay .




quote author=Slay link=topic=71820.msg705075#msg705075 date=1201204815]
I've been thinking about this for a few years and I just can't seem to chunk down the money for one.  I know that if I do, it will probably be the Marcum LX5 because I have learned that you usually get what you pay for in life.  Having said that, I just do not know if it is a worthwhile investment for me.  I don't get to fish the ice much because quite frankly it usually doesnt ice up until January these days in Northwestern Pennsylvania.  Also, all the lakes I fish are shallow, no deeper than say 20 feet with the average being 5-10 feet.  I love to crappie fish and there are walley in these lakes and I really want to catch them in numbers.

Is a good flasher unit really gonna give me a noticeable edge in fishing these areas?
Is it worth the money to buy one under these shallow water conditions?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.
[/quote]

[daffydone]

All i have to say is DUDE YA GOTTA GET A FLASHER! I bought a used vexlar fl8 this last summer, and I got to use it for the first time today. I can't believe I went without one for so long.  it takes icefishing to a whole new extreme.  I didn't catch anything, but it shows you where your jig is and it shows you if you are above the fish or below them. IT IS SWEET! I am still learning how to use it, but I won't leave home without it.

[dvsbruce]

It sounds like you have already made up your mind...go buy it for petes sake!!!

[dabluz]

I have a very old Lowrance LFP 250 flasher unit.  I bought it on Ebay for about 12 dollars.  It works great.  However, since I can't compare it to anything else, is it really all that great?  So far, I have used it only for fishing smelt.....and yes, I can see the schools of smelt passing under my fishing hole.

I was just wondering if I should upgrade.

[musky8it]

Ok here is a comparison on ice fishing with a flasher and without.

Trust me you won't find a better example:

Go out and get in your car, start it up, back out of drive and go down the road. Its great you can see where you're going right. Now stop, cover your eyes and take off and hope you stay on the road......

This is how ice fishing without a 3 colored flasher is. Its like driving blind...You could be jigging 2 feet off the bottom and a fish be at 1' off. if you had a flasher you would immediately see it and slowly drop your jig. But since you're fishing blind without a flasher, YOU WILL PROBABLY NOT CATCH THE FISH!!!!!!

[Slay]

You all make a very compelling case for purchasing a flasher indeed.  I just wanted a reality check because I tend to get overly excited when I make decisions on electronic gadgets.  I hunt and fish way more than most folks and sometimes I get caught up in the technology.  I was just afraid I would spend a lot of money and only end up with minimal returns on my investment.

I bought a doublebull blind for $400 a few years back, and have taken 2 turkeys out of it, but I sometimes think I would have been fine without the blind (though it is nice) just expensive and heavy to drag around.  I don't mind buying something that works, but ice fishing is not all that glamorous to me, just something to pass the time in the winter and hopefully get some fresh fish for dinner.  If I spend that much money, I want to be able to see a dramatic improvement in my catch rate.  Maybe then it will be more glamorous.

It sounds as if that may very well be the case.  Thanks, I will be checking into where to purchase that Marcum now.  http://

[GrizlyGarou]

Ok here is a comparison on ice fishing with a flasher and without.

Trust me you won't find a better example:

Go out and get in your car, start it up, back out of drive and go down the road. Its great you can see where you're going right. Now stop, cover your eyes and take off and hope you stay on the road......

This is how ice fishing without a 3 colored flasher is. Its like driving blind...You could be jigging 2 feet off the bottom and a fish be at 1' off. if you had a flasher you would immediately see it and slowly drop your jig. But since you're fishing blind without a flasher, YOU WILL PROBABLY NOT CATCH THE FISH!!!!!!

That is definitely the best description I've heard for flasher vs. no flasher.

They're really easy to figure out, too.  You just watch your green blip move up and down as you raise and lower it, then you watch the red dot get closer to the green blip, then you watch your spring bobber to see when to set the hook!

[MnSportsman]

Slay,
        I don't own a flasher ,altough i have fished with people who do. I'm gonna suggest that you go get one. But, It seems that there are many on this forum who think it's a "must". It is not. It is a tool, just like any other in your arsenal of your fishing tools. Using a spud to get thru the ice is harder than using a hand auger. but you can still do it to get thru the ice to fish. Having a Lake map is great, but if ya don't know what submerged features might hold fish, the map really isn't much use to ya.   My point is that knowing where to fish is, & how to present a bait to the fish is just as important, if not more important than having a flasher.  I'm suggesting that if you approach a body of water & don't know it, Without knowing where to start means ya better have a power auger & sharp blades, cuz your probably gonna have to drill a lot of holes to find the fish, before you get to the presenting the bait part. Moving your flasher from hole to hole, before you actually do any fishing.( kind of like the "minesweeper game on windows operating systems) But if you take the time to get to know the body of water , what type of fish are in it, what they're behaviors are, where the structure that the fish you are targeting might be. The flasher may help you more by knowing where in the water column the fish are staging. & even once you know that you still have  to figure out what they are wanting to eat that day, & how they want it served. A flasher to me is like a calculator in math class, ya have to know the math to get the answer, it helps but if ya don't have the "Basics", down. it's not that great to have one.

Musky8it, I have caught  alot of fish over the years not using a flasher & your comparison to driving down the road blindly isn't entirely the case. I think that even blind people get to know their familiar surroundings enough to be able to move around w/out their cane. The  "familiar surroundings" part is learning the lake & it's structure. & where the fish are at.That's what I mean about doing a little "learning, not just looking" before you start fishing. I've caught a lot of fish by learning the tactics I spoke of above.

Yep, a flasher can help. Go out & get one. I might get one this year too. I've been sayin' it for years.

[Slay]

you may have a point there MnSportsman, but I caught a lot of fish with some pretty cheap rods in my day, but I won't fish open water without my St Croix's anymore.  I have also taken a lot of deer with a simmons scope, but my rifles all have leupolds now.  I guess, I am just after getting the most quality experience I can with my equipment.

Ya know, I guess I made my decision too late in the year.  I can't seem to find a company that has the Marcum LX5 in stock.
Any suggestions?

[MnSportsman]

Try this:
http://www.fishingprostore.com/cart.php?m=product_list&c=3

 I didn't say to go "cheap". I believe you should buy the "best" ya can afford. Maybe that's why I havn't bought one. I'm too "cheap".  LOL Good Luck!! .

[ejensen]

You could try here.
http://www.thornebros.com/winter/electronics/electronics_marcum/LX5.html

Or here.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/product/standard-item.jsp?_DARGS=/cabelas/en/common/catalog/item-link.jsp_A&_DAV=MainCatcat602025-cat21398&id=0035690018023a&navCount=1&podId=0035690018023&parentId=cat21398&masterpathid=&navAction=push&catalogCode=7IS&rid=&parentType=index&indexId=cat21398&hasJS=true

Or here.
http://www.joessportinggoods.us/malxicesy.html

Or here.
http://www.fishingprostore.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=3

Hope that helps.

Ed

[Dizzy]

Go to a popular lake in your area this weekend (Promised Land for example)... and you will see PLENTY of flashers in action. Go have a look and you'll be hooked immediately. Simple to use as well.

I bought one 3 years ago and now absolutely WILL NOT fish without it. I fish a lot of those 5-10 feet deep, weedy Pennsylvania lakes and the flasher works great. One bit of advice; if you get the Vex FLS-8, pick up the S-Cable too which supresse the power on the unit giving you a cleaner signal in shallow, weedy lakes. It's fairly cheap but makes a big difference. Other makes/models may have built-in power supression options... make sure you check.

Do it dude... listen to the voices in your head... go buy one! 

[Slay]

WOOHOO!
I did it.  I just ordered one from Joessporetinggoods.  (Thanks EJensen) 
MNsportsman,I knew you werent implying "cheap"  I was just illustrating that I want things that work.   

Thanks everyone.  I guess I will get to sit in the driver's seat with my eyes open hopefully next weekend.

Thanks again all.   

[ejensen]

WOOHOO!
I did it.  I just ordered one from Joessporetinggoods.  (Thanks EJensen) 
MNsportsman,I knew you werent implying "cheap"  I was just illustrating that I want things that work.   

Thanks everyone.  I guess I will get to sit in the driver's seat with my eyes open hopefully next weekend.

Thanks again all.   

No problem!! Hope your jerkin them out the hole next week!!!

Ed

[Fish_Tko]

Don't sit too long in an empty hole.

[My Dinghy]

If your goal is to catch less fish, keep fishing with out one.  My success rate drastically improved with the addition of a vex to my ice fishing arsenal.  I follow the advice I heard on some credit card commercial.  "Don't leave home with out it"

Bob

[bassinbrian_on_ice]

Hope your jerkin them out the hole next week!!!

...and good luck fishing !!! 

[dabluz]

When fishing in less than 20 feet of water, I doubt that a flasher actually helps a fisherman.  In 20 feet of water or less, fish can see your bait no matter where it is in the water column.  Ok, I do not fish for perch, sunfish or crappie.  There are none in my area anyway.  My freshwater fishing is usually for brook trout, walleye, pike and landlocked salmon. I have 4 or 5 lcd sonars (2 of them 3-D) and 2 old flasher units.  I rarely use them.  First of all, I have often seen where using a "pinging device" actually turns off the fish.  So when I use a sonar, I turn it off when I get the information I want.  Pike fishermen know that you don't put your bait close to bottom but a bit higher in the water column.  Walleye fishermen know that during the daylight hours, the bait should be almost on bottom.  When you find a place where the fishing is good and you know the bottom structure, the exploration is over....no need to use a sonar at that spot.

However, I do a lot of ice fishing in the Saguenay River which is salt water in the deeper parts and fresh water closer to the surface.  The fishing is in 30 to 400 feet of water while fishing for smelt is in less than 20 feet of water.

I have buddies who use sonars and they do see fish on their screens.  When fishing in water over 150 feet deep, they do see fish at different depths and move their baits just above the levels where the fish are swimming.  Yes, it helps some fishermen.  It's often a futile chase too.  It's usually the newer fishermen who find improvement in their fishing.  Since I mostly target for the different species of cod, I stick to fishing just off the bottom and so far, I catch most of the fish when fishing with my buddies.  I have been fishing in the Saguenay River for about 30 years.  Actually, I was the first one to fish the Saguenay river through the ice.  No one had attempted to do this before me....except for the smelt fishermen who fished very close to shore in the spring when the tides would create cracks in the thick ice.  Even today, most people use baited 2 to 4 ounce jigs like those I used 30 years ago.  The use of phosphorescent jigs and spoons, phosphorescent flashabou on the hooks was an idea I had when you had to buy phosphorescent paint and flashabou and modify your equipement in order to use this stuff.  Then there are the little techniques that I used and still use also improves the fishing.  Therefore, experience is the main thing that improves fishing sucess.

[A- bomb]

DO NOT BUY ONE!!!!!






more fish for me, more fish for me, more for me....he he he he he he he he ha HA!!!

[gonephishin19]

I've been thinking about this for a few years and I just can't seem to chunk down the money for one.  I know that if I do, it will probably be the Marcum LX5 because I have learned that you usually get what you pay for in life.  Having said that, I just do not know if it is a worthwhile investment for me.  I don't get to fish the ice much because quite frankly it usually doesnt ice up until January these days in Northwestern Pennsylvania.  Also, all the lakes I fish are shallow, no deeper than say 20 feet with the average being 5-10 feet.  I love to crappie fish and there are walley in these lakes and I really want to catch them in numbers.

Is a good flasher unit really gonna give me a noticeable edge in fishing these areas?
Is it worth the money to buy one under these shallow water conditions?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

I just bought the Marcum VX1 and could not be happier

[bart]

gonephishin19, I just purchase a Marcum VX-1 today.  Can't wait to try it!

[crappieloo]

Question n#1 Are you happy witrh your catch rate?

Have you ever fished all day and wonder why the fish don't bite?

Have you ever wonderered if you have the right jig?

Have you ever wondered if you haved the right presentation?

Have you ever wondered if you have the right sized presentation?

Have you ever wondered if you have the right bait?

Have you ever wondered if youy have the right color presentation?

Have you ever wondered if you have the weight line?

Have you ever wondered if your fishing the right time of day?

Have you ever wondered if you have the right jigging speed ?

Have you ever wondered if a crappie will go DOWN for a jig?

I don't convince anyone.  You convince yourself.

Have you ever wondered why that your so good as a fishermam with 2 or 3 hundreded fish caught during an outing that you really need a flasher?



Now its time to answer some questions.

[mike-n-cin1]

Slay here is what I have seen from flashers over the years. I have an older hummindird portable unit that works just fine. I stepped ud to an Marcum LX3 when they came out. It was one of the first to have the bottom zoom 3 color feature. It was great but had interference problems wit people using vexilars within 25 feet. If a camera was in use anywhere in sight you may as well turn the thing off. 2 seasons ago they came out with a board upgrade and i sent it in and wow what a difference. It is much more clear and the lines will actually show through eachother so you will see the colors through each other. It is very nice to have the adjustable zoom which this and the LX5 have. I can not see spending the extra cash on the LX5 but it is your money. All the LX3 have the newest board unless you buy a used one and you take your chances. If you go witha vex you can not go wrong either. All my buddies have them and I got the Marcum to try something different. They all want my LX3 when we fish togoether and they see the new features it does. The interference proble is non existint I can run my camera in one hole and flasher in the next. You can get what you want but it is a must it will double your catch atleast 2 times. You will have bad days still but it is nice to see the fish come up and look It still gets the heart pumping and the mind wondering which rod to grab. It will break up a dull day of fishing. Thanks

[Jack Ryan]

I sure put the magic on 'em with my flasher today.

I was teaching a new guy and his boy. We set all the tip up depths with the flasher and then started jigging in any extra holes where we could get a fish flash. Just watch the bait go down and converge with the marked fish and pull it out like a dipper.

They were pretty much sold on it.

[Jack Magnum]

I've been thinking about this for a few years and I just can't seem to chunk down the money for one.  I know that if I do, it will probably be the Marcum LX5 because I have learned that you usually get what you pay for in life.  Having said that, I just do not know if it is a worthwhile investment for me.  I don't get to fish the ice much because quite frankly it usually doesnt ice up until January these days in Northwestern Pennsylvania.  Also, all the lakes I fish are shallow, no deeper than say 20 feet with the average being 5-10 feet.  I love to crappie fish and there are walley in these lakes and I really want to catch them in numbers.

Is a good flasher unit really gonna give me a noticeable edge in fishing these areas?
Is it worth the money to buy one under these shallow water conditions?

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

Slay,
                  Do you really NEED a flasher to catch fish, especially in 5-10 of water? NO,no you don't. I caught many fish before buying my Marcum LX5 but, The flasher is an invaluable tool and will help you catch those suspended crappies. You also won't have to wonder if your fishing an empty area or not. If they are down there and not biting You'll realize the need to change techniques or lures or both.Once you use one though it can be addicting.

[jamesdegitz]

I havn't read all the other replies (I'm not going through all 55 of them) but I will guarentee that you will catch more fish.  I bought a vexilar FL-12 and it's awsome.  Just fishing with a bobber you're just hoping something will be there.  With a flasher, you know exxactly what's going on and how the fish are reacting to your bait.

[Quack_Attack]

Have had my FL-8 for over 15 yrs now I would not go fishin' without it, EXCEPT when fishing clear shallow water under 10' on a few lakes, I find it better to get out a short rod and look down the hole and "Sight Fish" call me old fashion.

[Slay]

I enjoy being out on the ice but it sure would be nice to catch fish.  I have probably only jigged up maybe a dozen fish in 3 years.  Most of my crappies come on tipups with fathead minnows.  But even then, if I get a half dozen in an outing, then I had a good day.  I just would like to be able to go out and catch maybe 20-30 slabs one day.  That's all I'm trying to accomplish.  It has been a lot of effort and expense in gas just to drive to the lake, so if I can increase my catch rate, I would consider the purchase well worth it.  I mean, I am gonna go ice fishing whether they bite or not.

But I would really like to be in charge of the affair, instead of letting the fish decide if they want to come to my house for dinner..... 

[elmerross]

Vexliar fl-8 se, no substitue.

First ones ever made.  8)

Most rugged..

Dropped mine down about 30 steps still works like the day I bought it in 1994.

 

Wont go fishing without it.