My Birthday gift to me.....

[crestliner]

James and the boys at Hooked talked me into buying a MarCum Flasher for my birthday. Used it for the first time last Thursday at the Berry. We only caught nine cutts at Chicken Creek East (white buggers with meal worm) but had a blast with the new toy. What a difference it makes. I thought fishing with a fish finder was the way to go until I got this. Thanks again HFT for the great sales pitch on my birthday present. If anyone gets a chance to get one, they are well worth the money.

[Chester]

I got one for Christmas too! So did Papabaru. We fished Strawberry the 27th,28th,30th, and 31st with them. They are great fun. Really liked the adjustable zoom. My son got a Vex FL-18 last year. After fishing with both of them I prefer the MarCum LX-3.
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[prov17]

I have never used a flasher before, what's the difference in them and a fish finder?
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[crestliner]

They pretty much work the same as a fish finder but they use lights and there is no delay in the reading. A fish finder can be slow sending the signal back to the readout which in turn causes you to miss what is going on around your jig. They are alot more sensitive than a fish finder as well.

[prov17]

What do you mean by "they use lights." Do lights flash when a fish enters the sonar? How do you know what the bottom structure looks like, and how do they show depth, or fish size? Just curious.
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[crestliner]

thats exactly what they do. You get a solid block of red lights to indicate the bottom. The small jigs and bait fish show as yellow lights and depending on the size of the fish in the "cone", they will appear as a orange or red light.

[Chester]

Its hard to explain without seeing it. Here are a couple of links. One to Marcum and one to Vexilar. The Vexilar explainations/diagrams are better in my opinion.

http://www.vexilar.com/help/tips/tip013.html

http://www.marcumtech.com/products/flash..._main.aspx

Hope this helps
Chester
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[Kent]

[size 1]"A fish finder can be slow sending the signal back to the readout which in turn causes you to miss what is going on around your jig. They are alot more sensitive than a fish finder as well."[/size]
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[size 1]True with many fishfinders, but not all. Put my Rahtheon L470 fishfinder in what is called "A scope" and one has the speed of a flasher and the history of a regular fishfinder. Sorry, but the sensitivity of my fishfinder is also probably greater than any Marcum or Vexilar, and with the extra power that I have I can have that same sensitivity at over 100 feet. That said, the flashers are still a great tool for ice fishing, and can handle the cold without taking extra precautions to make certain the display doesn't freeze.[/size]
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[Bigfishrule]

On my Lowrance fish finder I can see my jig move up and down the second I move it. Dont get more real time then that. And I can still see my jig in a 100 ft of water. My buddies vexlar unit is only good to about 50 ft. I think both units will work just fine for ice fishing as you usually fish in shallow water. But since I already have a good fish finder dont need a flasher. For someone without a fishfinder a good flasher is cheaper than a good fishfinder.
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[Chester]

Not surprising, sonar is sonar. The signals go down and the echos return. The echos are then displayed in two different ways. Fishfinders display the 'instantaneous' or somewhat 'delayed' readings along the side of the screen with a history that moves across the screen. If you take the reading from the 'live' side of the fishfinder's screen and wrap it around a dial you have a flasher. Same data and readings with two different representations. Neither can be better. It's the same data. Yes, there is a difference in the power/watts across the various units which will help with deeper water. It all boils down to features and preference. A flasher shows an instant snapshot of the existing conditions with no history. Because of this flashers will never show a history of the contour of the botton as you drive your boat across it. To some folks this is important. Fishfinders are very good at this. I have no boat, and I don't drive my icehole across the lake so the flasher works fine for me. Someone else can surely use their fishfinder equally as well as I can work my flasher.

Read these seemingly never ending posts on sonar, study up on the manufacturers websites, check other people's units out on the ice, and buy yourself a unit. Then learn to use it and it will give you an edge that you dont have without a finder/flasher. I catch more fish with a finder than I do without. But at times I am still outfished by a buddy sitting right next to me without a finder/flasher. Its' still fishing. That's the beauty of it!

I have a MarCum LX-3, my son has a Vexilar FL-18. We fish with them side by side. If anyone would like to see them, make arrangements to find us on the ice. We would be happy to show you how they work.

That said, IMHO flashers are better than fishfinders[], and I prefer the LX-3 to the FL-18![]

Sorry to ramble on so....
Chester
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