Fish-Hawk.Net

Found a question on another site when googling: What's the pros and cons between a flasher and a fish finder? came across this and have the same questions.

`What's the difference between a flasher and a fish finder? I don't have a whole lot of experience with either, but I am more familiar with fish finders. As near as I can tell, a fish finder has some sort of LCD type display that identifies depth and suspended objects, sometimes may have temperature or other functions included. Whereas a flasher has fewer options. Can you see a fish better on the flasher? will it help me identify the structure below me? Is a flasher specifically for ice fishing? What are the advantages of one over another? Any constructive feedback would be appreciated.`

Chuck,

If you plan on ice fishing this year, a flasher is a must. Big Jim has proven over the years that they work well on boats too ...they're not only for ice anglers.

The main advantage of a flasher is that what you see on the display is exactly what is happening under the ice, and not 10 seconds later. Hundreds of articles out there explaining the pros and cons of each, but in my opinion a flasher is best when fishing a vertical presentation like on the ice.

I've given my flasher to friends for a day and within a very slim amount of time they had everything figured out and already catching fish. It's a great tool that will help you catch more fish!

Interesting article...
http://www.gameandfishmag.com/fishing/i ... 02a/#close

Oli

www.vexilar.com and click on Support there is some videos, and Tips and Tricks in there.
You can also view this http://www.renegadebass.com/e/media/live/ice.html and you will get what Rob talked about last night at the icefishing show.


I prefer a flasher for icefishing.

cousin_v wrote:I would use an underwater camera over either for ice fishing.

The thing with a underwater camera is ... lets say your fishing for eyes in 23 ft of water and you drop your camera down at bottom and start jigging for fish ! If the fish are suspended at 10-15 ft at that moment you wont see them or catch them. A camera is not as efficient as a flasher during the hard water season. I must admit a camera is awsome to see the fish ! A flasher is designed to locate the fish !

Best of both worlds with the Lowrance X67 Ice macheen. Pretty much covered 12 months of the year, finder or flasher.

There are lots of brands out there....so at the end of the day, it's whatever floats your boat I suppose.

Anglers I know who use the flashers absolutly love them. There's obviously something to that. With that said I use a fish finder. As far as the delay, everything on the right hand side of the display essentially in real time and stays on the screen as the unit scrolls. I guess the advantage of this is that you don't have to watch the unit constantly.

I have also heard of lcd units slowing down in cold temps. This is something I have only experienced on rare occasions.

With all that said I'll be buying another fish finder soon b/f the end of the year. The main reason being that I can easily use it in the winter and then transfer it to my boat in the spring.

slop wrote:Best of both worlds with the Lowrance X67 Ice macheen. Pretty much covered 12 months of the year, finder or flasher.

There are lots of brands out there....so at the end of the day, it's whatever floats your boat I suppose.

I am actually looking at a similar model so I can use it on the ice or in my boat, but is the 67 or similar LCD models that have a flasher display really giving you a real time picture like a true flasher?

Will be buying an X 67 Ice Machine in the next couple of weeks. I have done a lot of research on them and actually used one on the BOQ
last winter. If you turn the ping rate to max and chart speed to max, it is as real time as it gets. Don't know how good it is in flasher mode
but will let you know once I get to try it.

Also will get a transom mount transducer and mount it on my boat come spring.

Billy Bones

my favourite is a ice chainsaw.


cut out half the lake and start casting tubes!

cousin_v wrote:I would use an underwater camera over either for ice fishing.

I bought an underwater camera 2 years ago, I have used it maybe 4 times.


Flasher / fish finder is the same story as Ford / Chevy or welded / rivets. To each is own but a fish finder won't change color if the fish gets closer to your lure.???

Wallyboss wrote:

cousin_v wrote:I would use an underwater camera over either for ice fishing.

I bought an underwater camera 2 years ago, I have used it maybe 4 times.


Flasher / fish finder is the same story as Ford / Chevy or welded / rivets. To each is own but a fish finder won't change color if the fish gets closer to your lure.???

Ditto Dan on the camera. Used it about 4 times and found I was playing around with it more than I was fishing. Has been sitting at home in the box ever since.

One time that I used it was to check if my intake pipe was plugged in my well. And it wasn't.

The thing with flashers is that they can discriminate targets to within a half inch or less. This allows for very detailed information, as to what the fish is actually doing down there. You're not going to get that with your usual fish finder. Perhaps one of the high-end units would work. I dunno.

I've used both on the ice, and I'll take a flasher any day.

Maple

JZ wrote:

slop wrote:Best of both worlds with the Lowrance X67 Ice macheen. Pretty much covered 12 months of the year, finder or flasher.

There are lots of brands out there....so at the end of the day, it's whatever floats your boat I suppose.

I am actually looking at a similar model so I can use it on the ice or in my boat, but is the 67 or similar LCD models that have a flasher display really giving you a real time picture like a true flasher?

Absolutely....100%

In my opinion, nothing can replace a flasher on ice...........

RJ