Decisions, decisions..

I’ve been putting money aside specifically for ice fishing and would like to make a bigger investment. I’m stuck between upgrading my shanty or my flasher..

I’ve got an older Shappell Rover 1.0 that works fine for the amount of gear I drag out, but it’s such a pain to fish out of because of the limited space. I’ve got a Vexilar FL-8 that has worked great for the generally shallow waters I fish, but I’d like some more features like zoom mode for deeper water and better target separation.

I’ve been bouncing back in forth between a Marcum LX6 or an Otter XT Cabin.. Trying to get some insight/influence or maybe some other quality 2-man shanties to consider for the $400-600 price range. I hand pull all of my gear out, but I’m normally dragging stuff less than 500 yards. I’m younger so the shanty weight isn’t a huge concern. I’m also not interested in switching to a graph style finder. I live in Michigan where I don’t have to worry about thermal insulation either. Comfort or efficiency?

Thanks in advance!

-C

I prioritize larger purchases by what will aid in catching more fish Comfort can be achieved in various ways by how you utilize space, how you dress, and so on. Once I have the tools I want, then I spend “luxury” money on making my life easier.

What Randy said.
and, you’ll love a LX6.

Ditto

Have you thought about getting the graph you want, which will aid in catching fish, then possibly looking into a hub style house? You could still use your old house as a sled to pull your gear out. These are generally quite a bit cheaper but still offer room and comfort. Get both this year.

weedis wrote:

Have you thought about getting the graph you want, which will aid in catching fish, then possibly looking into a hub style house? You could still use your old house as a sled to pull your gear out. These are generally quite a bit cheaper but still offer room and comfort. Get both this year.

Ya know, that’s not a bad idea. I just have never been a fan of hub-style shelters but maybe I should keep that as an option.

Thanks to the rest of you for the feedback. I’m starting to realize I want to put more fish on the ice than have a big shanty I won’t sit in most of the time.

yup, agree with others – upgrade the flasher first. LX-6’s are on sale right now too at a lot of places FYI

If your leaning towards a new flasher go to http://www.streiffs.com/. You can get everything 20% off. I bought an Lx-7 for $560. I just checked it seems like they dont have anymore right now maybe call them if thats what your interested in. You can use the Promo Code Web20 at checkout to get 20% off your entire order. I just bought mine yesterday and posted on here maybe a bunch of others bought one as well cause the lx-7 is not on there. In my opinion the lx-6 is a little small but still will get the job done.

I see that the Marcum LX’s have a lot higher power compared to the the Vexilar. My question is, do the Marcum LX’s work well in shallow water (5-10′)? Vexilar offers a suppression cable to dial it down, so does Marcum have anything to dial back the power for shallow water.