Vexilar Problem? or Question

I was out ice fishing last night and the Vexilar (FL18) screen started out and looked the way it should. As the night progressed I picked up more and more interferance on the screen especially in the first 8 ft. I could adjust the sensitivity down to get rid of the interferance but then I could not see my jig and the fish could only be seen in green not the hard target they were before. Has any one else had this problem and know of a fix for it? Is it possible that the transducer is shot, not level or out of alignment? The battery still showed 3/4 charge so it shouldn’t have been short of power. I’m lost with out it and don’t want to send it in for repairs if I can avoid it.

The fl-18 that I used to have did the same thing at night. I think it is zooplankton, and other tiny creatures… Not sure if that is true or not. Maybe mine had something wrong with it too?

mine does it also… but i have switched lakes in the middle of the night and it worked fine. not sure what it is though

I am almost positive that this is zooplankton. These tiny creatures are very sensitive to light (hence the reason they stay in around the thermocline in the summer months) and when it gets later in the day they are able to rise up and not be effected by the light. There is no easy way to solve this on your vexilar. the good news is that there will tend to be panfish around these plankton = gamefish.

Nothing wrong with the vex.
The other guys are right on. Plankton and more likely blood worms rising off the bottom as dark approaches.

Yep, what Luke H. said!

Another night time fishermen You can use this to your advantage. The flasher is showing you where the food is and where there is food there is fish. The middle of the water colum and up becomes busy with the night life. As stated Plankton, blood worms and tons of minnows leave the bottom. How did I ever do it before without a flasher. Oh ya thats right, I wasted alot of time fishing dead water

Rathbun in the winter is notorious for the blood worms rising at night. When this happens the fish catching comes to a halt for me. Does this happen to anyone else? Is there something i should be trying to capitalize on all this extra food in the water? Or is it just a signal to head for home?

Thanks – I was starting to wonder if it was me or the machine. On the plus side I caught about 25 Crappie in the 6-8″ range one 10″ and one 13″ last night on a little lake in the Dodgeville area. Sad to say I didn’t start to keep fish untill the large ones came along then could only find 4 more to go with to make it worth while cleaning. Thanks again – Mark

Can’t answer that one Herb. I don’t know the water you are fishing. On the waters I fish most, When I find plankton it seems to draw minnows. Where there are schooling minnows, theres crappies

Try using your LP mode and turn up the gain. See if that works better. Funny how a flasher with only 400 watts can mark something so tiny?

I’ve done all that Derek. I have no problem seeing the fish. They just seem to quit biting once the darkness arrives. It’s possible that the lake itself is a ‘daytime bite’ lake.