Shallow water with a flasher

Do flashers work in shallow water. I am talking 2 to 7 foot depth? Just wondered. Fatfish

yep. sure do. used my lx-5 2 years ago in 3 feet of very silty soft bottom water. had to adjust alot for the soft bottom, where as my buddy with the fl-22 had really good readings right off the bat.

one thing you will notice is in 3 feet of water, you wont find too many fish just hanging out. most of the time they are zooming around and just happen to get caught by the flasher when they pass by.

The simplified calculation of your cone diameter at any given depth is .36 X the depth.

Example. Fishing 20′ of water but the fish are at 18′.
.36 X 20 = 7.2′ diameter
.36 X 18 = 6.48′ diameter

Sure is funny how fish in deeper water when approaching seem to rise a lot higher for bait than in shallow water.

Remember to keep your transducer as high in the hole as you can.. This will get you as much of the water column in your locator as possible

3.25′ is as shallow as I can go with my vx-1P and 20deg transducer. Any shallower and I can’t see what’s going on.

Usually while fishing 3 feet you should almost be able to see the bottom?

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Usually while fishing 3 feet you should almost be able to see the bottom?

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In many situations yes, a few good reasons to use a flasher:
1) Murky/stained water
2) Before sunrise/after sunset/heavy overcast days
3) Fish sensitivity, some fish get spooked easily if they see you move above the hole, flasher lets you “see” down without spooking.

Bout 4 feet is the shallowest i’ve used my vx-1P. I keep the transducer in the center of the hole and only have it in the water about an 1″ to increase my sonar diameter. I much prefer deeper water just so i can see more with my sonar…But i’m used to fishing with SI in the summer so these 20 degree cones keep me wanting more all darn winter long.

One starts to question if you really need a flasher in 3′ of water. In part you wont be able to really pick up anything unless the fish itself comes right under direct. I rather pound the bottom with a jig or use a bobber. Now if it was in 5′ or more its justifiable use. Setting up a camera here would be very fun in these situations instead of a flasher.

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One starts to question if you really need a flasher in 3′ of water. In part you wont be able to really pick up anything unless the fish itself comes right under direct. I rather pound the bottom with a jig or use a bobber. Now if it was in 5′ or more its justifiable use. Setting up a camera here would be very fun in these situations instead of a flasher.

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In most situations you dont. But if I can see my jig on the flasher I’m using it, no matter where I am fishing. I like to be able to react to how the fish are reacting to my lure. If nothing it just gives me a big confidence boost.

I’ll sight fish over using a flasher when possible, but have used my LX-7 in 4′ weedy water without issues and not having to tweak it after fishing in 45’….

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In most situations you dont. But if I can see my jig on the flasher I’m using it, no matter where I am fishing. I like to be able to react to how the fish are reacting to my lure. If nothing it just gives me a big confidence boost.

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Plus it lets you know if there are actually fish in the area and you just need a different color or horizontal instead of a vertical jig.