adjustments on LX-3

A question/comment for lx-3 users. I took my new to me(thanks Scott) lx-3 out on the ice for the first time last week. I was in 14fow, sand bottom with sparse vegetation low to the bottom. I could clearly see bottom and frequently saw fish swimming past but thet didn’t show on the flasher. They weren’t directly below the hole but could be clearly seen from the hole. What is the range I should expect from the flasher? I also noticed that I could follow my lure down on the flasher but when the flasher showed I was on bottom I could look down and see my lure about a foot off of bottom. Is the front side of the solid red the bottom or is it the middle of the solid red? it seemed when I was truly on the bottom visually that my lure on the flasher when I shook it was in the middle of the red band. Thanks for the info!! Since that first time I used the flasher again and didn’t seem to have issues marking/catching fish but I was in much deeper stained water and couldn’t see my lure. Thanks! D.

The LX-3 is equiped with a zoom. Turn the zoom on and you will get better target/bottom seperartion. Where the bottom shows up depends on how hard the bottom is. Rock will be right on the edge. Soft like mud or sand will not. You can play with the gain also to get better readings. It just takes getting used to. Is it a LX-3tc? If not you may want to consider sending it in. $49 gets the upgrade from Marcum.

Interesting observatins. How far out to the edge of the hole was the fish that didn’t show up? Any idea how deep the fish was? The transducer returns a signal to the locator that is an upside down cone shape that starts from your transducer and goes wider as it gets deeper. Most sonar units will only have about a 5-7 foot circle at 14 feet, and that would be right on the bottom. In seven feet you might only have a 2-3 foot “circle” that fish will show up in. Hope I explained that somehwhat clearly.

The bottom line is usually very close to what is shown. I myself am used to using a digital LED flasher that easily shows the bottom/jig relationship. The color flashers may not be the same however, I’m not sure. You did mention you were in some vegetation. It is possible that they were being shown as “bottom” if your sensativity was too high. The best thing to do is set your flasher so it just picks up and displays your jig. That will help eliminate the display of weeds as bottom as well as plankton looking like a fish.

Hope this helps some.

Flashers can get a bit confusing when you’re using them in vegetation or even soft bottom content and its important you understand the effects it has on your flasher. You were only fishing 14 ft which is fairly shallow, therefore your gain should turned down quite low. Since you were fish ing weeds you shouldn’t see solid red on the bottom; you should see some orange and green before the solid red indicatng the weeds. Your gain should always be turned down just so you can see your lure, more than that is over kill and you’ll pick a false bottom and possibly feed back from reflection or deflection. As for the fish you didn’t see,…it was just simply out of your cone angle.

I’ll agree that this was probably a gain issue, you goot play around with it to find the setting that working best for your situation.

I think your problem has been diagnosed already. First you have to adjust your gain so you can see your bait as it moves in the water column. I prefer around 2 most of the time usually not more then 3 unless I am using the LX-5 with the NBT.

If there are any weeds on the bottom or you have a really muddy bottom, it is very important to have your gain set just right. I am guess you were in some weeds or had your gain set to low when you bait was showing on the bottom.

As for not reading fish, this also sounds like your gain was not set high enough. With your gain set to low a fish would have to pass directly under your transducer to possibly show up. Anything out to the side would show to weak of signal to be read. Try adjusting your gain and then work with the zoom feature also. Sight fishing is a great way to get to know your flasher.

Thanks for your comments. yes it is possible I had the gain too low. if I remember correctly it was around 1 1/2 to 2. The weeds were only 1″ – 2″ high and only covered 15% of the bottom. If with the gain setting I can still see my lure drop and jiggle around why couldn’t I see the fish? It is possible they were just out of the cone range. Does the upgrade affect sensitivity or give you better separation? Or is it just crisper brighter lights? D.

Dazzle, your gain was set to low. Next time adjust your gain until the inside of the reading you get from your bait has a littl red in it. If you do this you will not miss a fish that comes inside the cone angle.