Upgrade the portable or locator

Flasher…no contest

Flasher without a doubt. I honestly don’t think I could fish without a flasher anymore. I can almost guarantee if you get a flasher, you will be very glad you did

If you are comfortable in your portable then get a flasher.
If your are not comfortable in your portable wear more clothes and get a Marcum.

Ron

I my opinion, and I am an avid but quite inexperienced ice fisherman, the flasher is the way to go. Consider this, you always need a flasher to see what is happening underneath you. But you do not always need a shelter. For example, you could rent a ice house and your shelter is not needed. Or you could fish the backwaters and a shelter is not really needed. Or if the weather is real nice, no shelter needed. But no flasher, you do not know what is going on down there. I am new to the flasher, but I think it is a sine qua non.

I fish the old fashion way, just drop a lead weight down on your line, figure out how deep you need to be, what the bottom is like, and drop down your bait and fish. until I go and fish with someone that has a flasher and it outfishes me, I can’t see spending the 500.0 for one

Get the best of both worlds. Buy a used flasher and shack. IF you shop around you should be able to get a respectable model of each. Thats what I would do and have done. Good luck in your venture!!

First and foremost, be comfortable. The flasher will not keep you warm and out on the ice… Like mentioned, check around for a used shack and flasher, or better yet, really see whats down there, and get a camera.

big g

Big G brings up a sweet point. I can stare at the camera screen all day long, talk about entertainment. Nothing better than watching the whole process….

I’ve been choosy about my purchases, and over the last 2 years, I have been able to get quality ice gear, including my Marcum Lx-3, Aqua Vu ZT and my brand new Frabill Trekker shanty. They are quality pieces of equipment and I don’t think I would leave the house without any of them. But by far, the flasher is most important. A camera is a blast when the fish are on, but when they aren’t, its a pain to move around and have to rig it up at each new hole. Shelters are great, but you already have one, and no matter how cold it is, I garuntee, people still will be on buckets. The flasher is light weight compared to cameras and you can hole hop very easily with one. You can see fish anywhere in the water collum and also your bait. IF you are sight fishing bluegills on the bottom with your camera, and a school of slab crappies moves thru 15 feet off the bottom, how would you ever know? Also, on off days, i have almost found the camera to turn fish away from my bait. its wierd, but it seems to happen once in a while. Bottom line, get a flasher.

Going to throw you all a curve ball……

Keep the little Fish Easy graph and get a nice portable. If you are not portable, then you are restricting yourself.

That little graph you are using will work just as good as all the flashers on the market. I used a portable Eagle graph for many, many, many years. They work just fine!