Hey guys, just curious if anyone has used an ice fishing flasher in the summer to locate deeper fish or weeds in general to fish for bass? I’m a largemouth bass guy but don’t have the electronics to look for “deeper” (8-15ft) weeds for when the bass move deeper when the water warms up. I was thinking I could use my Marcum that I use ice fishing and wondering if anyone else has tried this tactic and what their experience was! Any tips are welcomed!
Up until this summer when I made the switch to a Garmin echoMAP chirp, I was strictly a flasher guy.
I used my Marcum Lx5 the prior 5-6 years, however it was used mostly for walleye. It worked very well for what I used it for.
Ron.
Up until this summer when I made the switch to a Garmin echoMAP chirp, I was strictly a flasher guy.
I used my Marcum Lx5 the prior 5-6 years, however it was used mostly for walleye. It worked very well for what I used it for.
Ron.
Were you able to troll slowly with the transducer down and still pick up a decent signal where you could see structure/weeds?
Using a flasher is tougher in a moving boat. I once had one on my bow and ended up only really using it for depth. Changed to a graph so I could view recent history.
I do not have experience with locating bass with a flasher, but I have used it for walleye vertical jigging. It works pretty well if you have a wider cone angle and if the boat isn’t drifting far. I can guarantee it has helped me catch more fish vertical jigging on the NW angle. I can also guarantee it has distracted me while working a particular fish and a different one hits. I would say it has its place, but I prefer not to use it.
If you don’t have SI or Structure Scan, I imagine a flasher would work OK for your application.
Years ago I had a friend put his ICE-55 on the side of my boat while we were crappie fishing. I bet you can guess where this went…the flasher fell in. He spent the next 5 minutes trying to fish it up with one of my short trolling rods and a treble hook. He got it out and vowed he would never do it again!
I never had an issue running wide open and spotting fish/structure.
I have a 16′ boat with 60 hp Yamaha, which does close to 30 by myself, or mid 20’s with 2 people. Obviously there there are times when going slower helps, especially after spotting something. The read out on a flasher is instantaneous.
Make sure and have the transducer properly mounted and you shouldn’t have
problems with it.
Years ago before LCD’s were introduced flashers were the only game in town. I have a Lawrence flasher that I bought in ’81, and used until I replaced it with the Marcum, which was replaced by the Garmin. So I was a flasher guy for about 35 years.
I’m sure there are guys out there who’ve done very well with flashers that may chime in.
I appreciate all the feedback and it has helped tremendously. Trying it out tomorrow evening so I can’t wait!
I have a hummingbird 999 and a 859 and a pinpoint 7520 plus 2 vexilars front and back. When i see flashes with the vex, I know their fish. DK.
You can still buy in flashers for boats.
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