If you could only have one...

[Deitz Dittrich]

Flasher!!!! no doubt.. hands down.. I can hand auger.. it will not be fun, especially since I am normally a 50+hole driller a day with a power auger. But I dont need to drill that many. If you do your home work in the summer months, and triangulate spots, you should be able to get yourself close on many bodies of water. Big ones like Mille Lacs and such would be tough..

But, I am thankful I am not in your situation. I have it all.. But didnt start with it all.. And what was the first thing I bought with my own money growing up?.. Flasher.

[perchking]

I guess an auger... I would really miss my marcum and h2oc though.

[CrappieAttitude]

Absolutely without a doubt a flasher would be #1 for me. Like said before, you can always persuade someone to help drill holes for you.

I personally would rather go back to old school fishing with a hand auger and jiggle stick before fishing without my flasher. You could probably borrow an auger or even fishing rods for that matter, but asking someone if you could use there flasher for a while, that would be an interesting request.

They are worth every penny you throw towards them.

CA

[herefish101]

This happened to me, four years ago all my stuff was stolen out of my pickup. I was faced with the same question, only being able to afford one piece of the puzzle. I chose the auger, I just drilled alot of holes an spots where i knew there was structure(point. ect.). then power fished my grid, it worked great. These days I have it all again, and i'll never go into a bar for a beer while my stuff sits in the truck in the parking lot. AUGER.

[timk]

if it was me i would look for a good used power auger for my first toy and maybe put the money you save on a flasher but the auger would be nice unless you only drill one or two holes a day good luck and have fun

[TruthWalleyes]

I have the gps, flasher, but man do i with i had anything but my hand auger...Drill a hole, stick your flasher down...no fish, drill another hole. Would be nice to drill 20 holes, and not be laying on the ice out of breath!! I say get a Flasher, if you have a good hand auger already. They will work in the summer also.

[zamboni]

Where are you guys seeing he even has a hand auger? I think it was recommended he get one, but as far as it reads to me, he has nothing.

[TruthWalleyes]

4th post down on the first page buddy.

[Northlander]

I would get a good hand auger like a NIls hand auger that will make quick work of cutting holes and take the $ I saved on getting a power auger and get a flasher unit. Wich one depends on how much $ you have. If its tight than get a LX-1 if you can afford more a LX-3 is a great unit for most situations. If you can save up a bit more the LX-5 is the cream of the crop. I played with the Humminbird Ice 55 and that was a nice unit. I didnt think it was as "crisp" as the Marcum LX-5 but I really liked the different color options and the digital depth read out was very convenient.

But if money is tight I would get a good hand auger and whatever flasher you can afford to get into. You can always up grade later.

Keep a eye on the sales adds both here and in papers etc. many used hand augers for sale this time of year as well as people looking to sell old flashers so they can upgrade.

[eyebjim]

If you are thinking of getting new and can only afford 1 of these Consider buying used. You can get a used auger for around 150 and a used used Vex fl8 for around 150-200. THat way you can have both and get a gps later.

[mnhunter2]

Auger without a dought, all you young guys are nuts if you think a flasher is better than an auger, I remember when we chiseled the holes and then the augers camealong and moving was a terrible amount of work compared to the drill and run why we fish today.

[deadeye]

Flasher.

As stated before you can check the depth and see fish through the ice. Its not the greatest fun hand drilling through 2' of ice but with a flasher you at least can find fish, check depth and get on structure without cutting a single hole. Then you can drill holes intelligently.

There isn't any "need" for a gps. It is nice and improves your ability to get on structure quickly but with a free dnr lake map you can get close and narrow it down with the flasher even more. Granted it is nice to have and I like mine, but I can get along just fine without it.

[Sonicrunch]

I think the flasher causes me to sit in one spot way to long. The flasher is a bit of entertainment that makes me lazy.

[jholland]

Now, one way I see it is my Lowrance GPS has a Ice Ducer for only another 60 or so bucks, so I feel like that would be a great first investment.

Although, being 19 and just starting up my own collection of fishing gear, the very first thing I bought was a flasher. Which I just upgraded to a Humminbird Ice35 actually, and I LOVE it. (Granted, I had access to an Auger and a Gps )

But I'll be honest, if I didn't have anything to start with, Auger would have to be my first choice. With a ton of holes you can at least move around tip ups pretty easily until you can find a couple hot ones, but if all you have is 1-2 holes that aren't producing fish but you're too tired to drill more? Then you're screwed.

Forgot about being able to see fish through the ice with a flasher as I've never done this, but if it's a effective way of scouting without drilling, then I'd probably choose the flasher.

[paceman]

Flasher all the way......

[bigfish24]

got to be a flasher

[magic_minnow]

auger. need to get down there somehow!

[cowdisciple]

Wow, lots of different opinions. Got a MarCum vx1 pro @ Fleet Farm for $279 today. I'll probably take it up to Mille Lacs and test it (and my auger muscles) tomorrow.

[pulleye16]

Flasher.

As stated before you can check the depth and see fish through the ice. Its not the greatest fun hand drilling through 2' of ice but with a flasher you at least can find fish, check depth and get on structure without cutting a single hole. Then you can drill holes intelligently.

There isn't any "need" for a gps. It is nice and improves your ability to get on structure quickly but with a free dnr lake map you can get close and narrow it down with the flasher even more. Granted it is nice to have and I like mine, but I can get along just fine without it.

I heard this can be done but I've never had luck picking up fish through the ice, can this be done with heavy ice? Can you pick up walleye on the bottom? It's a good argument but It hasen't work for me, though I usually wait for 6-8 inches before I head out and maybe thats too much ice??

[Bassinbob84]

As long as the ice isn't all white it works. Pour a little water on the ice and hurry to get the ducer on it before it freezes.

[Fredd]

FLASHER!!!!!!, like Bassin said, reading through the ice will lessen the augering if the ice is conducive to this practice.

[JimmyJames]

Auger, and here's a good example why. My son and I ran out after work, school, had about 30 min. of prime left. I drilled 10 quick holes while he got things ready. He set up in the first 2 I drilled, marked fish, caught about 5. I jumped from hole to hole making fish , catching a few then moving on. I caught 30- 40. Without an auger we might a had 5 keepers.Without locators we'd a had steady action moving from hole to hole. Auger it is.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Flasher.

When I started ice fishing on my own I fished for several years without a flasher and only a hand auger. I didnt do too bad, though, If I had a flasher I know I could have caught alot more. If I had a gas auger and no flasher Im pretty sure I wouldnt have done much better.

[walleyvoyager]

flasher

[TruthWalleyes]

Good choice with the Marcum cowdiciple. You should be twice as effective now!