what does this mean on a Vexilar

[radke22]

I was fishing in 25 feet of water with a hard bottom for panfish.

[Jim Hudson]

Looks to me like you have a lot of fish on your screen!!

[ratmn218]

to me looks like your gain might be set to high

[CrappieJohn]

Looks to me that you should buy a Marcum. lol

[tightlines]

All of the above or you could be sitting on one hell of a honey hole. Those marks moving at all?

[radke22]

These pictures were taken 20 minutes apart, there always seemed to be between 6-12 fish down there reguardless we were catching them hand over fist.

[radke22]

i'm going to have to take the rest of the weekend off because my hands are still wrinkled from all the fish.

[CNY Tim]

Return of the Blob??? (inside joke)

Lower the gain a tad or I'm gonna have nightmares...

"Put your glove's on Chief"

A hot hole...

There stacked like cordwood...

I can't see my jig the screens full..

"I think were gonna need a bigger boat"

Sounds like someone had a productive day today...

[tylerflom89]

radke, I know I can help you, but I'll need the GPS coordinates of exactly where you were fishing

[radke22]

Battery was half dead, I'm in 25 feet of water, and the gain was set at 4 out of 10. How is that high?

[Jim Hudson]

Quote:

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Looks to me that you should buy a Marcum. lol

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Toms a funny guy...

[Northlander]

Ya I would also say you could turn the gain down a tad but if that works for you who am I to say. I wish I had more days with my screen lit up like that. Crappies or Gills?

If it was Eyes I would also like to come and give you a on ice Vex demo!

[metrojoe]

Tom might be on to something here. I just had my LX-5 out for it's maiden voyage today and there is no comparison. Marcum has definitely upped the ante.

Honestly it looks like your gain is too high.

[Rip_Some_Lip]

Thats when the camera comes in handy! I was fishing with a buddy a few years back and we had fish on the Vexilar all night but wouldn't bite. The next morning I finally caught one. It was about a 4 pound carp. I caught it on a jigging spoon.

[Random guy]

As stated above your gain may have been to high. I always try to set mine so my jig is just a thin thin thin line until the minnow kicks or I jig it a little.

Another thing that I am relizing and I'm not saying this to be a wiseguy but...my buddy uses a FL-18 and he gets a case temper tantrams when I fish along side of him with my Marcum. "Turn that high powered submarine sonar unit off it's giving me false readings" or "You keep blowing my transducer out of the water, go fish on the otherside of the lake" ( I crank the gain and keep hitting the IR button just to mess with him ) Interferance from another unit can do some wacky stuff. Was another unit close by?

Other then that you may have just found your new best spot. When I get a large amount of fish showing on the graph I send down the camera to see whats making those marks, tightly paked baitfish can look like a small school of pannies sometimes on the flasher. Still not a bad place to be.

[radke22]

They were both crappies and bluegills 7-10" mostly. The gain was set as low as I could with 2lb test and a #16 marmooska w/spike.

[Gissert]

Could you have had some plankton or fresh water shrimp below you?

I fish a lake that has those from time to time, and it looks a lot like what you posted.

[fishercat]

I have an FL-8 and many of the reasons for that type of reading have already been mentioned. Like redke22 has already done, turning the gain down as low as you can and still keep sight of your jig and adjusting for interference is all you can do. Now I have a question. When these Mercum guys start boasting their product of choice,is that actual product loyalty or are they pandering to their sponsors so the goodies keep flowing ?

[Surface Tension]

Quote:

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I have an FL-8 and many of the reasons for that type of reading have already been mentioned. Like redke22 has already done, turning the gain down as low as you can and still keep sight of your jig and adjusting for interference is all you can do. Now I have a question. When these Mercum guys start boasting their product of choice,is that actual product loyalty or are they pandering to their sponsors so the goodies keep flowing ?

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I'll speak for myself and tell you its product of choice.

I started using sounders when the Humming Bird's Green Box was top of the line. In that time I've seen the technology change with leaps and bounds and at one time Vex was on top.

Then along came MarCum, not only did they hit the market with a sounder that competed head to head for top dog on the ice but they continued to improve that great LX3 line with the LX3tc and the LX5. Vex is still building on the FL8 technology and used suppression to improve the FL18 with a few added features. Its still FL8 technology and for them to improve they'll have to scrap that way of thinking and start over from scratch to catch up to MarCum. Be honest and look at the advancements every sonar company is making on a seemingly yearly basis and then look at Vex and how they haven't gone anywhere. Do they really believe that their product can't be improved upon? If any staffer is guilty of hype and a blind eye with company loyalty I can think of a product far more fitting to point that finger at.

I agree the with the posts that say turn the gain down to get rid of the hot blobs, problem is then Vex's "super sensitive receiver" won't mark your jig.

You wouldn't have those hot blobs with MarCum's fine and crisp display backed by a superior processor and you wouldn't need suppression either to right the faults of the FL8 based sounder.

Still will a Vex work for you on the ice, of coarse it will. Is there something better out there? Absolutely yes.

So fishercat I hope that answers your question.

Now lets get back to the original topic.

[CrappieJohn]

We all talk what we use. If we don't use it, we don't jaw it up. We are NOT paid promotionalists! Our product loyalty comes from product satisfaction, so when we say we have the best...we really do. Hands down.

[CNY Tim]

You can only take product loyalty so far and I whole heartily agree with the comments posted above. Anyone who fished the FL-18 and LX-3 unit's side by side came up with the same conclusion. Frankly there's no better 3 color flasher than the LX-3. I stood by these comments years ago after my tests then and now confirm it to be the greatest flasher I have ever used. Now you have the LX-3(TC), LX-5 and LX-2 and upgrades to boot on the LX-3. In the end it's about getting all the goodies at the best price but when you compare the base FL-18 Pro Pack against the LX-3 Ice system you will find the reasons below why and confirmed by others why the MarCum stands alone.

Target Seperation 2.15"

Display Crispness

Zoom - Functionality, variety and performance

Battery Charger

Soft Pack (standard)

Quiet Operation

Ease of Operation

That's just for starters. I could indeed spend a page and 1/2 reporting on MarCum's uncanny zoom performance it whomps the competition hands down. Now throw in the fact that MarCum is American enginnered and built in the good O'l U.S. of A and you will see the same thing as most have here or on any other site. The MarCum year after year delivers affordable top-notch technology in there great ice fishing packages. MarCum indeed is a step ahead! The best never rests!

[Dennis Steele]

First of all.

Congratulations. Sounds like and sure looks like you had a lot of fun!

Second,

It too bad this is turning into another Vex vs Marcum and an FM credibility thread.

It shouldn't.

Many of our staff are Vex guys and many are Marcum guys.

I happen to be both. I use a Vex in open water and a Marcum on hard water.

Just because FM and IL is sponsored by Marcum, does not mean we require our staff to promote Marcum. Our staff can fish with anything they want and are not required to promote any sponsor.

There are other websites that require their staff to only promote and use their sponsors gear, but not this site.

[harvey lee]

I have owned and used a FL8 for 5 years and have been very happy with it. The other day I went fishing with a friend that just bought a marcum lx3.His unit was sharper,crisper than my fl8 and also did not have to add a s-cable for the shallow water we were fishing.I like my fl8,but after watching his marcum my vex is behind in technology. It looked like I will have to spend a little more cabbage to upgrade my unit.I will say this that I have had no problems with my vex for the last five years so it has been a good unit,maybe just not as good as the new stuff.long enough.

[rabbit lake dude]

don't let em kid you. you have a great unit. it always turns into a this -vs- that. sounds to me your vex worked great. Don't make me hunt you down for the gps coordinates I like my jig to show up as a thin green line when stationary, and a green-yellow line when being jigged this will help with other signals. I usually have my gain set at 2-4. also if other units are in the area click the interference button a couple of times. looks to me though you found alot of fish.

[Random guy]

Truth be told I have a FL-8, a FL-18 and a Marcum LX_3. I like them all. How I chose the unit to use is by the battery level indicator. Whatever one is charged up is the one going on the ice with me. They all have good and bad points to them.

It is such a small factor in the big picture. If you are in the wrong spot or on the wrong lake it won't matter what flasher you have, none of them will show fish. Seems to me radke22 found the correct spot on the correct lake at the correct time.