flasher vs fishfinder

[rickmp]

Ok, I know the are both able to locate fish, but what really is the difference between the two? Do I need both? I have a flasher on the boat I just bought, but I'm thinking of getting a fishfinder too. When would I use one over the other, or should I use both at the same time? Is one preferable to the other?

If I get bothe, will the transducers interfere with each other? Or should I be using them at different times? If I'm going with both, should I put the transducers in different locations?

Thanks for your help!

[Guest]

RickMP,

If you want real-time reading for what is below the boat at any speed the flasher is it.

Also, if you buy a GPS with a plotter feature you can be "spot-on" structure and easily re-trace bottom terrain that holds fish and when you find those hard to locate "spot-on-a-spot" spots you can lock in coordinates with the GPS and save them indefinately for return trips and Ice fishing.

------------------
Chells

[mnrstrider]

Flashers are the only real time reading, short of seeing the fish, sometimes I mark fish on my fish finder, that my flasher just does not see, and to date I'll take that as the fact, there are not fish there. on the other side of the story, I have marked fish with my flasher when I could see nothing at all with my fish finder. Personally my fish finder is to show me a good idea of how the structure looks, and maybe if there is fish, the flasher either proves or disproves this without a doubt. I suppose if I had to choose one to buy, I might even buy a fish finder first, because it shows a history or what you're looking at, depth and structure wise, not to mention just about anyone can use one without any instuctions, that being said if I knew a body of water pretty good, and primarly fished that body of water, I'd get a flasher. That being said, I know no other tool has verified I found fish and help me catch fish better than a flasher, hands down, nothing else is even close. Short of a eye sight or a camera, nothing can give you feedback as good as even a cheap flasher, can. It's your choice, I think a perfect boat would probably have one of each. Which you choose first is your choice.

We were out fishing a hump the other week, and we found it with the fish finder, which is just a little easier to visualize the stucture for me, we didn't mark much of anything for fish, until I turned my flasher on, I dropped my line down, said " wow there's certainly fish here, seen up come up to my bait a second later, and set the hook a second after that a nice northern... Nothing is neater IMO, than watching a little blip on a flasher come up and check your bait out, and seconds later feeling a little tug, a mili second later you set the hook. fish on baby!

[bart simpson]

So if I was just gonna buy a trolling motor transducer for my FL8, which degree puck would you recommend?

[rickmp]

Guess I should have mentioned that my boat already has a flasher, I'm just not sure if I need a fishfinder for it as well. And if I decide to get one, can they be used at the same time, or is it one or the other? I like the idea of using one to locate stucture and the other to locate fish. Is there somewhere I can find out more about reading a flasher? I don't have the book for mine.

[bart simpson]

If it's a Vex you can go to their site and download the manual...I think.

Nick

[Deitz Dittrich]

As stated before a Flasher gives you real time exactly what is under your boat. Many times a flasher will read better threw weeds than a LCD graph...What a LCD Graph has over a flasher is, You can look away from it and look back at the screen and see what you have gone over. Its also easier to tell the difference between weeds and fish on a LCD graph as well...

As I remember it rickmp... I still owe you a trip out in your boat... e-mail me
[email protected]

I havn't seen you on south center yet this year... whats up with that?

[PerchJerker]

rickmp

It's been a while since I was on the vexilar HSOforum, but there was a lot of good info there about flashers and how to read them.

If you have two sonars, like one flasher and one graph, you can use them with the transducers side-by-side ONLY IF they operate on different frequencies. Otherwise, they'll interfere with each other.

A common setup is mounting one transducer on the transom and another unit on a bowmount trolling motor. In that setup you will usually not get interference and can use both units at the same time even if they are the same frequency.

My boat has a graph on the console - transducer on the transom --- and had a flasher on the bow with the transducer on the bowmount electric motor. The flasher died this year and I replaced it with a graph.

Most graphs give instantaneous readings just like a flasher. Set the graph to the fastrack mode or to the flasher mode.

The picture the graph draws is a little slower than real time, but not by much and I seriously doubt that affects the number of fish anyone catches or doesn't catch.

My opinion is that for me, a graph is more useful in more situations than a flasher. If you practice with your graph and the settings, and adjust your transducer properly, a graph will tell you everything and more than a flasher.

If you're interested in a graph, the Eagle Fishmark 320 and 480 are a couple of good quality, good feature, relatively inexpensive graphs.

Hope this helps - good luck.

[Gus]

Others that have done this will be able to chime in, but a while ago I posted a similar question because I was short on Cash and needed a new fish finder. I was convinced to just get the transducer for open water for my vex and I have just done that. This weekend will be my first time out and I'll let you know how it works. I did keep my old graph on the boat to help me better see structure so I'll also let you know if I get much interference. I mounted the transducers on opposite sides of my transom to hopefully help with that a little.

good luck.

[Borch]

About the only advantages I can think off with the LCD fish finders is that many have speed and temp features. I'm not aware of any flashers that currently have the speed and temp capabilities(the clearwater pro flashers used to).

Personally I'm a flasher guy 99% of the time as I like the realtime feature.

Borch

[PerchJerker]

I don't want it to sound like I'm slamming flashers, because I'm not. But I can list 2 more advantages to graphs. One is that they give you a few seconds to see the display, so you can study/analyze what you're seeing, and if you look away for a moment you can still look back and see what you missed. Another is that in my opinion, graphs are easier for a beginner to learn to interpret what it's telling you - turn of the fish symbols and manually adjust the sensitivity and grayline, and you'll get a lot better info.

And I still say a push is the "instant reading", as many or most graphs these days have that feature included.

Just my $.02.

[mnrstrider]

Well ok, since you have a flasher, Do you need a graph, no. Iy all depends on how well you can remember and visualize you depth ranges, or humps, for me the instant feedback of a flasher doesn't help you like a graph can, although a graph is not always instantanious it show a history, and that's why a lof of people use them. A perfect set-up boat IMHO would have atleast one of each. Do you need one, nope.

[Surface Tension]

Real Time? I've never boughten into this hype. Give me an example when under.25 of a second isn't fast enough under any fishing condition. This talk of being off structure before a graph records it is total nonsense. Lets talk Real World.
With the higher resolution and improved software in todays sounders not only do you have the ability to interpret more information with a "graph". You have a cross section of the whole water column along with history. The advantages of that history are obvious and some not so obvious. Stop waiting for fish symbols or arcs to jump out and slap you in the face, look at the subtle things and you'll get the whole picture of whats under your boat. A small out cropping of rocks on a featureless bottom or changes in water densities. Transitions from hard to soft bottom. Weed or grass edges. These are some of the things you should be looking for. A flasher can show you some of this but you have no past reference to compare whats been marked other then your memory and you would have to be looking at the flasher at all times. So now your tring to remember what you saw and compare that to whats being shown now and while your thinking about it new information is coming in and if you take your eyes off the flasher your going to miss something. No thanks! Thats not Real. With a graph I miss nothing all day long and I can enjoy the scenery, navigate my boat, tie lines and eat my sandwich with performance and added features a flasher doesn't have.

If I'm in my ice shack then I use a different tool for a totally different application and thats my MarCum LX3.

[CrappieJohn]

I have to agree with ST on this one. On more than just a couple occsions I have hammered crappies while creeping along deep shorelines running the lcr looking for underwater structure, finding it and never even marking a fish....that I saw. I wasn't looking for fish. And simply because no fish were marked does not mean they were not there.

To eliminate some of the "which is better" cloud....try one of the newer units with flasher capability built into it. This will give you the opportunity to learn which works best for you. And when.

I have a B210 Bottomline that I traded a rod for. It was an essentially new unit....used twice and then removed. The reason? The owner didn't want to have to monkey around with anything past auto mode. It does little good to own either the flasher or the LCR if you do not spend the time learning how the thing works in every fashion.

The LCR will give you a picture to work with. The flasher gives you exactly that...a flash. Not much to work with there. If I am not ice fishing, the LCR gets the nod every time and should I decide I need a flasher in the boat while I'm achored, I simply push a button.

------------------
Plastics...making better fishermen without bait! Good Fishing Guys! CrappieTom

muckbootsonline.com Pro Staff
Culprit Tackle Crappie Pro Staff
Catch-n Tackle
[email protected]

[76k20]

i recently bought a humminbird matrix 27 to replace my old eagle graph. It has a real time sonar bar (gray scale flasher) on the right side and it graphs across. it works great I can pick up an 1/8oz jig head and when they say real time they mean it! if the drift is right and the jig is under the puck and i pick up the rod tip the trace from the jighead moves immediatly. 90% of the time if i am marking fish arches on it i am at least getting some bite action, where as my old eagle constantly marked fish shapes even the acrobatic fish that stand on each others heads to show off when they see you coming. hehe. when the matrix series graphs are hooked up to a handheld gps they use the handheld as a reciever and have hotspot/chartplotter capabilities I think on the higher end models they even accept map packs.

[This message has been edited by 76k20 (edited 07-24-2004).]