Vex in the boat?

[Guest]

I consider myself a pro in terms of using my vex on the ice but I'm not sure about in the boat. My old man is just fascinated with vex technology and wants one in the boat if possible. He said "go ask those guys on your computer that you're always talkin to"
I remember fishing with a guy who had one in the boat, but I don't remember using it. I wanted to know how anyone likes the transome mounted vexilar in the boat. I don't know the slightest about the vex in the boat so we'll have to start from scratch. I also want to know how others like it. currently my dad has no type of locator in the boat so he needs everything. please help us out.

Matt

[This message has been edited by Bigguns3 (edited 02-19-2002).]

[Bob Horn]

Just yesterday I fished with a local guy that is a tournament fisherman for walleyes. On the front of his boat is a Vex and on his brothers too. Alot of pros have been using them on there boats and just not telling alot of people ( could be because there sponsored by someone else). If it`s that good on ice it`s that good in open water too. Remember the response you get is in "realtime" where a graph sometime has a delay so you are already past what you are seeing on you graph. Hope this helps. Fish On

[Guest]

I am planning on using my FL-8 in the boat this year too. Should I get a trolling motor bow mount kit, or the high speed transom mount kit. I am leaning toward the high speed, but am open to suggestions. I currently have a Lawrance X-85 on my transom, but am thinking of moving it to the front or getting rid of it.

[JK]

I have a FL8 mounted on the front of my boat. It works just as good in the summer as the winter. I have a transducer mounted on the trolling motor, but I mounted a high speed on the back because i use the kicker motor alot,so I can just change the cable.Sometimes I mark a fish on the FL8 and then verify it on the edge on the console.
Joe

[Guest]

Dot you think that a guy could get by only having the Vex. Besides temp. and speed you wouldn't be missing much.?

[JK]

I like having the Edge. 1. Easy digital readout 2. Have to have the right angle on the FL8 (sun) 3. If you look away from the FL8 you might miss the fish mark (only shows for a second). It's a great addition ,especially for buddies fishing with me,but I still like having both.
Joe

[Guest]

I have been using the FL-8 IR in my river rig for 3 years and love it. For your best shallow water performance add the S-Cable, this will eliminate clutter in most any condition.

With the FL-8 and the S-Cable I am able to read in the wash of a dam where other units get lost in the clutter. Even in white water with bubbles the size of your fist on the surface; it will still read bottom at a slightly higher gain setting. Without the S-cable all you see is marks everywhere from top to bottom in the same turbulent waters. I was fishing with some southern cat guides in Canada and they told me electronics were useless in the wash of a dam. I proved them wrong, they bought FL-8’s at Cabela’s on the way home.

Nothing I have ever seen will do that, or even come close. Your overall performance is diminished in such conditions but I tell you it is nice to know where the bottom is in “real time” at all times on a river!

Deeper clearer less turbulent water you would not need the S-Cable unless there was a lot of plankton suspended or algae clutters. Stuff like that would interfere to a small degree but easily tuned out with the gain.

I kept one FL-8 IR just for rivers and sold the other 2 units to upgrade to the FL-18's on ice.

I will be running an EDGE this season and may not need the FL-8 except for the bow of my creek runner rig.

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Backwater Eddy.......><,sUMo,>

Backwater Guiding
Ed Carlson
(701)-281-2300

http://home.talkcity.com/ResortRd/backwtr1/index.html

[dickie]

My fishing buddy's wife sent this this morning and re. the present subject matter I had to post this.
Gone Fishing.
4 married guys go fishing and after awhile they start complaining about what they went thru to get out of the house for the weekend.
1st guy:I had to promise my wife that I would paint every room in the house next week.
2nd guy:That's nothing ,I had to promise my wife that I would build her a sun deck around the pool.
3rd guy:Man you guys got off easy. I have to remodel the whole dang kitchen.
4th guy remains quiet so they ask what he went thru to get to come fishing this weekend.
He says , well I just set the alarm for5:30A.M.When the alarm went off I shut it off and gave my wife a nudge and said "fishin or sex" and she said make sure you wear a sweater.
Good fishin....

[dickie]

My fishing buddy's wife sent this this morning and re. the present subject matter I had to post this.
Gone Fishing.
4 married guys go fishing and after awhile they start complaining about what they went thru to get out of the house for the weekend.
1st guy:I had to promise my wife that I would paint every room in the house next week.
2nd guy:That's nothing ,I had to promise my wife that I would build her a sun deck around the pool.
3rd guy:Man you guys got off easy. I have to remodel the whole dang kitchen.
4th guy remains quiet so they ask what he went thru to get to come fishing this weekend.
He says , well I just set the alarm for5:30A.M.When the alarm went off I shut it off and gave my wife a nudge and said "fishin or sex" and she said make sure you wear a sweater.
Good fishin....

[Ferny]

Hey Guy's, If you use an Fl-8 in the winter why wouldn't you spend the $$ for the high speed transducer and puck for bow mount trolling motor and mount it on the boat?
It's great for vertical jigging and also as a sanity check on the history of LCD. The number one reason to have one is so the guy in the front of the boat can drop the bowmount and turn it on instead of hearing "how deep are we?" a hundred times an hour!
You'll be glad you did.

Ferny.

[Guest]

If you had to choose one location to put your vex where would you put it.Which is better behind the dash a LCR or the vex.

[Guest]

I guess I'd like to know the same as fishead. With all the options ie. transom, trolling, high speed, s-cable, through the hull.....wow you're losing me. What are your opinions for the best way to mount on a fiberglass boat?

[Guest]

Transom or trolling motor mount with a high-speed transducer is good for open water.

Puck style through the hull mount on a glass boat in shallower rivers and the like due to stumper thumpers & rock damage. Fallow the Vexilar instructions carefully for a through the hull installation and it works perfectly.

I mount mine FL-8 on a RAM mount that can be moved from the dash to the bow in 20 seconds, all hooked up ready to boogey. This requires 2 power leads, 2 transducers, and 2 case mounts. You can also add the splitter switch and toggle the views if need be. Maybe a 19 in the real and a 12 or a 9 up front.

For me, I want real time on the dash and also detailed graphing, so I run both. That is why I plan to switch to the EDGE, both in one unit.

Graphs offer one big bonus over the flasher, which is charting. I must have a flasher if my face on rivers because things change very quickly, safer to have a flasher in my experience. Charting is cool while trolling and scouting out a run or hole.

For now, and for my particular needs, if I had to choose only one style unit on the dash, it would be the FL-8 flasher. By the end of the summer I may say the EDGE (2) covers my needs perfectly well. Time will tell on that? I do think it will from what I have seen so far. I plan to run them side by side to get a solid comparison.

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Backwater Eddy.......><,sUMo,>

Backwater Guiding
Ed Carlson
(701)-281-2300

http://home.talkcity.com/ResortRd/backwtr1/index.html

[Guest]

Today I went out to gander mountain to get in on the clearance tackle. Boy did I drop some cash! I went to take a look at the locators. To my surprise the "edge" wasn't even on display. I asked what they did with it and they said that nobody wants them so they don't have them anymore. The guy I was talking to was a friend of a friend who was very knowledgable on the locators. He said that edge is **** complicated that most people are turned off by all of the buttons on it. He said the instructions are a good 3/4 in thick.
So EDDY whats the deal? Is it really that complicated. I'm sure its a really great piece of equipment but all that trouble.
I think I'm gonna go with the new Lowerance
x-91. I like the fact that it has real time and can be put in a digital flasher mode along with the graphing. Temp. sensor is included. Sounds like a good buy. Any prices below 450 around the web?

[Guest]

Bigguns, you can get away only having a vexilar on your boat, my dad did it for the last 5 years buy just last year added a graph. In fact, this year I will have 2 vexilars on my boat, front and rear mounted. For vertical fishing they are the BEST. I also have a graph because with a vexilar you don't get any "history"-meaning a visual picture of where you have been. Using the two in conjuction is a great. But if I has to choose between one or the other, I would go with a vexilar, that way you can use it year around. Just my opinion though.ScottS

[Guest]

I knew you would have something to say. Flying fish says you're pretty gung ho on having your vex in the boat at all times. I called and talked it over with the old man and we both decided on having a different locator. But When I'm in the boat this year, i'll always have the vex with.

anybody else have an opinion on "the edge"

[This message has been edited by Bigguns3 (edited 02-19-2002).]

[Guest]

Someone is blowing smoke up your skirt my friend; they sell very well and are very easy to use.

Mr. Gander Mountain is not selling what he does not have, that is the deal there. I am sure he had a back room full of something else he liked much better. LOL!

As far as ease of operation, they are about as easy as it gets. Set your pre-sets, and go.

You do not need to wade through endless menu’s to get stuff done. Each main function has it's own button, that is why there are a string of buttons at the base, to simplify things not complicate them. Have you ever cursed your way through 4 menu’s trying to figure out where the thing you need is, I sure have on other units. That gets old very fast for me.

Check with the Linder boys and see what they like. It will be the EDGE (2) or the top of the line BottomLine graph/GPS for sure. Ron runs an EDGE (2) on every rig.

You really need to see one work to appreciate it fully.

If it were that darn complicated, I sure wouldn't be able to use it!

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Backwater Eddy.......><,sUMo,>

Backwater Guiding
Ed Carlson
(701)-281-2300

http://home.talkcity.com/ResortRd/backwtr1/index.html

[This message has been edited by Backwater Eddy (edited 02-20-2002).]

[Guest]

I hate it when this kinda stuff happens. Everybody has got something different to say. But I seem to beleive you over the dipsticks at the sporting goods stores. And you're right, id have to see one before I made a final decision. But it will be a while before I get a chance to see one in action. i don't know anybody with one. if it fits, wear it.

[Guest]

I use my Vex on my boat also!! But it's tough to beat a graph when you have GPS, the plotter line and the ability to troll back over exact same lines is amazing!! Being able to drive straight to small sunken islands without searching is also a huge plus!! The Vex gives me real time for on-plane travel, and also helps at times to pick fish out of thick weeds!! Use them both to get the best out of your technology!!

[Guest]

Good point.

It all boils down to what you need to fish the waters you fish the most.

My needs differ from a guide who may primarily fish huge flats where plotting trolling grids will pay off in a big way. What is perfect for one user is lacking for the other.

Instead of searching flats I target more specific areas and hope to discern targets quickly and move on. I sight fish areas more then anything so electronics aids me to find areas within the areas.

If you have ever seen a Genetron unit work then you may have seen the best there is today available to the general public. But they cost as much as most boats do too! Serious coinages were talking their, Woo-wee! Way out of my league for sure Eh. And way too complicated, ya-yuh-bet-ch-yah.

Know what you need and then compare it to what is out there. Too many people buy what others tell them to buy and wind up running a high dollar unit that spends all it's time on auto with few of the fancy features ever getting used. I had one unit like that myself, what a waist that was for me.

The older I get the simpler I like things to be, or else I get confused.

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Backwater Eddy.......><,sUMo,>

Backwater Guiding
Ed Carlson
(701)-281-2300

http://home.talkcity.com/ResortRd/backwtr1/index.html

[dlskills]

say biggins I was at the sports show in st. cloud on saturday and talked to randy amerud about this exact subject.. he said that he preferred the fl8 because it is reall time as aposed to the edge because you could be quite a ways away from the pot the fish actually is.. He says that thevex is probably is more important in the summer than in the winter.. he had a booth setup for lindy little joe and tod was next.. talking about turkey hunting. randy had all the vexlar's setting and running on the table..
Thanks, dwight

[bigeyes]

Hey now, easy on the Gander Mtn. wise cracks and sporting goods dipsticks, some of those people just might be members of this forum and reading it.

[Guest]

sorry, I was speaking out of frustration. I know that there are people that really know their stuff. But can you honestly tell me that you have never run into a sales person who pretended to know what they were talking about? Its happened to me a few memorable times. But for the people in sporting goods who know what you're talking about,.....thanks for the help and keep up your good accurate work. Good help is hard to find unless you're in this forum.

[Guest]

x

[This message has been edited by Bigguns3 (edited 02-20-2002).]

[Mille Lacs Guy]

I run my FL8 on the boat also. I find it great for fishing in the Mississippi River, similar to what Eddy had noted. I have the transducer on the rear-it is a high speed.

I you are looking for a LCD graph I would suggest the Zercom ZPG 2000. It is very similar to the Vex Edge, but it has 3200 watts of power compared to 1600 on the Vex and the Zercom has 400 watts RMS and the Vex has 200. From what I understand the RMS power is the Power you are really getting from the unit. I had a Edge first and sold it and got the Zercom because it did a better job of marking fish on the mud flats on Mille Lacs, that extra power came in nice. You can't go wrong with the Edge or the LPG 2000.

You won't go wrong mounting your FL8 on your boat either. I would suggest the High speed transducer mounted on the transom of the boat. The FL8 is an all around solid unit.