Am I the only one without sonar?

[Mike Stark]

just wondering if im the only one out there that doesnt use sonar. is it really that important??? guys and gals that dont use sonar..you got any tricks about finding depth and what not??

thanks for the help.

mike

[seaner]

yup, u must be the only one. yup, its that important.

[eyebjim]

Chirp...Chirp....Chirp...

For finding fish, structure or jigging and saving time, I would say definitely the answer to your question is yes it is that important. If you know where you are going to fish and are going to dead stick it or bobber fish maybe you can do without it but even then it can be usefull. It isn't just about finding depth. It is about seeing how fish react to what you are doing and changing your movements/presentations to get them to react as you want them to (bite).

[paceman]

My father in law does not have a sonar - to old school - so what he does is drill holes and drops a 100 foot tape measure down. He does not jig but strickly bobber fishes and changes depth often until he get bit. Not much else you can do without a sonar.

[iafish4fun]

No, you are not the only one. Its not that I don't want one, it seems that there is always something that comes up that the money gets spent on.

[Ol' Lund]

I dont use a sonar ice fishing either. I would but i have to spend that money on other stuff! In a few years i would like to get one, but for now i will survive without. But once i do buy one, I will wonder why i didn't jsut buy one right away

[hanson]

If I forget my flasher when I head out on the ice, I will turn around and get it. I don't care how far I went.

If my battery dies while on the ice, that usually signifies the end of my day.

I'd rather not fish than fish without it. It is that important to me.

[Jim Almquist]

For the price of a used sonar now days WHY would you want to go out and not know what the activity level of the fish or depth ? I used my brothers FL8 once for 10 min. on Mille Lacs while perch fishing and the next day I went out and bought one. Still have the unit and would fish with it any day if my Marcum LX5 were to ever quit on me. It is a Hondex FL8 and it was bought in 1985 and will still do what you really need to know in order to catch fish.

[DTro]

We might have caught one fish tonight without out it, instead we caught about 20.

There would have been no way to know the fish were at 7' or 10' suspended in 22' of water.

[Ol' Lund]

Well now i really wish i had one. Maybe save up for one for next year. Is the FL8 a good enough model? I never seem to fish in water that is more then 50 ft.

[hanson]

 Originally Posted By: Ol' Lund

Is the FL8 a good enough model?

Yes!

Even the simplest flasher will help you out on the ice. The bells & whistles on the more expensive flashers are nice improvements and features but the lower priced units are waaaaayyyy better than nothing at all.

Bottom line is a flasher shows you the bottom, shows you where the fish are (or aren't), and shows you where your bait is. Most guys who use flashers learn to become jiggers as you can play with the fish down there.

Once a fish shows up on your flasher, its your job to get him to bite. Do you raise your bait up, rip it up and let if fall, do you shake it in place, or do you do nothing. The flasher will show you how a fish responds to these movements. It'll show you what works and what doesn't. And it will help you catch more fish for sure!

Alot of the other popular ice fishing topics and techniques (plastics especially) really depend on a flasher for you to have success. You have to understand the mood of the fish.

[MattNy]

I used to fish all the time without one and got sick of my buddies catching fish when they had theirs. Then my neighbor let me borrow his and after using it twice i bought one off hsolist. haven't gone out w/o it since i bought it. worth the money. fl-8 is all you really need. the zoom on the fl-18 and fl-20 is nice but only if you have the $$$$$

[TurnUpTheFishing]

If you really enjoy ice fishing and do it more than a few times a year you owe it to yourself to buy a flasher. It really will help you catch more fish and have more fun. You can get a brand new flasher for around $200, sometimes less with sales or at shows. Or do some searching and you can find used models around $100.

[aanderud]

This might sound funny, and some might not believe me -- but I bought my flasher before I had any rods other than jiggle sticks, before I had an ice shelter, and certainly before a power auger. I mean, seriously -- reeling is optional, you can drill holes with a hand auger, and wear warm clothes! The most important thing is knowing WHERE the fish are and HOW they are reacting to your bait!

The flasher is the only way to know where fish are at any given moment. I mean, you can move your bobber up and down the water column and tell where fish TEND to be more often than other times....but with a flasher you have REALTIME access to the exact depth of the fish, depth of your lure, reaction of the fish to your lure, etc. It's the MOST important thing.

I would buy ANY flasher (mine is an FL8 but now I think you can buy low-end marcum models with zoom for the same price as the FL8) before any other equipment. Period. $1.99 jiggle stick from walmart coupled with a flasher will outfish a flasherless you-name-the-brand-custom rod/reel combo any day!

[dilleyo]

I couldn't do without it. When I first started ice fishing around 5 years ago, I usually went with buddies who had them. Then I tried to go out by myself and ask people what depth the fish were at and do the "fingertip to fingertip is 6ft" trick to find the depth and hardly ever caught fish. Now, I can see on the screen how deep the fish are and get to the depth quicker and catch a lot more fish that I would guarantee I would have missed without it. I only have an FL-8 and it does just fine and I outfish most of my buddies that don't have them. They all ask, "can I borrow that for a second?"

[Schloogs]

I just got my first flasher (LX-5) just a few weeks ago. Wow, ice fishing is a whole new ball game, its amazing the difference it makes. I catch at least twice as many fish now. Now I don't think I could fish without.

[vermilionwally]

I dont have a flasher and ive outfished my buddy that has one everytime we have went out this year. You guys are lucky you didnt have to ice fish back in the day before they had flashers if you wont fish without one .

[randyfaas]

Check out the reconditioned Marcum VX-1 on the Marcum site. 3 color display and bottom zoom for $179 delivered.

I have been using one of these for a year now and I really like it. It does tend to get a lot of interference when fishing with others, though.

I just bought a used LX-3 this week, so now the VX-1 will be for the girlfriend now.

[randyfaas]

I like it how my friend will often think that he has outfished me without using a flasher or any new fancy gear. This is after I have scouted a lake map, located structure to fish on the map, put us on the structure with a GPS, and found the proper structure and depths and weedlines by drilling multiple holes with a power auger and checking depths with the flasher all while fishing in my heated shelter.

I did have my best day on the ice this year without using electronics when I went out with dead batteries in the camera and flasher. It was in a spot I knew well, though.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I have a FL8 right now, and I'll be buying an LX5 shortly.

I say this every time I go fishing, and its true. If I drove 10 hours away and found out I forgot my sonar, I would either buy a new one, or drive home to get mine. It isn't even worth fishing without it. With a sonar, you'll catch fish 10:1 over people that don't have one. And once you have one, you'll say the same thing.

[hanson]

 Originally Posted By: Lip_Ripper Guy

I say this every time I go fishing, and its true. If I drove 10 hours away and found out I forgot my sonar, I would either buy a new one, or drive home to get mine.

If I drove that far, I would be taking the buy a new one option.

Like I said earlier, if the battery goes dead, thats the end of my day. Long trips without AC power handy, I bring 1 or 2 fully charged spare batteries with.

I did ice fish many years before I owned a flasher, never thought I would need one. Bought one (Zercom ColorPoint), and it changed the way I ice fished. Now I wanted to be on the ice, I wanted to go fishing, I caught more fish, and it definitely made fishing more fun!

[Borch]

I fished without a flasher, then with a old Lowrance green box, then an Eagle Silent Sixty, then a Vexilar FL8, then a Vexilar fL18 then a Marcum LX5. Let me tell you that any of these are better than no flasher at all. Some are better than others at telling you what down there.

[Traxxx]

Its just like trying, to drive with your eyes closed. I'm with you guys, no FL-20 no fishing.

[new to hunting]

the fl8 is good enough i have an fl18 it is awesome i will not fish without it walleyes you can get by without but crappies forget it they are impossible without they suspend anywhere but piece of advise buy one of those cheap 90 dollar cameras for during the day i use that when i drill holes looking for structure change it will help you till next year but save up and get at least an 18 its a long term investment

[HeIsLegend]

I've been fishing with my "8" for years and still do just as we'll as my buddies with high end sonars. Also to mention it has held up thru alot of tough beatings on the ice and in the boat. Is it really much of a difference?