Vexilar in the Summer?

[woody1975]

I purchased a vexilar this winter and love it. I love it so much that I would like to use it during the rest of the year too. My question is what transducer have people used? What kind of luck did you have? Has anyone attached the puck-style to the bottom of their trolling motor (I have a MinnKota Edge)?

Any ifo would be great.

Thanks

DL

[PerchJerker]

I used to use flashers in the summer but not any more, some guys still do though. I like the history you get on a graph. In winter fishing I watch my electronics almost constantly, so I don't miss too much that shows on the flasher, and you're not moving so once you're set up you know bottom content, etc. In the boat I use my electronics a lot, but differently than when I ice fish, and I don't always have an eye on them. That's one reason I like graphs, they show you some history and give you time to study it as the boat is moving. There's other reasons too, automatic depth ranges, color displays, etc.

A puck style transducer will work great on the bottom of your trolling motor. Good luck.

[Flatlander]

I fish out of my canoes quite a bit in the spring and late fall, and always have my Vex along. If you dump a little water in the canoe, and put the transducer down in it, you get a great signal.

[Revermann]

I use my Vexilar in the summer and love it. It took a little while to get used to, but I think it works great. I fish for walleyes and can vertical jig with it just like I do in the winter.

Jamie

[navigator175]

I have a fl-18 and bought the puck transducer.It works great and was super easy to install.I used tie wraps on the shaft about 3/4 of the way up.

[Bob/Mn]

I use my 18 in the summer with a transom mount. The bottom lock feature works well for soft water fishing.

[woody1975]

Hey Navigator,

Did you install it on a trolling motor?

I also seen they have an "Alumaducer", but I think the aluminum on my Alumacraft is a little more than the .150 that they say on the Vexilar HSOforum. I'd hate to spend $120.00 and realize that it won't shoot through the boat.

Do you get a pretty good signal off of the trolling motor puck mount?

Thanks

DL

[PerchJerker]

You will great a great signal with a trolling motor puck mount, just don't power your Vex off your trolling motor batteries.

Even in fiberglass boats the shoot-thru-hull mount is not as good as an outside-the-boat mount. And glass boats work much better for this than aluminum boats. You loose a lot of reading and sensitivity by going through glass or aluminum.

[woody1975]

Thanks for the help

[Bassman55]

I had an fl-8 rigged with the puck style on my trolling motor and it worked great for seeing the depth. If you want to see individual fish I would go with a graph. I also have a zercom color point and use it to shhot though the hull of my 14' aluminum boat when I am running. I does all right but I throw it overboard as soon as I stop.

[Coach1310]

I have the high speed ducer mounted on the back of my boat. It works well as I can determine depth going wide open in the boat. It will suffice until I get the fancy jobs with the mapping and locator all in one. It is nice to be able to use it year round.

[harvey lee]

I would agree that the FL18 with a trolling motor puck mount will work very good for you. When going across the lake, put the unit in bottom lock and it will show alot and work very well. Also good for vertical jigging. On my older boat I had a FL18 on the front and another unit in the back.

[navigator175]

I think i bought mine at fleet farm it's made to mount on the bottom of the trolling motor.

[ChuckN]

Not necessarily a Vexilar, but I use my Marcum LX-5 year round. I love it! Regardless of brand, I feel a flasher is a very important tool in the summer also.

I run a Lowrance graph next to the LX-5 so I can read both, the history and compare what both are reading. I know the flasher shows me more bottom hugging walleyes than my LCD graph! In weedy areas, both don't really show much for identifying fish unless the fish are obviously above the weeds. Many times I've vertical jigged if the wind is calm.

The trolling motor puck is the way to go on the bow and there is also a high speed transducer for the transom. I've had both in my previous boat, and now I wish I had a flasher back on my console in my current boat...

[Jarrod32]

I also have the high-speed transducer on my boat for my FL-18. Very useful for reading depth, but as others have mentioned, the history on the graph would be nice to have sometimes.

As has been mentioned, be sure to use the bottom lock setting instead of the zoom setting. If you don't have one with low power mode, you will want to get the s-cable if you intend or expect to use it in shallow water.

[cjac]

I use the FL-18 as my primary bow mount electronics and love it. Mine is thru the built-in transducer on the trolling motor. I couple that with a GPS on the bow and feel like it helps me find the "spot on the spot".

I'm at the point I can tell weed lines, bottom make-up, how high the weeds are growing, etc. I do muskies a lot, and it helps me keep on the outside edge of the weedline, to the point I can essentially tell how far up on the edge I'm casting and it helps me to throw parallel to the weedline.

I also like it for vertical jigging 'eyes, it's much like thru the ice once you get the hang of it.

Sure there are better options, but the wallet dictates what I can do, so I choose to leverage what I have to my advantage. I can honestly say it's made me a better angler.

Chris

[woody1975]

CJAC,

"Sure there are better options, but the wallet dictates what I can do, so I choose to leverage what I have to my advantage. I can honestly say it's made me a better angler."

Truer words have never been spoken.

I think I am going to get the Puck and mount it to my Trolling motor. I think everyone is right, if I take my time and get used to it, I think it will make me a better angler.

Thanks for all of the input

DL