A good flasher for lake trout fishing????

[KG243]

I am getting into this lake trout fishing and would like to get a fish locator to use. I have been looking at the Humminbird 55 or Vex fl-20 or even the Lowrance 522. I want to here some feed back, mainly looking at the Humminbird because of the dual beam, and zoom options. Any help would be great!

[Eskimoman]

Marcum lx-5 would be a god option. Has zoom and dual beam.

[Sandmannd]

I would agree, the LX5 would be great for that. I've used my 522 and that will work fine and save you some cash as well.

[Steve Foss]

KG, the dual beam is nice, but I don't bother ever using the zoom feature on lakers. They and your jigging lures will be all over the water column, and lakers will charge up or down fast with no notice to chase a lure. With lakers you also don't need to hone in on tiny subtleties of lure/fish separation that are easier to see when zoomed. The zoom is cool for 'eyes or panfish, though, so if you get a unit with the dual beam and zoom it'll be versatile.

[Xplorer]

I would say it depends on where you're planning on spending most of your time laker fishing. Other than the Bayfield/

Apostle islands area, the majority of time you'll be fishing inland waters in Mn and Ontario you'll be in water under 75'.

And any topline flasher will be great. Lakers will come in at any depth, no zoom needed or wanted. The dual beam option would be nice for a laker/trout fisherman tho. Have fun researching, I'm still using an fl-8 that just wont die

[Wanderer]

I'm still using an fl-8 that just wont die

Me too. Only problem is I think my bearing is going out and can't get more than a solid day on 1 battery.

I just picked up all the fixins for converting my 522 over to ice fishing. Been thinking about getting into a Marcum but can't spring the jiiinngg. Hoping for longer battery life but nice to have a back up. Curious on how it will work at the Bash.

At the store we talked about the dual beam option. If you go real deep you'll like the narrow beam for better target definition. You get a better return on your sound instead of it spreading out and getting weak faster.

Also the narrow beam will help on a steep break. You'll have a thinner bottom signal. A wide beam shows a VERY thick bottom band while reading both the shallow side of the cone and the deep side. You will not see a fish until it rises above the top side of the band. That means your jig disappears for several feet near the bottom also. I couldn't see anything for the bottom 7 feet on the break I fished last weekend.

On a shallower(relative to laker fishing)flat, a wide cone is nice though.

As posted earlier, don't worry about zoom for lakers - unless its on.

[Jim Almquist]

I would make sure that it has a dual beam ( I love my LX5 for that reason)so when you are fishing sharp breaks you have the ability to go to the narrow beam. Your lure will not be hiding in the rocks for the bottom 20 feet or at least not quite as bad.

Wanderer you need to take that vex apart and clean it and wipe it down with some WD-40. Make sure to wash the inside of the screen cause it will make it a lot brighter.

[Ed Carlson]

FL-18 or the FL-20 with a duel beam should be all you will ever need. True Duel Beam is a distinct advantage in deep water trout applications.

For longevity of use, power management in the bush, the Vex will run longer between charges.

I personally would like the Real Time of the flasher over a graph, trout are fast critters as are your jigging presentations. I would go nuts watching yesterdays news in a zig-zag form...but that's just me.

[Steve Foss]

I'm with Ed on the flasher vs graph for lakers, hands down.

[&JAG]

FL-20 great for DEEP water.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

I personally would like the Real Time of the flasher over a graph, trout are fast critters as are your jigging presentations. I would go nuts watching yesterdays news in a zig-zag form...but that's just me.

Alright........ I cannot handle reading this misconseption of graphs, anymore!!!!!

As an owner of a Lowrance X67C for 4 seasons, I SWEAR TO WHAT EVER GOD YOU BELIEVE IN, they are REAL TIME!!!!!! When I jig the line moves.... When a fish comes in it comes in in REAL TIME! When it gets red and gets to my lure and bites, it's REAL TIME!

In fact, a beauty of the graph is it shows a little history on the screen. You won't find that feature on any flasher! If by chance you are not paying attention for a few seconds you can look at the screen and see that, Ooops I just missed a fish that came up for a look see!

I have iced many a laker using this unit. It works as good, if not better then a flasher! My only complaint I have with it is it sometimes doesn't play nice with Marcums in deep, hard bottom water and it could use a duel beam ducer. Other then that, I love it and look forward to many more years of use.

Again, and I PROMISE... IT IS REAL TIME!!!!!

[fishwater]

Originally Posted By: Ed Carlson

I personally would like the Real Time of the flasher over a graph, trout are fast critters as are your jigging presentations. I would go nuts watching yesterdays news in a zig-zag form...but that's just me.

Alright........ I cannot handle reading this misconseption of graphs, anymore!!!!!

As an owner of a Lowrance X67C for 4 seasons, I SWEAR TO WHAT EVER GOD YOU BELIEVE IN, they are REAL TIME!!!!!! When I jig the line moves.... When a fish comes in it comes in in REAL TIME! When it gets red and gets to my lure and bites, it's REAL TIME!

It is real time, but it only uses a teeny fraction of the screen to display your real time data. Most of it is just old data that doesn't help 90% of the time. A flasher has 100% of the display dedicated to what is happening as you jig.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

It is real time, but it only uses a teeny fraction of the screen to display your real time data. Most of it is just old data that doesn't help 90% of the time. A flasher has 100% of the display dedicated to what is happening as you jig.

What? I'm sorry, but this makes no sense to me at all. It is the same thing as a flasher, and allows one to see the history over a 5 second or so time frame.

It's the exact same technology but with a different output.

[Big Buck Buster]

I would have to agree with bruledrifter. I have an x67 also, and I think it is real time. When the chart speed is at max, and pin is at max, if you move your jig any, it shows on the graph. When a fish comes in, it shows it coming up to your bait.

[fishwater]

What? I'm sorry, but this makes no sense to me at all.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Think about it. The graph is 95% old data. The real time data is the very very right edge of the screen, that's it. Yes, you can expand the intensity bar to display the real time data, but that is all black and lacking detail, at least on my graph it is. The flashers display the same info over the entire dial (in color.)

Not sure what kind of graph you have, but on my X67 it all goes down right in the middle of the screen, in real time!

As far as on ice supremecy... It's a carpshoot. All the graphs do the same and perform well. Each holds an advantage and disadvantage over the others.

BTW, sorry to hijack the thread!

[Steve Foss]

Brule, I'm not going to get into a jackpot over this, but I've always known the one portion of a graph is realtime, and I'm sure Ed does too. Doesn't matter to me. It takes a lot of discipline for me to keep my eye only on the portion of a graph that is a realtime display. Much easier on the ice for me with a flasher. It's not about realtime vs history for me, it's about personal preference and ease of viewing and reaction. For some folks the graph is perfect for ice. Not for me.

In the boat I love the graph because when I'm actually moving through the water trolling for lakers, I like having the history so I can still see the hook of a laker if I look back at the graph after looking away for a bit. Look away from the flasher for a couple seconds and you could miss it.

For me it's just different units filling a different niche.

Nor do I want to keep the thread off track, and my apologies for helping push it that way.

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Brule, I'm not going to get into a jackpot over this, but I've always known the one portion of a graph is realtime, and I'm sure Ed does too.

Well, your right.... Clearly I have no clue what I'm talking about....

[walleyematt]

ice 55 has the most power for the deep water

[Steve Foss]

Originally Posted By: Steve Foss

Brule, I'm not going to get into a jackpot over this, but I've always known the one portion of a graph is realtime, and I'm sure Ed does too.

Well, your right.... Clearly I have no clue what I'm talking about....

Actually it looks to me like you know exactly what you're talking about. Never meant it to sound otherwise. Nuff said?

Keep those recommendations coming for KG, guys!

[fishwater]

ice 55 has the most power for the deep water

The Humminbirds probably also have the best zoom for lakers, with the continuous display covering the entire water column.

[Ed Carlson]

OK..lets put away the Calf Pull'r guys...no need to have a cow now.

The side bar and dial on most new LCR's are as close to "Real Time" as a flasher..mostly...close enough. If you like it..Kewl..no problem from me...go nuts.

My personal choice is a flasher as I do not like the graph display marching along..."Da-Da..Da.Da"..., I have no use for it..in fact..it drives me freaking nuts. An hour of that and I would be looking for a "Big Buddy Tool" to tune it up.

But...that's just..me.

Use whatever trips your trigger. For me, I like the full dial real time action of a flasher display, for others..the combo offered on a LCR display may fit them best.

Options are good, far better than guessing.

[Steve Foss]

fishwater, how does that zoom work if it covers the whole water colum? I'm asking an honest question because I'm not familiar with that unit. If it covers the whole column, how is it any different than a standard display?

[Drewski]

An fl-20 or fl-18 will work just fine.

[fishwater]

The entire dial shows the water column as one continuous section just like when it is running in non-zoom. In zoom, the Hbird puts a couple of backlit hash marks across the diameter of the dial, showing a zone of the column that is 2x zoom. It would be nice if it went 4x, but that is another story.