A good flasher for lake trout fishing????

[harvey lee]

My LX5 seems to work just fine as I usually do see and catch the trout.

I will be laker fishing in a week and ther bird is coming along. I want to see how weel it works for lakers in deeper water.

[NoWiser]

I use an FL-18 and it works great. As mentioned, a dual-beam transducer, at times, would be nice, but I do not have one and catch just as many lakers as the next guy. I actually like the slimmer profile of the single-beam transducer. My personal opinion on power (and some will disagree) is that it doesn't make as big of a difference as advertised. My Vex has never once been "underpowered", and I fish for just about everything possible through the ice. Then again I rarely fish deeper than 75 feet for trout with anything smaller than a 4" tube jig.

I actually think lake trout are one of the more forgiving species to fish for as far as flashers go. No zoom necessary, as long as it shows you the bottom, your lure, and when to HOLD ON TIGHT you are set!!!

My take on flashers is the best brand is the one you own. I can't convince my Marcum using friends that my Vex is better, and they'll NEVER (EVER) get me to part with my Vex.

[Steve Foss]

NoWiser, I totally agree about your experiences with lakers and electronics. I used an FL-8SLT for over 10 years, and only replaced it this winter.

Standing alone, it remained a great unit for lakers, which are all about aggression and action, not about subtlety. When I had more than one companion with electronics, however, especially with more powerful units, I had a very hard time canceling out interference even using the IR feature. In the rocky environs and deep water of laker country, there's a lot of echo to begin with, and having to turn up the gain a bit in deeper water added to the reverbs.

I've used my LX-3 in similar situations so far this year and have had no problems keeping the other units at bay.

The SLT is of course a quite old flasher by current standards, and whether an FL-18 or FL-20 would stack up better in a crowd I don't know.

But I do agree that the best flasher is the one you own. A person can pine after perfection for years, only to find that when they pony up the money it's not perfect after all.

[fishgutz77]

I run an FL-12 dual beam which does not have the zoom feature.

even in shallow water the I could care less about the zoom.

Most of my laker fishing is done 40-80 fow and most lakers while chasing would be in and out of the zoom or bottom lock and Like Steve said, these fish will chase hard from 110ft+ right up to 30 fow if they are in the mood so why complicate matters. You will however need the 9 degree tansducer for deep water and the IR comes in really handy fishing in a group.

[KG243]

Thanks guys for all the info I think I will be getting the humminbird 55. I am selling an assualt rifle to fun the purchase of this machine so i just wanted to do some investigation before hand!

[NoWiser]

Good luck with the flasher, and with the trout fishing. Once you get out and use it a few times, learn all the features, and get comfortable with it, it will then be "the best flasher for lake trout" for you.