What is the best flasher for ice fishing?

Asked by: Holly Evans

The Vexilar FL 18 is known in the ice fishing community as one of the most stable and reliable ice fishing flashers on the market.

Are ice fishing flashers worth it?

Are ice fishing flashers worth it? Ice fishing flashers are absolutely worth buying if you’re a highly committed ice angler, since they are ideally suited for this type of fishing.

Why is a flasher better for ice fishing?

You can scroll to see the situations from a few seconds ago, which is an advantage. Flashers can also show you very detailed situation, but their displays and the way they show it are different. They have different colored lights that flash to show you the depth, fish, and lure movement.

What is the cheapest ice fishing flasher?

Vexilar FLX-12 Genz Pack with 19 degree Ice Ducer. This is the best cheap ice fishing flasher from Vexilar, and is a great choice if you’re just getting into flasher ice fishing.

What fish finder is best for ice fishing?

• Humminbird ICE-35 Six Color Flasher.
• Garmin LiveScope Ice Fishing Bundle.
• Vexilar GP1812 FL18 Genz Pack.
• Garmin Striker Plus 5 Ice Fishing Bundle.
• Lowrance Hook 2 Ice Fishing and All-Season Pack.
• Deeper PRO+ Smart Sonar GPS.
• Venterior VT-FF001 Fish Finder.
• Humminbird ICE H5 Helix 5.

Do you need an ice transducer?

A special transducer is not necessary. Assuming you can safely remove your boat’s transducer and wiring without damage, it should work fine for ice fishing. Keep in mind that the function of a transducer depends on being level to the surface of the water.

Do you need sonar for ice fishing?

Regardless of unit, most ice anglers now agree that sonar will make you a much more effective ice angler. Once you get used to using sonar, it becomes difficult to ice fish without it.

Is a flasher or a camera better for ice fishing?

In general, ice fishing flashers are better at detecting fish in a wider range of water depths and clarity than a camera. Flashers also allow you to quickly assess bottom hardness and depth making it indispensable for scouting.

Whats better a flasher or camera?

Flasher hands down a better choice. There are still some flashers out there that are as cheap as the low end cameras. Camera only see’s the depth of the camera. Just got back into ice fishing last year and the flasher is not that hard to figure out and by no means am I a rocket scientist.

Are underwater cameras worth it for ice fishing?

I have also found it really handy for eliminating the small fish from wasting my time by reeling up,and even use it to find larger fish or schools since the smaller ones hang together. Last but not least,if you don’t see any fish after 15 minutes of spinning it 360°, you need to move.

Can you use a regular transducer for ice fishing?

Your regular ducer will work fine. You do want it hanging horizontal and just below the bottom of the hole for best results. I use a “summer” fish finder and transducer as my ice fishing sonar. I find it works great.

What is the difference between CHIRP and sonar?

A traditional sonar transmits about one percent of the time, but CHIRP sonars transmit ascending pulses that are ten times as long in duration. They put dramatically more energy into the water column, 10 to 50 times more, even though CHIRP devices often transmit at lower peak power than traditional fishfinders.

Is Garmin better than Lowrance?

Winner. For the basic or average angler in almost all circumstances the Lowrance takes the cake. It’s easier to learn and the interface allows anglers to become proficient much quicker than some of the Garmin units and that really helps in the grand scheme of things.

How do you fish finder with ice fishing?


You can watch your lure. Come down. So you basically drop that lure down. So now our lures stopped. At about 7 feet. Now. I can watch fish. Come up to that lure.


How does a flasher fish finder work?

The use of a flasher-style display uses a rotating wheel that displays the bottom and other targets in a series of lights on that spinning wheel. In contrast to liquid-crystal displays that show a history of what your boat has passed over, a spinning-wheel flasher displays the bottom and targets in real time.

How do you read a Humminbird ice 35?

So for example if I wanted to zoom. And I wanted to get to zoom right off at the bottom I would hit zoom. Then I would rotate this dial. Now I'm zooming between here but I want to zoom at the bottom.


What transducer comes with ice 35?

XI 9 19

The ice transducer which comes with your Ice 35, 45, 55 Flasher is a different transducer by the name of XI 9 19. However, there is an ice transducer which is designed for specifically for most of the models mentioned above. It’s the product name is XI 9 20.

How do you use an ice fishing flasher?

Red/yellow lines just above the bottom typically indicate fish. As you drop your lure down, the flasher will display it moving through the water column as a yellow/green bar. You can tell the difference between the red bottom and a red/yellow fish if the colors move and separate from the bottom.

How do you use a Humminbird ICE 55?

If you're checking water you're drilling a lot of holes. And looking for fish. You can just put that transducer down in the hole it tells you instantly how deep it is you can switch the transducer.


How do you read a Humminbird ICE 45?

Now the ice 45 is a three color flasher. It does have the green the yellow and the red in red being a stronger signal will turn the gain up here.


How does a Humminbird transducer work?

The transducer converts electrical energy from the transmitter into mechanical pulses or sound waves. The transducer also receives the reflected sound waves and converts them back into electrical signals for display on the control head.

Is CHIRP better than down imaging?

While CHIRP improves the resolution of 2D sonar, it’s still nowhere close to down imaging when it comes to viewing underwater structure with high resolution. However, in terms of being able to reveal fish, CHIRP sonar is better than down imaging, as fish show up as distinctive arches with CHIRP 2D sonar.

How deep in the water should a transducer be?

Tip # 3 Waterline



Thirdly the best bet when mounting your transducer to read at speed is to have the bottom of it 3-4 mm below the waterline. Because the transducer can only ping in water so you do want it submerged. If it’s too deep sometimes the front face of it will create turbulence and bubbles = bad.

How far away from motor should transducer be?

The ideal mounting location on a boat powered by an outboard or an I/O engine is about 18-24 inches starboard of the engine’s lower unit. If the boat has inboard power, mount the transducer far enough to starboard to clear any propeller turbulence.

Where is the best place to mount a transducer?

Transducer placement should be aft and close to the centerline. It needs to be located low enough that the transducer is in the water at all times. Consider items such as the lifting strap placement into the location as well as trailer bunks and rollers if it is a trailered vessel.

Should transducer be level with bottom of boat?

The transducer should be even with the bottom of the boat or slightly below the bottom. Leading edge (the edge closest to the transom of the boat). One click too high: the transducer is tilted out of the water and cannot maintain a sonar signal.

Does it matter which way your transducer faces?

So the short answer is that no, it doesn’t matter which way you face the “front” of your transducer.. the read out is going to look just the same to you. You do, however, want the BOTTOM of your transducer to face as straight down as you can, within reason.

Is chirp better than sonar?

CHIRP fishfinders transmit a longer pulse than traditional sonar, putting more energy into the water column, with a true broadband frequency range of up to 117kHz. Instead of pinging a single frequency like traditional 2D sonar, CHIRPing devices transmit a sweeping range of frequencies.

Can you test a transducer out of the water?

No, you can’t use a fish finder out of water, because the transducer is unable to send or receive sonar signals in air. In other words, the transducer will not work outside of water, and needs to be properly submerged into water in order to function.