Re: vexilar flashers
Vexilar's are the locator of choice for ice fishing here in the upper midwest. They take some time to figure out what you are looking at but you can actually see the bait as it descends and you can see a fish as it approaches the bait. There are also a number of similar flashers that can be mounted on the boat console and they work well at speed. Many of the conventional locators now have a vertical real time flasher at the right side of the screen. That function can be turned on and off. If you buy a Vexilar, my suggestion would be to take it to a lake you know very well and know what the bottom looks like. Turn the locator on and study what you see and relate what you see to the bottom. Then drop a large jig head and watch it go down. Do that with progressively smaller sizes so you can learn the differences. Suspend a jig head about half way down. Drop another and gradually draw it up toward the first. You will see how the flasher shows a fish rising to take the bait. This is a little simplistic but it represents what you will see. As for a console mount, I prefer a conventional locator as a picture of the bottom contour means you can pay attention to driving the boat and not staring at the flasher trying to determine what you are seeing. Lastly, the reason flashers are popular for ice fishing is that the LCD based units don't like the cold. Fine in a warm fish house but not on the open ice.
