Sk8man

The only criticism I've ever had with my Fl-20 is that they designed it with too many separate scales on the face. I know from human factors engineering that humans have a great deal of trouble discriminating between and interpreting more than 3 or4 things on an instrument face or panel. I discussed this issue with the design techs at Vexilar and they designed the FL-22 with that in mind....(not just my input but complaints from other users as well). The new digital readout add-on solves that in terms of looking at the screen from a little distance and knowing the specific depth regardless of range setting.

Question: What would be the reason/rationale for having different criteria depending on zone or region? Is it because of the judge's jurisdiction?

The low power setting has nothing to do with any problems with the Vexilar. It is basically because it is TOO powerful at shallow depth where there is a lot of weed growth and the return signal bands are very close together so if the lower power setting is used the signal from the weeds is"muted" or "filtered" and the signal from a more dense object such as a fish appears stronger and more "distinct" It is a different concept than the Marcum uses (increased power for increased target separation. I should also like say that my recommendation regarding a zoom wasn't intended to make anyone feel that I was disparaging their units for NOT having one...I was merely saying that after owning many units without it I feel that it is a real handy thing to have if you are considering buying a unit for the first time.

The Humminbirds are fine and do a good job(my son uses one) but they don't seem as hardy as some others....especially the the transducer and battery life....something to look at....(he has had 2 transducers and 3 batteries while I haven't replaced anything in my Vex and we bought them at the same time and used them together so same usage) Also it was mentioned that high power is good for separating out weeds (such as in shallow areas) but it is actually the opposite...low power to "filter" out weeds...some units (like mine) even have a special low power setting just for that.

Sneaky - I've had many flashers over the years including the first Vexilar model ever made and there is one function I would strongly recommend to you no matter which brand you decide on.....get one with a ZOOM function. They have different zoom ranges so that will depend on the type of fishing you intend to do (and species you are after). Basically the zoom magnifies a portion of the water column within the transducers cone coverage. Why is that important? Because you can actually monitor the fishes behavior as they come into the cone coverage area...say for example from the bottom up to12 ft.up from bottom or so and some flashers have more coverage options. As a fish comes into the cone the flasher detects changing signal strength of the object (fish) and as it approaches the center of the cone coverage the flasher converts the signal strength to a color band on the face of the flasher usually going from a weak signal (green at outer edge of cone) to orange or yellow colored band (closer to the center) and red when entering the center of the cone coverage...thus you know when the fish is below you. The width of the color band is also important asit can be an indicator of relative size of the object (fish)You don't always know exactly where though because of the shape of the cone and the way the signal is interpreted. The zoom also allows you to see your bait or jig better when your gain (sensitivity ) is set properly so that you can actually watch fish behavior such as fish movement, an approaching fish to the bait, one getting ready to bite (hopefully) or one becoming disinterested and leaving the area around your bait. You can also learn important things about your jigging technique, how to set your sensitivity to that particular bait or jig, and how well individual jigs sink, what type of motion imparts a desired action in it to the fish so they strike and a million other "finer points" . You can often also see the condition of your minnow if used (whether alive and swimming or not). There is a learning curve to using them and the more you do it the faster and more completely you figure things out below you....but basically you are interpreting color bands instead of fish marks on the screen and inmany cases it is a much richer "picture" in some respects.

Yes they certainly are "elusive"

and on behalf of Vets everywhere may God bless you Rollie.

There is from 3 inches to 4 inches of ice on Honeoye as of today. There were guys out there with their shelters (even way north of the launch)but I wasn't one of them....we went with the "old school" bucket approach for now

Welcome to LOU and congrats on the retirement. I'm nearly in year 12 of it and loving every moment. I put in my 4 years (Air Force Air Police Vietnam Era) and that was enough for me... Best of luck with the fishing.

ummmmm... "What guns and ammo" ?

There are rules for boating courtesy but there isn't one simple answer. The answers depend on the exact situation under consideration for example who is inside or outside and direction of each vessel whether they are under power or not (sails), size of vessels etc. generally staying away from traffic is smart....I stay away from charters ( often inexperienced people on board etc.) give wide berth to planer boards and outriggers, and don't go full speed near anyone fishing, and get way the h away from anyone that has a fish on.

Welcome to LOU and Happy New Year!!

Dave's advice is right on target and if followed you'll be fine out there and probably catch more fish as well.....as in ice fishing folks clustered up doesn't mean they are actually catching either....

ADK - Tim has a good point. The temp/depth speed at ball/lure issue isn't just related to Lake O either....most of the deep water lakes stratify e.g Great Sacandaga included- (creating a thermocline layer ) significantly in the summer months/early Fall and temp at depth becomes very important .... Spring and winter ...not much...you can mark all kinds of fish on a depth finder without knowing what they are, why they are where they are, or if they may be actively seeking food but the temp information can give you some strong "clues" or "leads" about what may be happening there and whether your probabilities are increased for catching fish. Speed at the ball/lure lets you know what your lure might be doing (or not doing) and whether adjustments might be required (speed of boat, length of leader etc.) If the screen of the temp device is watched diligently you will know exactly what "state" to return to after a fish hits that particular set-up which saves a lot of time and screwing around. With that said a Fishawk TD is much better than nothing.....but it has limitations. It gives you a static (one time) picture of the temperature profile every 5 ft. down say a hundred feet so you can see where the most radical change in temps occur and then run your stuff in that range (e..g downriggers or Seth Green rigs). The main problem there is that the stratification layers are not consistent throughout the lake or the water column (e.g. wavy up and down or laterally with currents or spring inputs etc.) so while you're trolling along the thermocline changes depth significantly and you aren't aware of the changes and keep trolling on without results. For many if not most folks it comes down to economics though and it is a lot of money to lay out if you don't fish often or don't do a whole lot of summer/early Fall trolling....not everyone actually NEEDS half the stuff they have Including me (acording to my wife)

:drink: :drink: Happy New Year folks! I hope this season brings you all you hope for....fish included

Man.....the ice fishing isn't looking quite as attractive to me now for some reason Nice results Rick!

Let's hope the cold temps change the picture this year!

I left my speakers turned up from listening to some Jimi Hendrix music the other night and then went into the LOU site forgetting about it and my wife was doing something in the kitchen.....I hit the bulbs by accident and it almost took my head off and she came running into my office and said "What the hell was that....(or something like that) ?"

I've been using Mustad SINGLE stainless steel (3x or 5x strength) Siwash salmon hooks for well over 40 years or so and they are hard to beat. Over time I've replaced them on well over at least a thousand spoons and never had one bend or break on a fish and I've never lost any fish to "hook failure" with them (mainly just impatience and incompetence ) I don't replace the trebles on many of my stickbaits because of the balance issue.

mfz :smile:

Hey Sneaky I have a Pro Model 2 person Clam and one big thing I DON'T like about it is the integrated "buttons" that you have to press inward in the frame to release the sections when raising or lowering it when starting or quitting. They are VERY hard to deal with in the cold and sometimes stick...very poorly designed. My son''s Frabill was less expensive and doesn't have any problems and he loves it.

Just keep in mind that the two man pop over versions are in large part enough for a big guy and that is about it without a whole bunch of extra room to move around. Another major consideration since you will be the only one pulling it on the ice is weight. Get the largest and lightest one you can for your purposes because when there is snow and lumpy ice with snow on top it can be brutal pulling a heavy one ;especially by yourself. A lot of folks buy or make "runners" to go under their setups that get them up off the ice so they cut through the snow. With a child inside I'd opt for a Buddy heater probably the smaller one (Little Buddy) to save on propane because they have more safety features than the catalytics which can be dangerous (burns) for kids because they are open.