Sk8man

Stan - I used to run the Williams Wablers (the way they spelled it ) and Mooselooks.... they are a great spoon but haven't seen them around here for years. The Williams spoons that I had were silver plated too and showed up real nice in the water. They worked best in the Spring for me.

WTG Dan. some great eating there too. What is the size limit now where you are? Even the blues can be good if filleted and then soaked first in lemon juice (concentrated) and salt in a garbage bag to get the oil to clump up then rinse and use cajun spices and butter on them on the grill.

You aren't splitting hairs... you make valid points. I didn't realize that that particular unit has a flasher mode as I have never used that one. You are also right about personal preference being a significant factor. The slight humming noise of the non-LCD flashers is something that after so many years of using them that I don't even notice or pay attention to anymore. Idid however forget to mention that the LCD screens are more fragile especially in the cold (if they are hit or dropped accidentally) than those of the regular flashers. Hopefully docK holliday has a few things to think over from the discussion though

First of all LCD units and flashers are two very different "animals" and each has its strengths and weaknesses. Although the LCD units give good visual information regarding what is going on down there they are not in "real time" because it takes time for the screen writes and rewrites moving from right to left. They are however nice for deep water jigging for lakers for example because you can see position of the jig, the fish coming for it and also gain good info about groups of fish and the depths they are located at etc. but there are delays in that information reaching you and sometimes that is all it takes between success and failure. Flashers are immediate in that as soon as something breaks the beam coming into the cone you can with experience tell much from the changing signal (color changes going from green to yellow/orange then red as the fish comes closer to the bait or jig). You can even with experience estimate whether the fish is big or small directly under you or to the side a bit etc. Once someone becomes competent using their flasher although there may be more along the lines of interpreting what is happening it is really close to viewing it in real time especially with the critical zoom function operating. I have both types of units and I have been using flashers since the first "boxes" came out as well as some of the first graphs (e.g.Heath Kit and Vexilar) and their successors (since the early 70's anyway) and it takes awhile to really learn to use the flashers properly but each type unit is still dependent on the skill level of the user and intimate knowledge of the target species habits and behaviors (much of which can be learned by looking down the hole visually while jigging) LCD units can be quite slow in extreme cold too but i have never had a problem with a flasher regardless of temp. Flashers excel especially in shallow water applications a (much of ice fishing happens there) and The LCD is great for the lakers out deep. The fairly recent addition of the dimension of color on each of them (now affordable) has radically improved the quality of their use. The older LCD's and their predecessors were black and white or grey scale and the flashers had single color bulbs (not LEDS) usually red and you could only "guesstimate size of target and location by brightness and width of light alone. There is a place for each in the arsenal.

Looking good! John is definitely a master at what he does. The dodger on my previous boat lasted 22 years for me and was still in decent shape when I sold the boat. I considered the it best investment I've ever made.

They look real good power dive nice job. The critical part is always how the paint holds up but they sure look good.

You're very welcome. Hopefully this season we can meet up in person out there to chat

I use mine without any vehicle etc. so the electrical interference of that type is unknown. I haven't had any difficulty with other units interfering with it out on the ice though. If it were me I would be sticking with my flasher (I think l I recall you have a Marcum?) for the shallow stuff and I use my hand held Lowrance H2O GPS ($120?) for that function or even my Bushnell Backtrack GPS ($90). Hard to beat the flasher zoom for perch and walleye in shallow water and the immediate reading in real time rather than waiting for the screen rewrites.....just my opinion though and I'm "old school"

One of the things I've noticed over the years is that no system is perfect because of the changing consistency and depth of the snow. Two systems seem to stand out from the conventional commercial plastic or "rubberized" runners though. They are: a) the ski approach used above and b) galvanized conduit or pipe frames; and perhaps third PVC (small diameter) pipe home made frames. There are some snow/ice conditions that one or the other travels better on and where you have chunked up ragged ice with snow on it the higher the center of gravity the more chance of it tipping over and being difficult to maneuver. It is also helpful to wax the skis before and after use with good quality ski wax. Wet snow is often rather difficult to get through regardless of setup.

There is an ice fishing kit from Lowrance specifically for the HDS unit but it will also work with the Mark 5 Pro unit as well. When I bought an Elite7 unit I decided to use my Mark5 for deep water ice fishing jigging for lakers. The icefishing kit comes with its own ice transducer so I left my old transducer and speed impeller and wiring hookup for it on the boat as a potential "backup" for the Elite. I use my Vexilar for all the shallower water ice fishing as it is a faster "real time" display as contrasted with the LCD units which are somewhat slower displaying and the zoom is instantaneous in detecting versus waiting for the display to emerge from right to left. The LCD units seem better for deep water application though as you can see the jig, the fish coming up or down to it and the way the jig is moving visually with less "interpretation".. Each type unit has its strengths and weaknesses. The bottom line however is that I have a usable (and useful) LCD unit rather than selling it etc. for about $100 for the ice fishing kit and I still have it as a potential backup for my Elite as well on the boat by a direct switch without re-installing anything. The LCD units can be noticeably "sluggish" in the extreme cold

Yes they slowly suck the nutrients out of the fish....nasty things that they are.

Hey Mike you keep that up and you'll need a longer cooler pretty soon One of the ways to tell if a laker is severely undernourished is to look at the size proportion of his head to his body. The head will appear much larger than normal in proportion to the body. That one from the pic at least may be only mildly malnourished.

Nice LL Mike. Keep after them

I'm sure those folks really appreciated your good samaritan action John...it is an awful feeling having your motor down especially at this point in the season when there are few folks around to help out.