"The Miracle of Sight"

By: John Bacarella ~ Sportsmens Direct

 

 

Flashers Prophetically Spoken

 

     Whether you believe that Jesus made the blind literally see or whether

you think it was figurative, isn't what I'm talking about here. I want to talk

about the miracle of underwater vision via sonar. Companies such as

Vexilar, Marcum, Lowrance and now Humminbird have been helping

blind ice fishermen see deep below the ice. And when you first start to

use your flasher you will immediately appreciate what a miracle this

technology is.

 

     Personally, I was saved about 10 years ago at Kensington Community

Church. Funny enough, it was about the same time that I had my first

“religious experience” on the ice through a Vexilar FL-8. For many

years, I had resisted the temptation to buy a flasher, thinking that I was

good enough to do it on my own. Once I started fishing the Trap Attack

circuit, I quickly saw the light. I realized that there was only one true way

to consistent ice fishing, and that was using a flasher.

 

      Growing up almost exclusively chasing perch and walleye around the

shallow flats of lake St. Clair, I felt like some sort of “fishing god”. It was

rare that I got skunked and I almost always seemed to catch more and

bigger fish than all my buddies. At least that's what I told myself. The

truth was, that I grew up on those waters and knew from years of boat

fishing where all the weed edges, channels and other fish-holding

structure were located. If I hit enough of these spots in a given day, I

could generally score. Much of my time was spent looking for clear

water to sight fish.

 

     Fishing my first NAIFC Championship, and coming in near the bottom,

made me realize that it was time to get serious about what I didn't know.

By learning to use a flasher, I could catch up quickly.

 

    The ability to be able see if fish are present and how they react to your

bait is critical to consistent success. The ability to "see weeds", bottom

depth, hard or soft bottom, and even the ability to side scan using our

Circle Scan product, provide you with vast amounts of information. Yet I

still hear guys say that they fish so shallow that it just won't make a

difference. Unless you can physically see the fish, this is absolutely not

true.

 

     As long as you are fishing directly over your hole, where you can see

your flasher, why wouldn’t you want to see if there is a fish there and how

he reacts to your bait? Even in 2' of water, a 20 degree transducer will

cover your direct line of sight. It actually allows you to slush in your hole

and prevents fish from seeing you, while you can still see them

electronically. It doesn't get any better than that.

 

     There is another way to fish ultra shallow that doesn't involve electronics

or fish watching, but that's a different story. It requires a completely

different approach, called Long Rod Dabbling. Maybe that will be my

next post.

 

     Now that you’ve decided to use a flasher, I will caution you not to fall into

the "Holier than Thou" syndrome, believing that just because you can

now see the fish, you can always catch them. That kind of thinking can

slow you down, as it will encourage you to try to “force feed” fish that just

won’t bite. Back in your “blind days”, you would have skipped over

these fish, not even knowing that they were there. Now that you can see

them, you can learn new tricks to catch them or decide to just move on.

Carrying that flasher around like a purse can also slow you down. It can

turn into one other heavy piece of equipment that you have to lug

around. That, in turn, influences your ability to pick up and move. That

simple realization lead to a revelation and a new revolution. I worked

with former National Champion Phil Morse to create the Sonic Ice

Hopper. This unique bracket system allows the average ice angler to

carry his flasher, bucket, rods, tackle and fish, all in one hand. It has

been like being “born again” for many flasher lovers. I have had many

comments from anglers thanking us for “changing their ice fishing lives”

by giving them renewed mobility to go along with their electronic vision.

Unless you’re only sight fishing or Long Rod Dabbling, which are each

whole other subjects in themselves, a flasher will definitely improve your

fishing experience. I really do believe that using a flasher can be like a

religious experience, incredibly enlightening and freeing. The gospel

message here is that the truth will set you free and that flashers will make

you a better ice fisherman, period.