First time using Vex.

[ahoude23]

Used my Vex for the first time last week. Picked up on reading it pretty quick. I was able to follow my bait and see fish in the water column. I would jig in the level of the swimming fish, lift the jig and watch a fish follow the bait. Didn't always get a strike when this happened. Should I set the hook when the lines touch? I think sometimes the fish just follow the bait and don't bite, correct?

Andy

[grouly925]

You should still rely on feeling the pole to set the hook. Just because the lines are at the same depth doesn't mean the fish is on or even that close to your hook. Remember that the transducer sends down a cone that as you go deeper becomes larger. In 25 feet of water depending on your cone angle, you could be seeing as much as a 4 ft. diameter circle on the bottom.

[Chad Smith]

You have a sounder which will locate fish, once you know the fish are down south, its a matter of finessing. Just because the lines touch doesn't mean the fish is biting. Just do a slow steady jig and watch the rod tip closely or spring bobber. You said you learned how to use it fairly quickly right, just be patient and you will be hammering them in no time! What machine did you get?

[frozenbeer]

Used my Vex for the first time last week. Picked up on reading it pretty quick. I was able to follow my bait and see fish in the water column. I would jig in the level of the swimming fish, lift the jig and watch a fish follow the bait. Didn't always get a strike when this happened. Should I set the hook when the lines touch? I think sometimes the fish just follow the bait and don't bite, correct?

Andy

They say if you can get a fish to rise after your bait the odds of catching it increase by 60-70%. When I get them to come up I usually let it sit still for a couple of minutes. If it turns into a stare down I'll give it a real subtle twitch or two. If the fish starts moving away I'll give a couple of gentle jigs until they come back, then repeat the same routine. Sooner or later I usually end up with the fish on the ice. I won't set the hook until I feel the fish hit, but that big red bar gets my undivided attention until I can nail it. With pan fish, if they're hitting real light a spring bobber does wonders.

[GOTONE]

Just follow through with the jigging action and when a fish hits you will know the only problem with mine is I don’t even watch the pole tip any more I am too busy watching the fish follow my lure

[buster5199]

Just follow through with the jigging action and when a fish hits you will know the only problem with mine is I don’t even watch the pole tip any more I am too busy watching the fish follow my lure


been there done that!!!:chillin:

[XXXdisel77]

You should still rely on feeling the pole to set the hook. Just because the lines are at the same depth doesn't mean the fish is on or even that close to your hook. Remember that the transducer sends down a cone that as you go deeper becomes larger. In 25 feet of water depending on your cone angle, you could be seeing as much as a 4 ft. diameter circle on the bottom.
:yeahthat:

A lot of people don't understand the fact that the fish may be a few feet away even when it looks like it's right under them. Setting the hook before you even know if you have a bite would most likely just scare the fish off. You have to entice them to bite. Keep jigging it right in front of the fish. If you are not using a noodle rod or spring bobber you should get one ASAP.

[unclecbass]

same heer, that darn screen is just too entertaining

[ahoude23]

You have a sounder which will locate fish, once you know the fish are down south, its a matter of finessing. Just because the lines touch doesn't mean the fish is biting. Just do a slow steady jig and watch the rod tip closely or spring bobber. You said you learned how to use it fairly quickly right, just be patient and you will be hammering them in no time! What machine did you get?

Got a FL20 at the end of last season. Didn't even get to use it 'till this year. I was looking at a different model but when I get to Cabelas that was the only one they had. Had to use my GC's on something and figured it would make me do more ice fishing this year.

I have a very light action for perch. A Hali makes it bend and even the dinks bend it over. I thought that was right, not setting the hook 'till I felt the strike. Neat as heck watching that bar turn red, I stopped looking at my rod tip also, have to remember Vex isn't the only part of fishing.

If I get one of those cameras someday I might just go out to play with the gadgets, not even fish!!

[ih772]

It sure is hard to stop watching the screen when a fish shows up isn't it. The hardest thing, is to keep from changing your jigging style when the fish shows up.

[Chad Smith]

20, nice, how are you liking that bottom zoom?

[ahoude23]

Bottom zoom pretty cool, I was only in 9-10 FOW but tried it out. Pretty good target separation. I still have to get the hang of it. I'm sure that will come with experience though.

[Shetan]

I just got a Showdown Fishfinder last week. I've used it a couple times in shallow water just to learn to read it. Heading to Metro tomorrow to try it out. I'll let you know how I do.

[don]

Got the FL20 with the dual beam transducer last winter and it works great. If I see the bright red and am tempted to set the hook I lower the tip just a tad to see if there's any slack. If so, it's fish on. ;) Otherwise I just try raising the bait slowly until fishy either commits or shows disinterest.

[tommy-n]

Just remember what ever you did to make the fish come keep doing it and they will bite. It's almost human nature to stop moving it when the lines blend together, but 9 times out of 10 thats a mistake.

[huntsaver]

I just bought the FL-20 ultra dual transducer Friday and I used it all weekend. It is AWESOME. Night fished with it saturday and it seemed really nice to not have the lantern on watching a bobber. I don't know how I ever fished without a sonar and I'll never go back to fishing blind.

[Mark Sylvester]

Love the flasher on my lowrance 520!!!