I can't see my jig…

I’ve noticed the last couple times out on the ice that it has been a struggle to see my jig on my Vexilar. I have an older fl-8. Sometimes I can see my jig perfectly on the flasher on a low gain setting, then the next hole I can’t find my jig at all. I usually get a weaker return when fishing 15 ft or more. Like as soon as the jig hits 15′ the mark begins to fade. It makes a difference what side of the hole I put my unit on but there is no rhyme or reason to it. Not sure what I’m dealing with here. Weak batteries? Bad transducer? Angled holes? Time for a Marcum? Can anybody relate?

need more info. River or lake current? Transducer at bottom of the hole? Have ou turned up the GAIN to see your jig when it gets below 15ft??

When you say “older fl-8”, how old?? Do you have the old model with the transducer mounted to an arm with a drop rod, or a transducer that self centers with the foam float?

Could be a transducer not level and your in the outer cone, bottom content, debri in the water, ducer is going dead, or the flasher is about dead.

Is your transducer hanging below the ice? If not, and the transducer is still in the hole, the ice could be blocking the sonar signal.

fishinfreaks wrote:

Is your transducer hanging below the ice? If not, and the transducer is still in the hole, the ice could be blocking the sonar signal.

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That sounds like the problem to me as that’s been my experience

I have had this same exact problem with my fl-8. Hope to hear of some ways to try and fix it!

If it’s not leaning on the side of the hole it’s almost certainly the battery or the transducer. Both of these wear out over time and need to be replaced. Transducers can be damaged by banging them around as well.

Try swapping each these out with a buddies unit and see what you get.

It is the fl-8 with the foam float, not the arm. Just bought a new foam float but ended up taking it off since the transducer wire had to be hung on a specific spot on the side of the hole to see anything. I make sure that the transducer is below the bottom of the ice and I am usually not fishing current while on ice. Batteries are pretty old so I might try a new one. Thanks for the input!

Sound waves are just that. The return signal just isn’t coming back clear. There may be plankton in the water muffling up the return signal. Even my LX5 loses a jig signal, or simply receives different signal strengths as it falls down the water column.

I’m not quite sure this fits your symptoms but overall poor performance is a sign of “worn out brushes”. If you really like your unit, you might just consider sending it back to Vexliar for a tune-up. I think they have a flat rate for this but I’m not certain. Wouldn’t hurt to contact them.

Weak battery would be the easiest to check on your own. Bad transducer could be swapped with a buddies transducer to check performance differences.

How old of a unit are you talking about?

As others have said Vexilar can give it a tune up and determine what is going on and they are very reasonable and very fast. IMHO

Most of the issues with a Vexilar are related to the battery, I would definitely check that first.