Baby steps baby steps

[Dutch]

Ran down to Cape for a while this morning to get the Mega Live wet.  I kept it on auto except for range.  I’m impressed.  I didn’t try to catch any of the fish that I saw as I had cleaned out the sissy setups so Scott could have unimpeded access to the Ethernet hub and I forgot to put them back.

I used forward and down some of the images were near real life.  On down I saw a fish a couple of feet from the bottom.  I grabbed a rod and dropped the bait down.  I saw it all the way down and hit bottom right in front of an uninterested fish.  I forsee smoked walleye when I drop my jigging spoons on their heads.

 I am guessing that it will take all winter to get anywhere near proficient with it but time is all I have.  After day one I’d buy it again.

 

[bobby b.]

Any pics of the images in our future?

[Dutch]

I don’t know enough about what I am seeing to do pics yet.  I have to do a bunch of experimenting with color palettes, sensitivity, and contrast.  I was just astounded at what forward view shows swimming around out there.

[Bill Babler]

Was down at Russellville getting my Christmas presents put on my boat and there were a bunch of Pro-Fishermen there. 

Hearing Bird is coming out with a upgrade or a Mega Live II, that is going to come out in late 2022.

Lowrance is coming out with some additional refinements to clarify the picture. It currently has greater distance than the Garmin out to 100 ft.   but not the quality of picture refinement. 

Garmin has a couple of new transducers out right now for testing that is going to push out Livescope to 150 ft.  Another that will even further enhance 2 D sonar and further define Clear Vu down and CV side images. 

This is a total arms race, just like computers and phones. In 2 years I've got a feeling all the forward sonar we are using now will be about as useful as a flip phone. 

Dutch you will be amazed at the numbers of fish you see that totally reject the bait, either real or live. 1 out of 25 bite it. 

Good luck with the new toy. 

[Smithvillesteve]

Question for you graph boys. I bought a used Crestliner this past spring that has a small 5" Lowrance graph on it. Trolling motor is a 24v Minnkota Terrova with the transducer in the head. There is a cable that allows one to use a Lowrance. I went to Bass Pro the other day to possibly upgrade my bow graph to a Hummingbird, which Minnkota is tied to i guess. Wanted a bigger screen with downscan and sidescan. Guy told me i couldnt do it. All i could use with that trolling motor was 2HD using a Hummingbird or a Lowrance. Unless i wanted to mount a transducer to the trolling motor but highly recommended NOT to do that with spot lock. Wires get all messed up i guess. He said my only option would be to upgrade the trolling motor. Is this correct info? Guy sounded very knowledgeable but i am a 69 yr old clueless tech guy. Thanks boys and have a Happy New Year.

[nomolites]

Yes, the ducer in the motor head is just 2D…I run the SI and DI on the stern and just 2D up front but have everything networked which allows shared waypoints and control of the trolling motor from each station.

Mike

[aarchdale@coresleep.com]

2 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

Garmin has a couple of new transducers out right now for testing that is going to push out Livescope to 150 ft.  Another that will even further enhance 2 D sonar and further define Clear Vu down and CV side images. 

IT wouldnt surprise me if Garmin was sitting on something great just waiting for the others to catch up before they release it. Its crazy livescope has been out for over 5 years

[Bill Babler]

13 minutes ago, aarchdale@coresleep.com said:

IT wouldnt surprise me if Garmin was sitting on something great just waiting for the others to catch up before they release it. Its crazy livescope has been out for over 5 years

To tell you the truth, without giving any shop talk away, you might want to hold off a bit on forward facing electronics.  I saw some things. 

Great answer by nomolites on Steve's question.  Yes without a doubt and the best way to go would be to hook up a new Bird to your existing transducer on the Minn Kota as they are symbiotic.  I would also replace that transducer so both your graph and transducer were new. Should give you great mapping and good 2D sonar. 

Bill Beck never ran a transducer over 3 years. 

Nomolities also hit it on the head with the side view, transducer in the back to a console unit that networks with the bow. 

[Bill Babler]

Kind of Highjacked Dutch's thread, but here is some really great information I also picked up from these guys. 

If your running a Ghost or a Force 24/36 trolling motor. Buy a single 24V. 100AH lithium battery to run the troller and 1  series 31 AGM 100AH to run your starting battery and electronics. 

Your dumping a load of batteries and weight and losing no performance  That 24 will run either one of those motors 16 plus hours of continuing operation in any weather condition.  Saw different boats they were running that configuration with up to six 12" graphs, on one if them. 

[Bill Babler]

This is just a guess, but in the pretty near future I think you may see a Panoptics Live scope, that is imaging out to 150 ft. That has 360 degrees of total realtime imaging. 

As you know that is much further than a side view, and this is something that you use on the bow trolling motor, not having to go 2.5 mph. It will read at any speed, including dead still. 

This will get rid of the Perspective mount and multiple livescopes. As I said, I think this deal is about to get completely blown up.