Cape Fair 1/10

[Dutch]

Started late finished early.  Messing with Mega Live but still don’t understand it.  Tossed a shaky.  Caught 6 from 9:30-11:30.  No bites after that.  GP Zero.

[Bill Babler]

Dutch,

Set your forward range at no more than 50'.  Set your bottom depth on auto so no matter the depth it should shoot a picture. 

I'm not for sure of the angles or adjustments on your mega live transducer as far as picture.   My Garmin has at least 6 settings, not counting Perspective. You must have the correct angle on that. If you don't it totally will not work. 

Once you have that, set your gain and sensitivity where your screen shows some grain. Get a spoon or a big bait and start pitching it out there and watch for it. 

As you learn it you can start taking out some of the grain in the picture till its clear, but you can still see your target. Also you need a friendly color palette that works well with your eyes.

Shoot some pictures of your screen and post them. We'll get you going. 

With the live scope I can try 6 different transducer angles and as my rep. said if you don't have that outside part right the adjustment part on the inside will never be right. 

I will tell you the Garmin and the Lowrance are not set it and forget it. Mine needs slight easy tuning at almost every stop depending in depth. 

Bobby can chime in as I'm betting he has got his live scope dialed in better than mine. 

I'll get in touch with the Hummingbird guy and post a piece on what he says. There should be some models on the web,  if its set up correctly to show you how to tune it in. 

Should have you peeking under docks and looking at fish in no time. 

Good Luck. 

[Bill Babler]

Spoke to our regional Minn Kota, Hummingbird Rep. today. He is on the road but said he would get me the info tomorrow, so I should have some good tweaks to post. 

Probably one of the finest guys I have ever worked with. Knows his stuff inside out. 

[Dutch]

I assume that your gain is my contrast.

[bobby b.]

Dutch,

You must be the first kid on the block with the new toy as my neighbor tells me there is a waiting line for this.

I would start with the settings in the default and adjust the bottom to fill the screen or use the auto bottom setting if that fills the screen.  I would set the gain as high as possible without filling the forward looking portion with all that noise, assuming it acts like Garmin in this regard.  Range 50 ft like Bill said.  Then throw something like a 3/8 oz jig head/grub out pass 50 ft in the direction that the transducer is facing, count down such that you know what the depth of the jig should be (20 - 30 ft) and then slowly reel back looking for the jig to appear on the screen.  You may have to move the transducer direction a bit if the boat has moved.  As the jig appears on the screen if may be faint but should brighten as it gets closer.  Also try the different color palettes to set what works best for you.  Garmin offers a green/black (emerald I think they call it) that works well for me.  After that try a vertical presentation at about 30 - 50 fow.  You should be able to see the jig drop to the bottom and see fish appear and likely reject the bait. 😁 The Garmin has some additional settings when the depth is deeper.  The Garmin Panoptix runs at a higher frequency than the 2D, and down/side imaging so there is no interference.  So then on your vertical presentation, compare the 3 views if you can - Mega Live, 2d, and down image.  My gain setting is generally about 60%.

Good Luck,

Bobby

[Dutch]

Thanks for the tips.  I decided to go big or go home so I used an Arig.  I learned a lot today.  Before I was trying to see a 1/16 oz crappie jig.  It caused me to have a come apart a couple of times.  After an hour or so the Arig was getting monotonous so I just went fishing for a while.  Next time I’ll use jigs and chatters for a more precise zone.

[Bill Babler]

I don't think contrast is the same as gain or sensitivity. They have both settings on my Garmin and my Lowrance units and they are different.  Might be the same on the bird, I just don't know. 

Bobby go to the top color palette and try Rusted Steel. It is totally amazing. It distinguishes between hard and soft bottom and the fish are amazingly bright. It is so easy to see them in trees as the limbs are a totally different color than the fish.

You can also see them RIGHT ON THE BOTTOM as they are a different color than the bottom. 

It also distinguishes the size of the fish so much you can see the different sizes by ounces in a school. 

This is all new, you may have it. When I put on the new 126sv ultra last week the tech told me about it. It was preprogrammed into the new unit. 

You can also get it thru an update. 

Game changer. 

[Dutch]

Bobby when I decided to get ML I made the call and put in the order.  I was expecting a February delivery but I got a call the next day saying mine had arrived.  Maybe tipping for services rendered does pay off.

[bobby b.]

The Garmin Livescope has a Color Gain and a Power? Gain.  I think the Color Gain is like Contract.  The Power Gain adjustment shows on the screen and is used mostly for changing water depths.  

Bill, I did try the Rust Steel - not sure I like as well as well as the Emerald BUT it really does make the fish POP out with a whitest/pinkest color.  I tried it on the Clear view as well.  This might be a place to mess with the color gain as well.