Do anglers with live scope harvest more?

[tjm]

Immigrants, hogs IDK. But why let me take fish home if I can't keep them? AFAIK there is no possession limit on cats and they are nearly as good as hogs at destroying the evidence.

[Ham]

I have decent electronics with DI/SI. I can find brush piles with fish on them, but even with GPS waypoints it still takes time to find the known brush piles and position the boat. Cheater Scope puts you on the brush so much faster that traditional electronics AND you can quickly determine the activity level of the fish on the brush without dropping a bait. You can with experience determine the species and size of the individual fish. You can make sure your bait is optimally place as far as depth without being directly over the fish. 

it exponentially increases your effectiveness at catching fish. It makes an average fisherman much more effective at catching limits. It makes a “Hammer” a freaking SLEDGE HAMMER.

I am not at all knowledgeable in how guys are using Cheater Scope for bass or other species. We will see long term effects on crappie populations, but I feel. Like part of how harvest limits are set is by determining how effective anglers are going to be at catching fish and how many anglers are oursukng them. I truly believe Cheater Scope is increasing crappie harvest. The relatively limited number of Cheater Scope users is the only saving grace.  

I do not currently own Cheater Scope, but I’m saving my pennies. 

[Quillback]

I talked to a very good fisherman at Jigfest this year that is using Livescope for crappie.  He told me how he pulled up on some cover, scoped it out, and spotted 6 crappie.  He could also tell one of the crappie was bigger than the others.  First cast he caught the big one, caught two more and then let his buddy catch the other three.  No more there so on to the next spot.

As far as bass fishing, I've been watching some of the live coverage of BASS and BPT.  Some of those guys are fishing jerk baits.  They make a cast at the bank, then start working the lure watching their screen the entire time.  Patrick Walters wacked them in FL doing that, but he did not win, he did finish somewhere in the top 10.  Lee Livesay won on Fork last year throwing a 110 and also walking the dog.  He claims he could not only see the bass and how they reacted to his lures, but he could size them and knew which ones to target.

A few days ago at the Big M ramp I talked to a fisherman that is now using Livescope.  He is not a tourney fisherman, but is a regular on the lake.  He says it has changed the way he fishes, easier to find them and you can see how they react to your lures.  You find some trees that are out in 70 FOW that top out 30 feet below the surface and if there are bass in the tops, you can see your lure and keep it in their face.  

Last year on the Johnny Morris million dollar tourney, there were some guys from Kentucky fishing 50 yards away from me where there were deep fish schooling.  They were using the scope to spot fish in 50 FOW that are roaming around in open water.  They did OK, don't know exactly where they placed, but they fished the last day.  Watching some of the live coverage, it was obvious that the guys at the top were using it to catch deep fish.

I see it as another tool in the toolbox.  A very useful tool, but like any tool, you have to know how to use it.  

[Seth]

14 hours ago, MOPanfisher said:

Most of the guys I know running a livescope fall into one of two categories.  Either they would have caught a limit anyway, might have taken them a little longer but still would have, or category 2 unless there is a diver hooking fish into their hooks for them, they ain't gonna catch very many.  Me I am lazy, and more importantly CHEAP, so I don't have anything more than a $100 unit.  Heck often as not anymore if crappie fishing unless someone wants a mess to clean I am likely to throw them back, again the lazy part.

This is how I feel as well. Sure you have guys with more money than brains out there pretending to be a fishermen but those types have been around for years. They have all the gadgets but never learned how to effectively use them especially when it came to side imaging. It still baffles me that guys who have had that stuff for years still say they can't understand what they are seeing on the screen with all of the tutorials available on YouTube. I cram YouTube videos about new fishing tech when it comes out to try and understand how it would benefit me and then decide whether it's worth the investment. So far, side imaging and my Ultrex are the only two things that I truly felt would enhance my fishability enough to drop the coin on. Heck I just now upgraded from a Huminbird 998 to a G2N mega si unit and that was only because of hardware issues on the 998 and the fact that I found a great deal on the G2N. The image quality is quite a bit better but I still don't think it really finds more fish or cover than I did on the 998. Forward facing sonar would be an asset in certain situations but not enough so for me to drop the coin on. I'll just enjoy it when we fish out of my buddies boats that do have it.

[Dutch]

I have the Humminbird Mega Live but the weather has not cooperated with me very well.  I like gadgets, thing of a ma bobs and do dads.  I don’t know if it will help me or not but the thrill of trying something new and different is worth the time and money to me.  What I am looking forward to doing is finding suspended bass and being able to see how they react to baits and presentations.

[fishinwrench]

The winningest livescope Bass strategy that I know about is locating schools of relocated (lost) bass near release areas. Usually they are suspended but they will stay together, and they all range from 3-7lbs.  

At sometime during the day they will turn on and bite aggressively....as long as you don't keep hammering at them.    If you keep following them around and throwing stuff at them before they are ready to feed..... you'll screw the pooch. They'll get spooked, scatter, and you might as well go find another group of fish somewhere else.   

Just calmly stay within casting distance of them as best you can and show them a bait every 30-45 minutes. Usually a swimbait of sorts is best. 

Once they decide to fire, you'll have an opportunity to absolutely load the boat in 15-20 minutes... if you can stay calm.   Stomping around in the boat, slamming hatch lids, and stuff like that will put them on the move and make it hard to keep track of them.  

Get good at doing that and you could probably win the biggest bass derby of the year from a 14' Jon boat with nothing but a trolling motor and a FFS unit attached to it.  

[tjm]

Those schools of lost bass stay pretty well near the  release spots?

[fishinwrench]

10 minutes ago, tjm said:

Those schools of lost bass stay pretty well near the  release spots?

For a period of time, yes. Conveniently enough..... usually just outside the bouys (of the "off limits" area).  

Sometimes they'll school up around the bouys cables themselves..., and you're kinda pushing the rules there.  But they'll likely wander off a bit several times a day.  
 

[tjm]

Neat, when word gets out, all the boats will be lined up there knowing that all those were contender fish in previous contests. Neat too that when they do that they aren't relocating new fish. I like it. Just a little bit more technology and the tourneys may become so boring that they will fade away. 

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, tjm said:

Neat, when word gets out, all the boats will be lined up there knowing that all those were contender fish in previous contests. Neat too that when they do that they aren't relocating new fish. I like it. Just a little bit more technology and the tourneys may become so boring that they will fade away. 

Well, the "word has been out" for a long time.  Crappie anglers trolling little Bandit crankbaits in those areas started catching 4-6 pounders regularly, thinking they were pulling through schools of suspended slab crappie.  But before FFS there really wasn't a precise way to target those fish without trolling (which is a no-no in tournaments).    Just drifting around out there fan-casting blind is too much of a gamble. 

Those fish can be effectively targeted now. 👍