3/20 crappies

[johnr]

Got out for a few hours in the afternoon to finish setting up my livescope and to see if it could be put to use.

Fished mid/upper Roanoke creeks. The backs were pretty muddy so concentrated on cleaner coves. Looked at a few before I found some fish. Hit isolated sunken brush in 25’ with fish near the bottom of it. Watched several follow our jigs out of the bush for 10-20’ into open water before they committed. Lots of fish on that pile but most of them would not move out from under it. The fish higher on the pile were the ones we got into. It was cool watching them chase the bait. Had fish chase it on every cast...

Water was 54 degrees. It was pretty windy. Full sun. Lots of dirty water. Saw fish in the dirty water but really have little confidence in it. I think we had a few lite bites in the mud before we moved to cleaner water. Checked a lot of shallow shoreline brush without seeing anything.

[ncsportfisher]

How’s the livescope treating you? I am really curious? How do you have the transducer mounted? Independently or on the trolling motor or transom?

[johnr]

So far I like it. I’ve used it a handful of times and am still dialing it in, but only fine tuning at this point to see what I can “really” do with it. It was totally usable right out of the box and was a huge help the first time I used it. Almost no learning curve.

I’ve got it mounted on the bow, transducer is on an auxiliary pole that I can reach from my seat base up front. I just used 1” pvc for a prototype until I decided what I really wanted to do with it. I’m waiting on some telescoping pole material and some odds and ends and then I’ll fab a 34” - 51” telescoping pole that will store nicely in the bow. This system will have my 2d/sidevu transducer mounted on it as well, though it will be stationary while the livescope will have full rotation.

Currently I am having severe interference when using 2d sonar with the GT56 mounted on my trolling motor. Totally incompatible, which is why it needs moved to the auxiliary pole.

9” screen is plenty good, the resolution is very good. Livescope will track a walleye jig 60’ deep, no problem. Currently I’m casting crappie jigs and watching them from about 35-40’ depending on cast accuracy. Perspective view is nice for certain things, though fish/lure tracking really isn’t one of them.

Is it worth the money? Certainly not for a weekend angler like myself who will make no money from fishing. BUT being able to keep tabs on a school of fish, or more readily find a local school of fish without having to idle around using stern sonar to find them is priceless. Especially when you’ve got two hours after work to fish and your wife and daughter want to catch fish, not just go fishing.

[ncsportfisher]

Great write up! Mine is sitting In my garage and ready to install, I too and planning to mount the transducer on a secondary PVC pole until I fine tune it.. I have a buddy who has it and it seems to be game changing.
I won’t make any money off of it either, but I saved for a while for it so I decided to buy it anyway!

That’s a great idea, I may mount both on the pole once I get a permanent mount manufactured. For now the PVC will do!

Did you install the “perspective” mount?

[johnr]

Yes I did install the perspective Mount. I installed it as “port” side.

Also, I’m using a 12v group 24 battery that only has the garmin unit on it; Black box and 93sv. No worries about power consumption with it. It’s wired directly, no switches. I just disconnect the power connectors when I charge the battery for safety.

[ncsportfisher]

Thanks for the info! I have a house battery that I’m planning to wire it to, I have heard power consumption is a worry, but I’d hate to add a fourth battery!

I’m excited to experiment with it for certain

[johnr]

On a full day of running it, my battery goes from 12.8v to 11v. That’s ~10 hours with it actually being used.

[ncsportfisher]

Then I shouldn’t have any problems! Where did you mount your black box? Lots of different ideas people have on this one, they say it needs to be in a well ventilated area. Since I am putting the unit on the bow of my 1860 Aluminum boat, I’m mounting the box exposed. I will use tamper proof bolts to deter someone from taking it.

I do no have a ton of storage space or area under the deck to mount it, so it will be on the deck out of my way!

Shoot some pics of fish and bait if you have any!

[johnr]

I’ve got an alumacraft competitor. I mounted it in the bow box up front. It’s dry, and it’s got a 4x9 door on it that I leave open while using it. I’m undecided, but may move it to the center of the boat into my spare battery box. I have reservations about the bumping and bouncing up in the bow.

Allegedly sonar recording can be done using the active captain app, but I have yet to get mine to record anything. Hopefully this weekend I can get some action shots of livescoping. I haven’t done a good job of it yet...

Get the active captain app if you haven’t. It makes updating a breeze and the units need updated right out of the box to be livescope compatible. Additionally your charts will then be on your mobile device, which is real convenient for map study.

[ncsportfisher]

Great, thanks for the info. Yes, active captain is great! I switched over to Garmin about a a year ago. I love the features of Garmin. I still run lowrance on my dash because I prefer their maps

[R22]

I do not have Livescope at this time. I was going to purchase a unit a week ago but couldn't decide if the 9 inch screen was OK or not - Thanks for that feedback. I understand you may want to fabricate your own pole to hold the transducer, but if that is not the case, the good people at Russell Marine told me to look at Fishing Specialties. They make lots of poles and brackets specifically to fit a particular brand and model of boat. These poles are not cheap, starting at $250 each but it may save you some time or even provide you some ideas for your own fabrication.

[johnr]

I have seen those poles and seriously considered one, they have it figured out for sure. I’m just looking for something a little more specific to storage on my boat, otherwise I’d just buy one.

I saw a couple videos that showed the 10” screen resolution was just a little less crisp than the 9”, which swayed me to the 9” screen. The 9” has a very nice natural contrast, which is a huge benefit to maintaining a good resolution. The screen is also exceptionally clear, and resists sunlight washout better than my circa 2017 lowrance and garmin.

[hambone]

I made my pole out of pvc pipe, I have $35 in it and it works awesome.I will try and post some pics of it if I can remember to do so