How much is too much

[Big Cliff]

Yesterday I went fishing. A couple of fellows in the hut next to us had all the gear, underwater camera, sonar, ...... the latest of everything (including a really nice pair of Nikie running shoes LOL). They saw all kinds of fish on their sonar and underwater camera but couldn't get a bite. We were 100' away, didn't have a toy to play with but we knocked the heck out of the fish with over 100 caught. Is there such a thing as TOO MUCH fishing gear?

[misfish]

Ask Terry,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,LOL

 

[AKRISONER]

12 minutes ago, Big Cliff said:

Yesterday I went fishing. A couple of fellows in the hut next to us had all the gear, underwater camera, sonar, ...... the latest of everything (including a really nice pair of Nikie running shoes LOL). They saw all kinds of fish on their sonar and underwater camera but couldn't get a bite. We were 100' away, didn't have a toy to play with but we knocked the heck out of the fish with over 100 caught. Is there such a thing as TOO MUCH fishing gear?

owning the electronics, and knowing how to use them to catch fish are two entirely different things. Even fishing with a livescope, its not going to catch the fish for you if you dont know what to do when you see a fish.

[LeXXington]

2 hours ago, Big Cliff said:

. Is there such a thing as TOO MUCH fishing gear?

I get this question so many times.. each time my Wife asks I tell here yea I guess I should start spending my fishing fund on wine, women and gambling

She shakes her head and tells me I love fishing too much to part with money on that.

Of all the toys a fish finder is the biggest need the rest is all "bling"

 

 

 

[Rizzo]

Although I minimize my own use of electronics to a mid-level fishfinder on my boat, I would think the right elctronics, in the hands of a skilled angler who knows how to use them, could be quite useful. Good electronics with a guy who doesn't know how to fish? Forget it. 

[wkrp]

Electrofishing. It's when you go to play with all your toys.

[Garnet]

You need to spend to get those skills, 20-30-40 years of time and money or speed up the process .

 

[crappieperchhunter]

If I'm ice  fishing for perch in water with any depth...20 feet or more...I always bring my vex. It really is a useful tool to help show you how to trigger less aggressive fish to bite.

[DanD]

I had a cheap knock-off underwater camera (it didn't last long) a few years back. Loved the thing for keeping the dink (perch) off my bait while ice fishing. It helped with the quality of my catch, but not so much in the quantity. My eldest brother (He's passed now) had the touch, he constantly outfished us every time. He went into some kind of zone when he was fishing; he was 100% concentrated on his presentation. He didn't need to see what was down there, with either a graph or camera. After 15-20 minutes without a hit, he'd be moving; sometimes 40-50 feet, others a 1/4 mile. It was as if he had a second sense, as to where and how to fish a certain location. Man do I miss him, he had so much more to teach, other's around him.

Dan

Edited February 2, 2022 by DanD

[410001661]

I ask my wife all the time "is there a thing as too many shoes" and she leaves me alone

[captpierre]

Saw a guy on my Lund FB page selling his 2021 Lund. Fully loaded with every toy. 400 hp Verado.  Said new it  would be $140k. 😎. I shake my head. 

[lew]

I never got into all the high end electronics and always did very well fishing. I had a half decent GPS that cost about $700 and a pair of sonars that were just used to show me depths and weeds. Never found I needed anything other than that and almost laugh when I see some boats rigged out looking like the cockpit on a 747 with all the electronics.

To me the fun of fishing was going out and looking for them and figuring out patterns rather than using very expensive electronics to do the work for me.

[AKRISONER]

cliff, youd be blown away if you saw whats its like to fish livescope in open water for laketrout. Out of all of the different types of fishing I do, that application trumps all.

The coolest things ive seen yet though was a smallmouth suspended 12 feet off of bottom in 25 feet of water eat a crankbait off of a ledge in real time, 25 feet off of the nose of the boat. They do have their application, its a matter of what extent you need to go with it/want to. If I am being honest, my favourite style of fishing is still flipping and skipping  into wood for largemouth which involves precisely 0 electronics aside from a trolling motor.

People also spend thousands a year on weed, cigs and liquor and drive $100,000 vehicles too, so to each their own if you got it, spend it!

[BillM]

8 hours ago, captpierre said:

Saw a guy on my Lund FB page selling his 2021 Lund. Fully loaded with every toy. 400 hp Verado.  Said new it  would be $140k. 😎. I shake my head. 

I saw the same ad.   What a rig!  Let's not forget that was in USD

[glen]

Over the years I’ve thought about how much is too much.  At a point it is no longer fair chase. TNT nope.  Gill nets nope.  Everyone has to figure out where to draw the line. 
Tell me the depth and Ill fish for them. 

[porkpie]

I'm torn on this issue.  I would be lost on the water without my GPS/Sonar and ipilot.  It has changed the way I fish, and when dialed in will crush them.  I am sort of lost on the livescope and cameras.  I have a mini cam, but I use it to find weeds for perch, and rock formations to find gobies in winter.   Outside of that it doesn't get used unless one of my kids is with me and wants to watch the fish.  I don't use it in the summer at all, and to be honest I think they are often more trouble than they ae worth. I think technology is great, but there is such a thing as too much tech.  And none of it is worth a pinch of salt if you don't know how to fish.  If you do though.....

[AKRISONER]

I can assure everyone here, that having high quality electronics and knowing how to use them well, will 100% catch you more fish. 
 

Livescope making this even more eye opening because there are fish I catch that I would have never caught without it, It makes sense, but there is 100% a group of fish “type” that won’t eat if your boat is anywhere near them. That goes for all species.

once again with lakers, for whatever reason they were not fond of vertical presentation but would eat jigs ripped by them. If I put the boat near them they won’t eat. 
 

bass, fish suspending way way up high in the water column most likely on bait. You can’t put a boat on it, but I’ve thrown top water out over those fish in 25 feet of water and they eat. It’s incredible

Edited February 3, 2022 by AKRISONER

[Garnet]

It really means nothing that the tech kids didn't catch this day. The soon to be good anglers will figure it out.

And 100 ft away that's 3 moves. In perchn 100 ft is the moon.

Most of my buddy's take units off boat for there ice fishing so 12 month use tempers the cost.

[SirCranksalot]

IMO the main purpose of a FF on ice is to keep the fisherman entertained. That way he stays longer and catches more fish.😁, It puzzles me when my buds put their FF Xducer in the hole before they put a line in. It doesn't matter to me if I am marking fish or not for the first little while.

[Out4Trout]

I recall about 20 years ago... walleye opener on BOQ... we started at 3am. Had some decent electronics, a nice outboard with a kicker. By 7am, still zero bites. Came around a corner, and an old man was in a wide-body canoe with oars... no motor. He was wrapped in a sleeping bag, he would give the oar a pull, then tap-tap on his rod, and repeat the other side oar, zig-zagging. As we drifted nearer him, we asked how he was doing. "Got 5 so far"  😆

For ice fishing, I would not be without my Vexilar (or other flasher brand). It changes a 1 fish day into 12 fish day... especially when fishing clear water.

A GPS is huge for me... as is the track on the water, as it allows me to maintain same depth.

For most other... the electronics is not as necessary. Moving from monochrome to colour on my FF made a big difference, I can now differentiate between a soft fish and hard bottom, could not with grayscale.  I have StructureScan on my boat, it is just a neat toy, but I seldom use it. 

 

[Sinker]

Electronics will never trump experience. That is all. 

 

S.