Live scope glasses

[CrowMan]

I don't necessarily disagree Lew, but to be fair, regardless of the electronics, you still got to get 'em to bite...so thinking is still required.

It's just that the concept of what is "fishing" is constantly evolving. The good thing is there are no rules...you can use the technology or not or just a little. It's whatever turns your crank.

Although in terms of the competitive aspect, there's certainly precedent for keeping a sport more entertaining by limiting technology. Afterall they banned aluminum bats in pro baseball...lol

[aplumma]

The first unit I ever used was a flasher unit in a green box. It was just black and white showed the depth and would briefly flash if you had a fish or weeds above the bottom. I was lucky enough to have a friend who taught me how to read it and opened a whole world of what is down below me. I have now over the years graduated to down scan and side scan technology but in my dash, I still have my flasher (color now) to show me what is going on when I am rolling down the lake or fishing in deeper waters. When I am fishing for structure or fishy spots I am on the trolling motor and pressing waypoints to come back and fish over on the scan modes. I still carry my little fishing buoys and drop them in places to get my bearings on a pod of fish or an interesting structure. I guess if I was fishing for paychecks I would invest in the bigger baddest electronic items but for now, I will stick to my more basic fishing rig. It is funny but I don't even take pictures anymore unless it is a personal record the fun of simply sitting in the boat and conversing with my fishing buddies seems to be fulfilling enough for me nowadays. 

[BITEME]

To get the money they get in these tournaments sure get the fast boat  lures rods and reels 

but for electronics just a bottom view with a narrow spread and a gps 

Im all for watching it then ,evens it out a whole lot and would likely change the field drastically I know guys rigged in this way would have a shot at the big boys toe to toe with impressive results.I know in the local area one morning we put the boots to 3 boats that jetted in from Kingston to 16 mile and they were not happy

i have always liked paper charts and a depth sounder.

peter

 

[CrowMan]

21 hours ago, BITEME said:

To get the money they get in these tournaments sure get the fast boat  lures rods and reels 

but for electronics just a bottom view with a narrow spread and a gps 

Im all for watching it then ,evens it out a whole lot and would likely change the field drastically I know guys rigged in this way would have a shot at the big boys toe to toe with impressive results.I know in the local area one morning we put the boots to 3 boats that jetted in from Kingston to 16 mile and they were not happy

i have always liked paper charts and a depth sounder.

peter

 

Some of the older guys on the pro tour think the opposite...it's the technology that has leveled the playing field. Younger guys that understand and have mastered FFS are coming right out of the college (and even high school) circuits and are doing well, even winning tournaments. There are veterans that claim that it's no longer necessary to put in years of learning to acquire the skills and knowledge to be competitive. They say that the technology is a "short cut" and if you put some of these young guys on a lake and they didn't have FFS, they would be lost and have no clue where to find fish. Some of the pros think that because of the dominance of tech, that we will  never again see personalities like Kevin VanDam, Rick Clunn or Roland Martin ...anglers that won year after year due their particular skill set and knowledge...and because they became household names it was good for the sport and the industry. All sports need stars to be successful.

I don't necessarily agree with all of the above, I straddle the fence. I can understand both sides of the debate. To illustrate the breadth of the divide, here's two quotes from tournament pro's.

"If you ain't scopin' you're hopin'"

"It's like deer huntin' with a drone"

 

[Terry]

I am old enough to remember when some tournament participants said sonar was unfair and should  be banned 

electric trolling motors were next and gave an unfair advantage 

live catch weight and release would be the end of tournament fishing 

livescope need to be banned and 

Greta Thunberg posted in 2018 in which she said that the world will end in 2023

 

 

[Lape0019]

The only people that are complaining in the pro level are the ones that do not want to learn something new. 

For me, I am putting it on the boat because I feel I need it in order to compete. I only fish club level tournaments but even there, most have FFS and it has had an impact on the weights that come in. 

But people complaining that they don't want to stare at a screen all day are just complaining. If you were smallmouth fishing before FFS, you were staring at 22 while drop shotting anyway. Really no difference other than you're casting farther out while still being capable of seeing your bait. 

 

To the point of the glasses though, I see that as a way to get around looking down all day. and you should still be able to see through the image so it might even be safer. I have watched a boat come within feet of us because the guy was just staring at his screen and not paying attention to his surrounding. 

The image would also be a lot bigger for people to see so I would say it does have its advantages. Not enough for me to rush out there and buy AR glasses but they are advantages none the less. 

 

Edited March 8 by Lape0019

[glen]

I’m not upgrading anything this year. I’d buy a bigger boat first.   It’s going to cost me a ton of fish but I  just like being on the water.  

[AKRISONER]

22 hours ago, Lape0019 said:

The only people that are complaining in the pro level are the ones that do not want to learn something new. 

For me, I am putting it on the boat because I feel I need it in order to compete. I only fish club level tournaments but even there, most have FFS and it has had an impact on the weights that come in. 

But people complaining that they don't want to stare at a screen all day are just complaining. If you were smallmouth fishing before FFS, you were staring at 22 while drop shotting anyway. Really no difference other than you're casting farther out while still being capable of seeing your bait. 

 

To the point of the glasses though, I see that as a way to get around looking down all day. and you should still be able to see through the image so it might even be safer. I have watched a boat come within feet of us because the guy was just staring at his screen and not paying attention to his surrounding. 

The image would also be a lot bigger for people to see so I would say it does have its advantages. Not enough for me to rush out there and buy AR glasses but they are advantages none the less. 

 

Without a doubt, the NGTA club smallmouth derbs have been impacted. The weights certainly improve with livescope.

But what’s understated massively? Spotlock imo had an even bigger impact. You can’t tell me that guys could effectively fish in 3 footers and 60kmh on a foretrex. No one wants to talk about that though.

[Lape0019]

9 hours ago, AKRISONER said:

Without a doubt, the NGTA club smallmouth derbs have been impacted. The weights certainly improve with livescope.

But what’s understated massively? Spotlock imo had an even bigger impact. You can’t tell me that guys could effectively fish in 3 footers and 60kmh on a foretrex. No one wants to talk about that though.

100% agree! That was a huge step for me years ago. 
 

 

[Moosebunk]

TJ graciously helps with the website techy stuff.

Just got a data plan for my phone, first time ever, about 18 months ago I think..?

Don't care for tech and fret just putting "apps" on the phone.

Boat runs Lowrance Carbons and an HDS 2. Good enough for me, for now!

Until two years ago, the ice fishing sonar had always been a Lowrance X67 StevieZ bought me in 2009.

But... the 2022 season fishing was growing boring in some respects. Bought a LiveScope going into 2023 and at first was slow to play with it. When I did though, my laker fishing, walleye, pike and muskie fishing were all made better by it. And it was fun too! Learned a lot. And usually I'm pretty confident without relying too heavily on tech that I'll get fish, whatever I'm after, figuring it out eventually. Well, the LiveScope takes that confidence up a notch. An example... with muskie. I've fished some spots for years that I can smell the fish, feel 'em, the hair on my neck stands up, the spots thru experience speak to me BUT, for all the times stopping there I couldn't get a fish. That's muskie fishing, never there at the right time I suppose..? But visiting with the Livescope and finding/seeing a couple here, a few over there, it was just the tool to confirm what I had been thinking all along. With that, came more confidence to fish those spots more, fish them at bite window times, and I suppose that's why catch numbers doubled in 2023 over 2022 and ALOT of that was done so on new water or old spots that felt fishy but never produced. In that respect it was a new tool to really enjoy, learn from and succeed with.

Am I for or against it?!? Honestly, I'd rather go back than ahead. I don't care for Social Media as much as I ever did the forums but, the masses went there... and so I go too. It's the same with the tech, usually reluctant to take it on, spend the dough on it, get caught in that consumer trap but, it arrives and reshapes the landscape and eventually it reshapes you too. FFS is going to make rockstar anglers out of gamers, unless every single one of us turns a blind eye to it and we don't buy. That ain't happening! So, maybe just better to be happy you got to live angling past, present and whatever is to come in the future too. 

Edited March 12 by Moosebunk

[Terry]

With livescope

i have seen a lot of fish but the first time I marked a muskie and could even see its fins and tail moving and it was so big 

I just couldn’t believe it , it was worth the price of admission 

 

 

[Moosebunk]

2 hours ago, Terry said:

With livescope

i have seen a lot of fish but the first time I marked a muskie and could even see its fins and tail moving and it was so big 

I just couldn’t believe it , it was worth the price of admission 

 

 

Terry, you can see the eye sockets, the jawlines, it's like the G-Loomis skeleton head coming at your bait. It's so fn' cool! lol 

[AKRISONER]

On 3/12/2024 at 7:33 PM, Terry said:

With livescope

i have seen a lot of fish but the first time I marked a muskie and could even see its fins and tail moving and it was so big 

I just couldn’t believe it , it was worth the price of admission 

 

 

one of my favourite things is watching laketrout ice fishing on livescope...I never knew that they move similar to a cat...slowly approach and then burst onto the scene when they get within striking distance.

Sometimes they miss or circle the bait, and seeing the tail and fins is so frigging cool.

Unfortunately even big smallmouth still look like blobs, Im starting to get pretty good at distinguishing size. It was a major deal last tournament season, how blessed am I to now avoid the wrong bites!