Gerald Swindle

[redblood]

No doubt livescope leads to skill degradation. I was/am primarily a stream smallmouth chaser. But loved eating crappie, so i bought a boat and started chasing them. Without forward facing sonar , i caught exactly one crappie. After i got it, we filled the cooler about everytime. I just had no experience to draw off of and had no idea where they were at different times. I can admit it.

I care nothing about competitive fishing but i can see how the reliance on ffs substitutes for learning the lake and putting in extra time on the water to find the fish the old way. I never plan to use it on my river boat, as i know where those fish are. I don't particularly like staring at a screen, but it beats not having fried crappie once a week

 

[JBell]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you that are so against livescope bow hunt with a compound or a crossbow?

 

[JBell]

And did you feel he same way whe Lee livesay won it on lake fork with mega 360?

 

[Crow Terminator]

People forget that today's older fishing legends, started fishing professionally and winning when they were in their 20s too. Hank Parker started professionally fishing at age 22 and won his first classic when he was 24 or 25. I don't remember which but he was young. KVD started fishing professionally when he was 23 and had won Angler of the Year by age 25. The biggest difference between back then and now is, back then there wasn't as many ways to get your name out there for sponsors and all that to help pay for travel, entry fees, etc. You pretty much had to already know people to establish that relationship and have a lot of family money backing you. Many of those early guys worked in tackle shops and got to know company Reps, etc and got in that way. There was only one big professional tour and it was still in its infancy, and the only media outlet was a select few that had made it onto TV and Bassmaster magazine. There wasn't any social media to help get recognized. There wasn't high school or collegiate fishing to help get you recognized and put on the map. Now there is and it opened the door for more younger anglers to fishing professionally. Not to mention there's more tours for professionals...not just Bassmaster.

 

[Mud Creek]

I'm not against the next generation coming in and the passing of the torch and such. I've seen it happen in lots of sports and other aspects of life. I also don't mean to take anything away from these young guys. I'm sure they know more than me, it's not like they rolled out of bed one day and decided to start fishing when live scope came along because it was like a video game to them which is easier than "real fishing".

My concern and dislike for live scope is more about what it will do to the future of fishing. Where do we go from here? What's next? You need a Garmin rod, reel,and jig that comes with a app you download. Connect it to your LS and it will float down to a fishes mouth, give you a notification when you have a bite then automatically reel it in for you? LOL.

If lots of new hunters cluelessly wandering through the woods on public ground can affect deer patterns/harvest numbers then I don't see how more people staring at high tech sonar and stuff on flat screens specifically targeting what they see won't do the same for fish in a lake. I don't think it's quite as bad as I make it out to be yet, but I still believe it will be a future problem. The term "like shooting fish in a barrel" comes to mind.

 

[Crow Terminator]

That's what they said about side imaging, mega 360, and all that too. "No fish can hide". They said that when the old paper print graphs came out too. I was just a kid then but can remember the older anglers griping about those.

When the better lcd screen graphs came out, we figured out you could speed up the scroll speed and get a semi live image on 2D sonar and watch your jig fall vertically under the transducer. We'd find brushpiles and vertical jig them...watch the jig fall as a descending line/streak on the screen and hold it just above the fish and brush. We did that for years for crappie. I'm terrible with names but somewhere in the early 2000 range, that technique took off in bass fishing off shore where the winners were all dropshot/finesse fishing watching their bait and fish on 2D sonar. To me that was sorta the forerunner of livescope and intense screen watching.

 

[JBell]

I fished a regional in 06 or 07 on table rock and the guy that won was jigging with 2d on verticals trees.

 

[bluball]

If your not scoping your hoping,lol

 

[Wooden Arrow]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you that are so against livescope bow hunt with a compound or a crossbow?

i'm not "against" it per se, but i think it is taking the sport in the wrong direction. i shoot a longbow and wooden arrows...

 

[woodsman04]

I have always hated the argument, "just because you see them don't mean they will bite."
Yes that's true 100%. But with livescope you can get your bait right in front of the fish, literally. You can read its reaction. If you found a 7lb bass you could follow it around until you got it to bite.

Without livescope you're just fishing.

I think the BASS should be above the livescope thing myself. Does not take near the fishing knowledge to use it and catch fish. IMO the best fishermen are the ones that could catch them without it.

 

[Mud Creek]

Without livescope you're just fishing.

This. It almost seems like people are trying to change just fishing into just catching. It won't stop with how it is now. It will only get bigger, better, and more expensive. Look at what all we can do from our phones, heck look at what we can control with a watch! We don't need tons of boats with all this high tech imagery showing every detailed aspect of what is happening.

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

It's ok to shoot deer at 400 yards too. Just not much challenge and talent to it.

 

[Hawk103161]

I don't care what y'all say.. NOTHING beats a Stick of Dynamite.

 

[Crow Terminator]

With livescope you can get your bait right in front of the fish, literally. You can read its reaction. If you found a 7lb bass you could follow it around until you got it to bite.

You can do the same thing with bedding fish or sight fishing without livescope. Camp on them all day trying to get them to bite. Sometimes it pays off. Most times it doesn't. On the clear smallmouth lakes, they still use the floggers to see down in the water to spot specific fish.

I've noticed most that don't like it, haven't really tried fishing with it. For me it's easier to just stick with what I know and not even turn it on. But it's there in case I want to play.

 

[Harold Money jr]

Contrary to most I am firmly in the middle. I believe it's a great tool, so is my mapping software, side scan and sonar. My son and I use live scope after we've either found cover and/or a group of fish with sonar or side scan. We then use the forward facing to line up the cast and How deep and then look away. We'll use it to check to see if they are there, if they've moved we'll adjust accordingly.
Last evening side scan saved the day with white bass, the water came down and they backed way down the river a quick pass found em in an eddie 1/4 mile below where they were and the catching continued.
Greg hackney said it best, it's a great great tool to use but, really really boring to watch.

 

[kaizen leader]

I like the shocker method. That way you can practice catch (shock) and release.

 

[redblood]

It has ruined the crappie fishing shows (except richard gene, he dont need it or own it).
Typical crappie shows now is staring at the back of 2 fat fishermen staring at screen on the front of the boat and setting the hook based on what they see, not what they feel

 

[Hawk103161]

It's ok to shoot deer at 400 yards too. Just not much challenge and talent to it.

Try that with a bow and then tell me how it isn't a challenge...

 

[WTM]

It has ruined the crappie fishing shows (except richard gene, he dont need it or own it).
Typical crappie shows now is staring at the back of 2 fat fishermen staring at screen on the front of the boat and setting the hook based on what they see, not what they feel

karl kalonka. used to be krappie kings but has a new xtreme angler show. fishes all over the US and canada explaining various techniques. G3 sportsman is also good.

 

[Spurhunter]

Typical crappie shows now is staring at the back of 2 fat fishermen staring at screen on the front of the boat and setting the hook based on what they see, not what they feel

I still set the hook based on feel. All the pros and guides say they set the hook off the screen, but if I do that I almost always miss the fish. I feel the thump, wait just a tick, then drive it home. There is a rare exception where the fish comes straight up and my jig disappears and the fish is still coming up but I never felt the thump.