Need electronic recommendations

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Travis G.

Travis G.

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651
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Chattanooga
Ok so have grown up fishing lake chickamauga but never that serious. My young kids have shown an interest in fishing and want to be able to find fish more quickly. I went with a buddy crappie fishing who had live scope and wow what a game changer. Not sure I want to fork over the 3k it seems like it will take to get live scope. School me on what electronics I need to be more efficient at finding new places to fish especially schools of crappie and blue gill beds for the kids. Side scan, down scan, live sonar, etc what's a good place to start for reasonable money or should I just get the Garmin live scope and be done with it.
 
Before livescope, I used side scan to find quality structure and would fish that structure with some success on crappie and bass. I'd invest as much in a good trolling motor as anything!
 
If you don't want to spend the money on livescope, side imaging is your friend. It took me a little time to learn how to use it and for what it was showing to make sense. (Where what I'm seeing on the screen actually is in relation to the boat, etc.) Once it clicks, you got it. Supposedly Humminbird has the absolute best side imaging.
 
By the way, before livescope I had success spider rigging for crappie using regular 2D sonar or down imaging. I would just idle around until I found a lot of fish in an area suspended at a certain depth. Then I would set my baits at that depth and start trolling. Just depends on how you want to fish.

I have a buddy that catches the stew out of shellcrackers in deep water using livescope. So it's not just for crappie.
 
I have side scan, 360 and livescope… I would paddle a boat around with a livescope mounted on it , before I would spend a cent on anything else.. that's how important it is to me..been fishing for 58 years.. there's nothing like it…
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learn the seasonal patterns of fish and the structure they use and learn to read a lake map then worry about electronics.

you can find structure and fish with any of the units now. they are all that good. good luck.

tip: running up close to bluegill beds side scanning will spook them off beds badly. most people think theyve foumd empty beds but actually have spooked them off.
 
No expert here I just got a side scan, down scan etc garmin this past summer. But can you get a unit that supports live scope try that out learn it and then if you see a need for live scope add that part. You will need 2 units anyway got to have one at the console and up front. I mean you have to (maybe 3). ITS A DEVILISH rat hole ---electronics.
 
tip: running up close to bluegill beds side scanning will spook them off beds badly. most people think theyve foumd empty beds but actually have spooked them off.

I think this happen to my nephew and I this year, came into a shallow area bed everywhere. Sidescan showed it too..VERY few fish for the amount of beds. We picked up a few and left...hadn't considered we probably scared them off. Oh, and we could see the beds visually too, was a great example of sidescan representation and what we could actually see (LL).
 
Forvols said:
tip: running up close to bluegill beds side scanning will spook them off beds badly. most people think theyve foumd empty beds but actually have spooked them off.

I think this happen to my nephew and I this year, came into a shallow area bed everywhere. Sidescan showed it too..VERY few fish for the amount of beds. We picked up a few and left...hadn't considered we probably scared them off. Oh, and we could see the beds visually too, was a great example of sidescan representation and what we could actually see (LL).
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i only use polarized glasses for bed fishing bluegills or shellcrackers. gills are a lot more spooky than shellcrackers but run a boat over either and theyre gone for a while.

my imaging ducer is mounted high up on the transom. i can scan shallower and a little further out than mounting on the bottom.
 
Thanks for the advice. Side scan/down scan seems like a reasonable start. I was so blown away by the live scope. Any recommendations on sides scan options that would allow for additional screen add on live scope for later?
 
Travis G. said:
Thanks for the advice. Side scan/down scan seems like a reasonable start. I was so blown away by the live scope. Any recommendations on sides scan options that would allow for additional screen add on live scope for later?
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Most of the newer Garmins are livescope compatible. Just keep in mind, bigger is always better. The absolute smallest screen you want to run livescope on is 9" and that's really too small. 10" is ok, but if you can swing it, buy once, cry once. Get a 12. You won't regret it.
 
Travis G. said:
Thanks for the advice. Side scan/down scan seems like a reasonable start. I was so blown away by the live scope. Any recommendations on sides scan options that would allow for additional screen add on live scope for later?
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Now that you've experienced the livescope, anything else is going to seem like a let down unfortunately. You will always find yourself wanting the livescope thinking about the awesome day you had with it.

My advice would just be get the livescope and be done with it.
 
Check out some of the dealers with used electronics. You can get into a Garmin Livescope setup for fairly good prices if you go used....especially if you go with the LVS32 transducer. You are always going to want a bigger screen, no matter what size you get. I'm of the opinion that anything smaller than a 12" screen is a waste of $....cause you're soon going to be wanting to upgrade to a larger size. That's why there's so many 9-10 inch units for sale used...or have been traded in for bigger units.
 
I used lowrance active target 2 ffs and will readily admit it is how i fill the coolers with crappie
 
lowrance makes a ffs sonar + graph for 999.00 called eagle eye- better days fishing does a review on it on youtube
 
TNLynn said:
On facebook
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Crow Terminator said:
Check out some of the dealers with used electronics. You can get into a Garmin Livescope setup for fairly good prices if you go used....especially if you go with the LVS32 transducer. You are always going to want a bigger screen, no matter what size you get. I'm of the opinion that anything smaller than a 12" screen is a waste of $....cause you're soon going to be wanting to upgrade to a larger size. That's why there's so many 9-10 inch units for sale used...or have been traded in for bigger units.
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Had not really thought about buying used but could be a good option. Anything to watch out for?
 
Crow Terminator said:
Check out some of the dealers with used electronics. You can get into a Garmin Livescope setup for fairly good prices if you go used....especially if you go with the LVS32 transducer. You are always going to want a bigger screen, no matter what size you get. I'm of the opinion that anything smaller than a 12" screen is a waste of $....cause you're soon going to be wanting to upgrade to a larger size. That's why there's so many 9-10 inch units for sale used...or have been traded in for bigger units.
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Good advice. And there isn't much difference in the 32 and 34.
 
Travis G. said:
Had not really thought about buying used but could be a good option. Anything to watch out for?
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If you get it from a reputable dealer, they've all been checked out. The sky is the limit there as to what to choose. If you go Garmin and want livescope, you'll need a sonar unit, the GLS10 (blackbox) and a livescope transducer...usually either the LVS32 or LVS34. So that's 3 things you'll need. I'm seeing used LVS32 transducers selling between $300 and 400. But then you still need a unit and blackbox. A Garmin Echomap unit would get you in the game...but you're limited to whatever screen size you buy. A 10 or 12 inch Echomap would be good starting points. If it were me and I was buying a Garmin setup...My first pick would be to go with the GPSMap series and get one with the HDMI port so that you have the flexibility of attaching a bigger aftermarket screen later. My second choice would actually be one of the Echomap Ultra 2 units in the bigger 16" screen size. Buy once...cry once right? Lol

The other option would be to go the Lowrance route. I had a HDS Live 12 unit with the Active Target 1 mounted on a side pole and Garmin Echomap 12" unit with LVS34 transducer mounted on my trolling motor. I wanted a first hand comparison. To be honest...I didn't see a single thing on the Garmin that I couldn't see on the Active Target. And I didn't even have the Active Target 2 version. You can find a lot of those HDS units for great prices now.

I'm waiting to see if Humminbird might possibly release a Explore 15 or 16. I would like to try their Mega Live 2 but currently all they have is an Explore 12.

Hennessey Outdoors and Bass Boat Electronics are two that offer used units. I've bought stuff from both of them and been pleased. I got my Xplore 12 unit from Hennessey...it had a grand total of 6 hours use on it...got it for $1800 which is basically a thousand dollars off new price.
 
Myself and most of the guys I fish with have GPSMap1222 units. These are not touchscreen units, and in this case, that's a good thing. We select "forward range" and leave it selected. That means every time you click the knob it changes the range 10 feet. We scan at 50 or 60 feet and as we approach the fish we are clicking the knob to zoom in on him. I said all that to say, don't overlook the older 1222 units. They are great for livescope.
 
scn said:
Am I missing a decimal point?

If not, wow!
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It's gross, I know. But it's set up how i want and i don't have to look at it and say i wish i had upgraded to this or that.

Plus i bought the boat right. Gave 10K for a almost new G3 20' with trailer.

Now it has all Garmin stuff. 36 volt super quiet trolling motor, 2 12" units, live scope, LED lighting for night fishing, 4 plug in lights at each corner, best mounts for everything, lithium batteries that weigh near nothing, and install cost was $7500.

Let's go fishing Steve. 😂
 
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ewc said:
It's gross, I know. But it's set up how i want and i don't have to look at it and say i wish i had upgraded to this or that.

Plus i bought the boat right. Gave 10K for a almost new G3 20' with trailer.

Now it has all Garmin stuff. 36 volt super quiet trolling motor, 2 12" units, live scope, LED lighting for night fishing, 4 plug in lights at each corner, best mounts for everything, lithium batteries that weigh near nothing, and install cost was $7500.

Let's go fishing Steve. 😂
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Pics or it didn't happen. 😅🤣😂

That sounds like a great set up. It makes me want to upgrade. I had a 25' Sylvan deep v years ago. It was traded for a motorhome because I wasn't using it much at the time. I sure do miss that rig. Back in the day (90's) it was set up like what you have today, minus the fancy electronics. They hadn't been invented yet. I did have the best depth finder money could buy. The boat was set up for Walleye and Salmon fishing. The boat itself had cost me 24k. I can only imagine what it would be like fishing from that now, with all the new gadgets available.
 
ewc said:
It's gross, I know. But it's set up how i want and i don't have to look at it and say i wish i had upgraded to this or that.

Plus i bought the boat right. Gave 10K for a almost new G3 20' with trailer.

Now it has all Garmin stuff. 36 volt super quiet trolling motor, 2 12" units, live scope, LED lighting for night fishing, 4 plug in lights at each corner, best mounts for everything, lithium batteries that weigh near nothing, and install cost was $7500.

Let's go fishing Steve. 😂
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Not that bad when you are talking trolling motors, batteries, etc! Sounds like an awesome setup!
 
If somebody wants to do the math this is what's on my boat lol

8 ft power pole blades
Dual motion brakes
2 34 livescopes
Garmin 8612
2 helix 10 in msi's
Lowrance gen2 9 in
Lowrance gen2 12in
Mega 360
Double mount cornfield crappie mount
Lowpro rod rack livescope mount
Minnkota ultrex
150ah ionic lithium
3 50 ah ionic lithium
36volt 40ah lithium
Minnkota 440 pcl charger
36 volt charger don't remember what brand
2 clean 16's
Visualizer on my livescope
Poles up light for power poles
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
 
I have a 12" Garmin and Helix up front and a 10" Garmin and Helix on the console. Live scope 34; maga 360; mega side and down image and ultrex quest. What has helped my fishing the most is the ultrex quest, next is the livescope. The maga 360 has been a waste so far. You should try to go out for a day with someone who can let you try things out and see how they work. If you can't find someone close, I would be willing to meet you half way at a lake of your choice and let you have full control over everything trying them out and see the good and bad of the different systems.
 

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