If you guys would help a rookie out with spending his money wisely please do. I’m a single pole fisherman only and have very little experience with si and none with livescope. Used to have a boat that had a garmin 73sv but sold it. Never did get proficient with the si. If you were in my shoes would you recommend a good si unit (what brand) or a live scope. I’m not very technical skilled. I mainly fish visible brush now but would like to fish stuff that I don’t see above water.
thanks
Livescope… it’s expensive but best money I’ve spent for fishing yet. Nothing beats it. :twocents
Livescope is definitely better than Side Imaging in my opinion. However, you’re going to want a unit that will find the brush then live scope to pull the crappie out of it. Being able to find brush piles is where the side-scan will really shine.
Sent from my SM-S215DL using Tapatalk
Livescope, not even a discussion. At least if you are wanting to put more fish in the boat.
Or you can do what I do with my Livescope … put the “distance” out to about 50-60ft and use that to “scan” the area as you slowly move forward. Once something starts showing on the screen, head towards it. Once it gets close enough & shows basically what it is on the screen, decrease the distance as you approach it & identify that it’s cover with fish on it or a school of fish, so you can cast/flip your baits beyond that distance & let them pendulum swing back to where the cover/fish are & get a reaction from them.
Having at least a 93sv unit and a mount that will place the unit at least a foot above the bow floor will keep the unit’s buttons & screen within easy reach for the few times you’ll need to access them.
In this pic, notice the " marks out 50ft from the boat … that’s what you’re looking for with the distance set way out in front of you. The school of fish at 15ft from the boat were those same ‘’‘’‘’ marks when they first came on the screen.
In this pic I’m showing how I have my Garmin 93sv mounted on a 1ft tall extendible mount … but I don’t extend it, because it’s at the perfect height as it is. :ThumbsUp
Pay no attention to the “intense” screen coloration … I had my gain up a little too high for the clarity of that particular lake and never got around to adjusting it down.
I bought my LS/93sv package without the transducer for the Garmin unit, because I intended to use the Garmin for LS only, as I already had the Hook 7 … which I use mostly for maps/GPS waypoints, and occasionally for the DI. Also because I didn’t want to share the screen with SI and have to keep button pushing between split screen & single screen.
I have found there is no more efficient tool for finding new unknown structure than SI …
I have found there is no more efficient tool for fishing that newfound (or known) structure as forward facing Sonar …
“Either/or” may depend on if one already knows where enough productive structure is …
Rickie
I love my si, but Live scope sure has changed the game once you know where fish are,
You’ll have to get a display to use livescope. Most of them have side imaging included, if they come with a transducer.or you can add a transducer later to get side imaging.
I use a HB SI at the helm to cruise a bank at 4-5 mph mark brush and or fish… then come back and livescope to fish, if only one livescope but …
g
This is what I was going to say. BPS will likely have a sale on the 93SVs again this year. That will get you both SI and the capability of Livescope.
You really need both. Livescope will most likely be at the bow and then what will you have at the console? SI is a valuable tool for covering a lot of water and finding structure. My suggestion is get livescope and then you’ll have to get a display for it. When you get your display I would recommend at least the 93SV UHD and get it with the GT56 transducer. Then later on just get another display without transducer. This is what I did.
I’m going to ask the question of how good is your boat control? With the qualifier of I’ve never fished with Livescope, it seems to me you’d better have a pretty steady platform to keep if focused on where you want to look. As in a good trolling motor with some sort of spot lock that works. I don’t, and that’s why I have no interest in the live stuff from either HB or Garmin. The side imaging works great for me in finding fish and structure but I really can’t stay on a given spot well enough to put the live action stuff to good use. A lot of the video’s on YT show the user making constant adjustments with the livescope, seemingly to get it pointed just so.
While it is true that boat control is a key factor, “spot lock” don’t help much unless you have the LS tdx mounted on a separate pole, and then you’re going to have to have one hand free to keep turning that pole towards your target.
I haven’t done it “yet”, but if I’m in a situation where the wind/waves are making problems for me … I can always drop a couple of marker buoys.
Personally, if I had to make a choice between SI & 360, I’d go with the 360 … but, that’s just me.
The biggest problem I have with fishing with the Livescope is judging distance from the bow out across the water. But, that’s a negligible problem IMHO.
