electronics

[site admin]

Wow.. some of the latest depth finders have such good detail now!

[jwt]

Can't quite make out the name of the book he's reading.

[John Bales]

I'll let you know what I think of this new stuff shortly after the ice comes off. Mr. Perry would blow a gasket if he was still around. Watched a tournament on the Tenn river late last night and there are a lot of guys away from the bank. You can bet that there are no more secret spots that have not been hammered by these guys. Humminbird side scan and now Live scope has created images that we could only try to imagine what was down there. Now it is drawn as it really is. I still say that the new technology will benefit those that have good fishing knowledge the most. The hard part will be to not allow this stuff to completely change the way we have gained our knowledge in the past. However, I do see that the Livescope will help answer some questions we could not get with our imagination. At one time I thought of taking skin diving lessons and go down there and look in person. Well....... we can get that view with some of this new stuff. I am looking forward to what can be learned. John

[Team9nine]

I'll let you know what I think of this new stuff shortly after the ice comes off. Mr. Perry would blow a gasket if he was still around. Watched a tournament on the Tenn river late last night and there are a lot of guys away from the bank. You can bet that there are no more secret spots that have not been hammered by these guys. Humminbird side scan and now Live scope has created images that we could only try to imagine what was down there. Now it is drawn as it really is. I still say that the new technology will benefit those that have good fishing knowledge the most. The hard part will be to not allow this stuff to completely change the way we have gained our knowledge in the past. However, I do see that the Livescope will help answer some questions we could not get with our imagination. At one time I thought of taking skin diving lessons and go down there and look in person. Well....... we can get that view with some of this new stuff. I am looking forward to what can be learned. John

John, So looking forward to your observations and thoughts once you get to play with it for awhile. I continue to be on the fence about it. I got my first on the water use of it fishing with a friend last month for crappie, and I can see a path forward for Spoonpluggers that allows enhanced interpretation without having your face plastered to a screen every waking second...but it takes discipline. It's a fine line, IMO

...and I agree 100% about Mr. Perry blowing a gasket. I read guys always asking if, or thinking that, Buck would take advantage and support this new technology available to us, and I keep thinking, "you really don't understand Mr. Perry" - Lol

[John Bales]

Lol is right on the money. He wouldn't let me write about jig fishing the weedline when he was alive. I don't want a bunch of (cuss word) jig fishermen out there he said. He wasn't selling jigs, even though he had the SJ's , however he did put that tool in the green book. I saw him using flashers and the needle unit. When the Florida group and Mr. Perry would get together, there were guys who used flashers, some had the old sonar graphs and Frank Hamill used a unit that used a cathode tube which they put a battery box over it and cut a hole in one end to see it. Frank gave me one to use and it was way ahead of its time but it was just so hard to see, I gave it back. He said he was very disappointed in me for not wanting it because he thought it was the best unit out there. It showed the muck line and fish very well.
I don't think there was too much talk about what unit was the best back then because they would all show the muck line and this is what mattered. It all depends what a person gets used to.
It was so hard for him to get the fisherman to just follow the guidelines. Now there is all this new stuff out there to cause more confusion. I'll add more to this after I get something to eat. John Ok I'm full now. Bottom line........This might be a repeat but again......... A spoonplugger with enough experience, who has a good amount of knowledge already, has a good grip on depth and speed, weather and water, structure, breaks and breaklines and fish movements seasonal and daily, will be able to benefit the most from these new tools. Especially on known spots.
Maybe some of you are already catching more and bigger fish and are very happy without learning anything else. Nothing wrong with that. But, for me, if there is something out there that I can learn that will make me better, I want it and will put in what ever effort it takes to learn it. Down the road, what is learned can be put into play and for me, it's an advantage over the fish. Another repeat........ Any new so called fishing method or lure(tool) that might come along is more easily learned if spoonplugging knowledge is already imbedded. The spoonplug has not changed since it came out and it is still the best out there for controlling our depths and speeds and nothing teaches us more than trolling about the whole ball of wax. When it comes to casting, there are a few lures(tools) out there that really allow good control of depth and speed, especially in the early and late season. Over the last couple of years, I have taken the time to learn them and add that to part of my depth and speed control.
So........ when chirp sonar, downscan with chirp,side scan with chirp, and the addition of more than one 200 or 75 MG comes along which will help show fish glued to the bottom and add Livescope to all of this, yes I am excited to explore how much more there is to learn. Just my 2 cents. Like I said before, if you are already happy with what you catch and don't want to change, nothing wrong with that. For me, I always want more if there is more. Not sure that part will ever end. John

[CHAMP]

So maybe I missed it some place but reads like you have bought one of the new fangled units.
If so if you don't mind telling what unit did you buy?

[John Bales]

Waiting for them right now. Getting rid of the Lowrance units and getting both replaced hopefully by ice out. Garmin 126SV with HD transducer on back. Same unit up front and adding livescope. John

[Steve Craig]

Good one Jim!!!!!

I like my Helix's. I love the IPilot Link system with remote or foot control. I like the Auto Chart Live.
But still even with the Auto Chart Live, I just have a hard time believing the danged thing. I always use that old Vexilar Flasher and run the Breakline with it.
AND as usual, it tends to show me almost to a "T" what the Auto Chart is showing! Turn on that Follow the Contour, and it will blow you away how it will follow that same breakline.

That being said........if you dont have your GPS Calibrated for where you are on the earth, it will be off. Drones are no different. Each time your move across the country, you need to re-calibrate or your drone will just fly away on you.
Once that is done, you will be surprised at how actuate the GPS is.
If you are having GPS problems, such as maybe your unit will no have a complete unobstructed view of the sky, in a Humminbird and Lowrance units, you can simply turn on your GPS Glonass. I dont know about the Garmins. 24 extra satellites to help your location, even though they are Russian. The farther north or south you go in the USA, the more you need the Glonass for perfect GPS accuracy.
I noticed this several years ago when I went back to Indiana from out here. Out here my GPS would work down to about 3 feet or even less sometimes. Went to Indiana, and my unit was off ...alot! Reset my units Longitude/Latitude, and it was back to spot on.
When in Canada, I always turn on the Glonass to get more accurate GPS.

I tend to think Mr. Perry would have enjoyed trying out these new outfits. Weather he would have used one or not????

[John Bales]

We all get used to our fancy stuff and they are great tools. I tend to use the GPS to get close and then go with my own interpretation from there. On my home lake and others I fish often, I use shoreline sightings only and its right on every time. As far as using the mapping on the new units, Jerry says they are great and he is always good information so I take it that's a great aid but will still go by my own interpretation because it's faster and better. I am sure mapping while fishing will show me a few things I never knew was there. I have no idea how the process works but will learn it in time. My lowrance side scan was never very good. I had the transducer on one side and the only way I could see the other side was to trim the motor up. The only place I used it was St. Clair and Erie because it did show rock piles really good. Never could see fish for sure. I think the garmins side scan is still not as good as humminbirds but I will find out. Any time you get a new toy, there is a learning curve but knowing there is an opportunity to learn more or see more is the motivation.
I just watched a FLW MLF mix on Chicamauga and the guys are using all this new stuff and finding massive schools of bass out on the delta's. These guys are not stupid. It's neat to watch them fish the same areas as we did when we were down there. The same when you watch the big boys on St. Clair and Erie when you know what spot they are fishing from the background.
Talked to Terry again for 2 hours last night. Keep hearing about the days when no depth finder was available and it was 500-400-and 250's. Don Nickles told Terry he needed to fish the 200's a little deeper and he was catching so many fish , he was reluctant to go there. Don gave Terry some line sights and told him to make this pass with a 200 and they got double five pounders. Terry said that was the day he got his eyes opened. Could you imagine doing all that we do with no depth finders? Those clear deep reservoirs Steve fishes would be hair pullers. You can understand why Mr. Perry always spent time looking for water color. For me, the livescope used on known spots could be some fun stuff and who knows what can be learned from it. In a month or two or sooner once the ice comes off, I may have a good opinion on it. I still see Mr. Perry blowing a gasket over all this technology. Brian was right when he made mention that it takes away everything we do to get to the point where we are. This is the part we have to be careful with. Letting the equipment dictate how we fish can be trouble. If we use it as an aid and continue to do what we are supposed to do, maybe not get so far out of bounds. Catches will be the deciding factor I guess. Without Mr. Perry's knowledge, none of this would matter. I still see Mr. Perry with smoke coming out his ears with the new stuff. His writings tell us to do this in a way where we gain fishing knowledge, learn about weather and water, fish movements, depth and speed and so on. This new stuff could make a person think that the basics is not needed but he would be wrong. This is where the problem comes in. Just my thinking. Hey........there is a lot more to learn and no doubt, the new stuff is better and will help if we use it in the right way. John

[Team9nine]

I still see Mr. Perry blowing a gasket over all this technology. Brian was right when he made mention that it takes away everything we do to get to the point where we are. This is the part we have to be careful with. Letting the equipment dictate how we fish can be trouble. If we use it as an aid and continue to do what we are supposed to do, maybe not get so far out of bounds. Catches will be the deciding factor I guess. Without Mr. Perry's knowledge, none of this would matter. I still see Mr. Perry with smoke coming out his ears with the new stuff. His writings tell us to do this in a way where we gain fishing knowledge, learn about weather and water, fish movements, depth and speed and so on. This new stuff could make a person think that the basics is not needed but he would be wrong. This is where the problem comes in. John

Great summation right there...

Thanks, John