Garmin Live Scope - Let’s talk

[dancer4life]

The bass tank installed mine. Did a great job hiding all the wiring.
That being said, I don't have room in the battery compartment for a designated live scope battery as there is a cranking battery and two trolling motor batteries and a fuel tank.
I may have to upgrade the cranking motor battery that the live scope is hooked to.
For the record, I've not had much time to use it as our travel schedule keeps us on the road, so it's a new learning curve every time I get into the boat.
The forward looking beam is narrow the closer it gets to the transducer. On windy days, it's hard to control the boat and fish while moving the transducer to see the target. I have the Motor Guide XI-5 with position lock, but it's not precise in keeping the exact location. A pontoon boat would be more difficult.
All that being said, when netting shad, it's amazing to watch the cast net hit the water, form and envelope a school of shad. Eliminates a lot of throwing the net.
I'm new to it as well. These are my observations.
I've see a lot of objections to using it because it's cheating they say.
The same group that said the dash mounted depth locators of the 80's were cheating. The same group that said side scanners were cheating and so on, while big fish records keep getting broken.

Hey Dennis,
I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos and a lot of anglers using the Live Scope are using an adapter for a 20volt Dewalt drill battery. They are saying that depending on which battery being used, they are getting up to 8 hour of continuous use from these batteries. They take up no room at all (the size of the battery) and can be installed just about anywhere. I have decided to go with a dedicated battery for my Live Scope and I may try this route first since the SeeLite battery adapter is only $40 and I have a bunch of Dewalt 20volt, 9 amp batteries. We will see.
Has anyone used this method?

I have a MinnKota Terrova Trolling motor and it has spot lock. It works pretty well but like you said, not as good in the wind. Is your transducer on the trolling motor or do you have it mounted on a pole? It seems like it would be really hard to control the trolling motor, fish and work the transducer pole all at the same time. I went out with a guide a few weekends ago and his was mounted on the shaft of his trolling motor and it worked really good.

Yes, I have heard all about how using the new technology is cheating. And maybe it is to and extent but I fish for Crappie to eat and fish for bass for fun. I usually catch and release the bass unless I get a trophy size to mount. So I don’t consider it cheating. I think it will save me a lot of time and gas in the boat by being able to target the fish and structure quicker. Just my thoughts.
Thanks for your post.

 

[Glocktogo]

Hey Dennis,
I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos and a lot of anglers using the Live Scope are using an adapter for a 20volt Dewalt drill battery. They are saying that depending on which battery being used, they are getting up to 8 hour of continuous use from these batteries. They take up no room at all (the size of the battery) and can be installed just about anywhere. I have decided to go with a dedicated battery for my Live Scope and I may try this route first since the SeeLite battery adapter is only $40 and I have a bunch of Dewalt 20volt, 9 amp batteries. We will see.
Has anyone used this method?

I have a MinnKota Terrova Trolling motor and it has spot lock. It works pretty well but like you said, not as good in the wind. Is your transducer on the trolling motor or do you have it mounted on a pole? It seems like it would be really hard to control the trolling motor, fish and work the transducer pole all at the same time. I went out with a guide a few weekends ago and his was mounted on the shaft of his trolling motor and it worked really good.

Yes, I have heard all about how using the new technology is cheating. And maybe it is to and extent but I fish for Crappie to eat and fish for bass for fun. I usually catch and release the bass unless I get a trophy size to mount. So I don’t consider it cheating. I think it will save me a lot of time and gas in the boat by being able to target the fish and structure quicker. Just my thoughts.
Thanks for your post.

I haven’t tried the Dewalt 20V, bit lots of people on the Facebook groups have with positive results. I do about 50/50 with trolling and have a stealth charger on the main engine, so mine is on the cranking battery with no issues. Then again, we rarely fish more than 6-7 hours in a day these days.

On bass fishing with the scope, I don’t use spot lock. I try to approach from downwind and use the foot pedal to position the boat. That reduces the amount of panning the tm has to do to hold position. In shallow areas I just use the Power Poles, leaving me free to set the scope on my target and focus on presentation.

 

[Parks 788]

The only thing i can add is this. My shop foreman is the most diehard crappie and bass fisherman I've eve met. I bet he fishes 100 days per year. He fishes the big Skeeter Tourney every summer at Lake Fork in Tx and in some giant tourney at Lake Fork this next week. He knows an absolute crap ton of the Live Scope thing and he jsut upgraded/added another feature yesterday. He's a super nice guy and if you wanted to I could connect you two on the phone and he could give his opinions and advice.

 

[dennishoddy]

Hey Dennis,
I have been watching a lot of YouTube videos and a lot of anglers using the Live Scope are using an adapter for a 20volt Dewalt drill battery. They are saying that depending on which battery being used, they are getting up to 8 hour of continuous use from these batteries. They take up no room at all (the size of the battery) and can be installed just about anywhere. I have decided to go with a dedicated battery for my Live Scope and I may try this route first since the SeeLite battery adapter is only $40 and I have a bunch of Dewalt 20volt, 9 amp batteries. We will see.
Has anyone used this method?

I have a MinnKota Terrova Trolling motor and it has spot lock. It works pretty well but like you said, not as good in the wind. Is your transducer on the trolling motor or do you have it mounted on a pole? It seems like it would be really hard to control the trolling motor, fish and work the transducer pole all at the same time. I went out with a guide a few weekends ago and his was mounted on the shaft of his trolling motor and it worked really good.

Yes, I have heard all about how using the new technology is cheating. And maybe it is to and extent but I fish for Crappie to eat and fish for bass for fun. I usually catch and release the bass unless I get a trophy size to mount. So I don’t consider it cheating. I think it will save me a lot of time and gas in the boat by being able to target the fish and structure quicker. Just my thoughts.
Thanks for your post.

I have the pole. My trolling motor bumps back and forth to maintain position so much that I can't see how mounting the transducer on the trolling motor would be an advantage because of the narrow fields of view?
I'll have to look into those DeWalt battery mods. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[dancer4life]

The only thing i can add is this. My shop foreman is the most diehard crappie and bass fisherman I've eve met. I bet he fishes 100 days per year. He fishes the big Skeeter Tourney every summer at Lake Fork in Tx and in some giant tourney at Lake Fork this next week. He knows an absolute crap ton of the Live Scope thing and he jsut upgraded/added another feature yesterday. He's a super nice guy and if you wanted to I could connect you two on the phone and he could give his opinions and advice.

That would be great. I would love to talk to him and get his advice as well. Just let me know what I need to do. Thanks so much!!!

 

[dennishoddy]

That would be great. I would love to talk to him and get his advice as well. Just let me know what I need to do. Thanks so much!!!

Pass on the intel! Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[dancer4life]

Pass on the intel! Inquiring minds want to know.

Absolutely!!! I will.

 

[Ready_fire_aim]

 

[Parks 788]

Pass on the intel! Inquiring minds want to know.

That would be great. I would love to talk to him and get his advice as well. Just let me know what I need to do. Thanks so much!!!

I'll get you connected. He left for the big tournament in TX today after work and is on vacation all next week. I'll see him once he's back and connect you. Send me your best contact number and I'll into you on a text together so one of you can call the other. Sounds awkward but probably the best way to make it happen.

 

[dancer4life]

I'll get you connected. He left for the big tournament in TX today after work and is on vacation all next week. I'll see him once he's back and connect you. Send me your best contact number and I'll into you on a text together so one of you can call the other. Sounds awkward but probably the best way to make it happen.

Great, I will PM you my cell number. Thanks for this.