New Technology
 

Today we see state of the art technology that allows anglers to see fish on a screen in live view and I have seen it used almost all species of fish. Recently watched top tournament walleye pro's keeping tracking of fish on a "live scope screen" with a eye on the screen able to place the baits literally on the fishes nose. Looked odd seeing the country's top pro's eyes locked onto a screen. As I follow social media hear about the increasing number of anglers turning to this style of fishing.

Am a bit puzzled have we gone too far? Torn a bit because came through the evolution of the flasher to the graph and so on. Am a old school style fisherman but will purchase the necessary tech to better control my boat and learn what is under it. But feel this new stuff may of crossed the line for me.

What about you..?

I have Garmin stuff on order. I was holding out for Humminbird's version but have given up on it.

[QUOTE=Gary Korsgaden;6605854]Today we see state of the art technology that allows anglers to see fish on a screen in live view and I have seen it used almost all species of fish. Recently watched top tournament walleye pro's keeping tracking of fish on a "live scope screen" with a eye on the screen able to place the baits literally on the fishes nose. Looked odd seeing the country's top pro's eyes locked onto a screen. As I follow social media hear about the increasing number of anglers turning to this style of fishing.

Am a bit puzzled have we gone too far? Torn a bit because came through the evolution of the flasher to the graph and so on. Am a old school style fisherman but will purchase the necessary tech to better control my boat and learn what is under it. But feel this new stuff may of crossed the line for me.

What about you..?[/QUOTE]
I agree with you! I'm just a "Average Joe" fisherman who cannot in my wildest dreams imagine myself dropping $3000-4000 dollars or more on electronics, trolling motors and associated accessories. I still use paper maps for the lakes I fish, then use my entry level units to put me in the general area where fish may be. I will be purchasing a Lowrance Hook2 7X to mount on the bow connected to my trolling motor to use the DI to see whats directly under me. I will have approx $1100 invested in 3 units. Then again I have yet to see a filet or a fish weight/ length taken from those images on sonar units.

I agree, but technology will never stop. Years ago you remember the ban the graph movement here in Minnesota, it did not fly, I have plenty of electronics, but I draw the line on this. Will not be in my boat

[QUOTE=fishin10;6605868]I agree with you! I'm just a "Average Joe" fisherman who cannot in my wildest dreams imagine myself dropping $3000-4000 dollars or more on electronics, trolling motors and associated accessories. I still use paper maps for the lakes I fish, then use my entry level units to put me in the general area where fish may be. I will be purchasing a Lowrance Hook2 7X to mount on the bow connected to my trolling motor to use the DI to see whats directly under me. I will have approx $1100 invested in 3 units. Then again I have yet to see a filet or a fish weight/ length taken from those images on sonar units.[/QUOTE]

when I bought my old lcx 38c HD about 20+ yrs ago I really had a hard time coming up with almost 2000.00 to pay for it. but I had never had a nice unit and was still using it this yr. but I just bought an hds 10 insight with structure scan and transducer with an hds 8 with transducer used for the unreal price of 550.00. I just hope it was an upgrade. I've read a lot of guys brag about how good they are but I've never seen one working. now that I'm disabled and live on my disability there is just no way I could spend 3 or 5 thousand on a unit.

I've got to say my old unit has served me well. it works great showing fish and the GPS has been priceless. I was playing around and deleted all my old waypoints but now it doesn't put new ones on the screen. I was going to read the manual and see if I could fix it but now I have the hds units. up until I got the lcx unit I had always used units that were supposed to mark fish. but I would say they wasn't the bottom of the list bnt wasn't even the mid-grade units. but I did survive. but the lcx unit on erie has been nothing short of greater. it has an 8" or 10" screen I'm just not sure which.

I've got a friend who until a few years ago used a 2D/GPS unit. I remember him saying that an angler really doesn't need any more than that. I guess that you could call him old school. Then he discovered side and down imaging. He recently added livescope to his electronics arsenal. Now, he says he can see the fish swim to his jig, sniff it, and then swim away...in real time. Personally, I really like the new tech, but a good angler should first have the knowledge of where to find fish at a certain time of year. And also know about humps, bars, drop offs, points, flats etc. Not to mention knowledge of the species that he is targeting. And, as I said that I really like technology, I do have to chuckle (to myself) when I see a pro's boat loaded up with 5 graphs, live sonar and 360 sonar. My Dad and Grandpa used a string with a lead weight and visual triangulation for depth and location. My, how far we've come.

I like technology, but cannot keep up with the price with what I have going on in my life right now. I can afford it , but cannot find the time fishing to justify the expense at this point in time

With that said, I do think it's gone too far.

Assuming you were watching Head2Head, ((I did early in the season and one afternoon for the championship). I came away with 2 thoughts.

1). I'd get dizzy if I was a Marshall or cameraman in the one dudes boat that was constantly searching left, right, circle one way, circle back while he was watching the live image on his screen.

2). Assuming everyone that was rip jigging was using some kind of live imaging, from the beginning of the year to the end, the rip jigging got considerably more aggressive and more doing it..

stopped at flaming gorge res for a couple days last summer on the utah -wyoming line, talked to a local who said head for antelope flats, got there and there were 14-15 boats in the area fishing for giant lake trout, every boat the guy had his left on the wheel, eyes on the screen, pole in right hand driving around jigging, thats just to much and would not be much fun for me maybe one of these days the tourny rules will be leave your screens at the dock and lets see who wins this thing

[QUOTE=Gary Korsgaden;6605854]Today we see state of the art technology that allows anglers to see fish on a screen in live view and I have seen it used almost all species of fish. Recently watched top tournament walleye pro's keeping tracking of fish on a "live scope screen" with a eye on the screen able to place the baits literally on the fishes nose. Looked odd seeing the country's top pro's eyes locked onto a screen. As I follow social media hear about the increasing number of anglers turning to this style of fishing.

Am a bit puzzled have we gone too far? Torn a bit because came through the evolution of the flasher to the graph and so on. Am a old school style fisherman but will purchase the necessary tech to better control my boat and learn what is under it. But feel this new stuff may of crossed the line for me.

What about you..?[/QUOTE]

I totally agree Gary but unfortunately, the genie has been let out of the bottle.

I'm getting ready to rig my last boat (retirement boat) and have thought a lot about this. None of the "live" stuff for me. I currently prefer Hummingbird and I'm not even sure I need/want the DI/SI stuff even though my last rig had DI/SI. I've caught a lot of fish with 2D sonar over the years and it still serves me well.