Wisconsin Looking to Ban Livescope and 360 Imaging

[KingPerch]

 I can put a hurt on fish populations without livescope! I can only imagine what, anglers with those units could do.

[mbart]

 YouTube video that's very informative on this subject.

[jerryfishing]

Thomasthepikekiller
Do you use Livescope? If Livescope wasn't a game changer, then professional fishermen (like Randy Blauket) wouldn't be in a major debate about it's use. They also wouldn't be spending thousands of dollars on units and winning major tournaments using FFS. A good example was the recent bass tournament at Lake Okeechobee. Where Scott Martin sat on a spot way longer than anyone would in the past because he could see out in front of his boat and see big bass. It's equal to sight fishing bass during spawn. If you can see fish then you are going to spend way more time trying different lures/baits and actions to catch those fish. I was out ice fishing this past weekend. I walked out among about 100 anglers. I drill a hole, put Livescope down and scan 100 feet 360 degrees. If I don't see any fish I move. As I search out fish I see other people not catching anything and waiting for fish to come to them. Within about 20 minutes and a few holes, I was on fish and caught many. As per usual, guys start moving towards me in hopes to get on same school. Sometimes disrespectfully close. Another example would be fishing in shallow water where traditional sonar would only be showing fish directly under transducer and approximately a cone 1/3 of water depth. That's a 3 feet cone area at very bottom and smaller as you get closer to the bottom of the ice. Where as with FFS I can scan the entire water column from bottom of lake to bottom of the ice for 100 feet or more. I can also tell which direction the fish are moving and with experience, what type, size and mood of fish. If this isn't a game changer than I don't know what is IMHO

[thomasthepikehunter]

Thomasthepikekiller
Do you use Livescope? If Livescope wasn't a game changer, then professional fishermen (like Randy Blauket) wouldn't be in a major debate about it's use. They also wouldn't be spending thousands of dollars on units and winning major tournaments using FFS. A good example was the recent bass tournament at Lake Okeechobee. Where Scott Martin sat on a spot way longer than anyone would in the past because he could see out in front of his boat and see big bass. It's equal to sight fishing bass during spawn. If you can see fish then you are going to spend way more time trying different lures/baits and actions to catch those fish. I was out ice fishing this past weekend. I walked out among about 100 anglers. I drill a hole, put Livescope down and scan 100 feet 360 degrees. If I don't see any fish I move. As I search out fish I see other people not catching anything and waiting for fish to come to them. Within about 20 minutes and a few holes, I was on fish and caught many. As per usual, guys start moving towards me in hopes to get on same school. Sometimes disrespectfully close. Another example would be fishing in shallow water where traditional sonar would only be showing fish directly under transducer and approximately a cone 1/3 of water depth. That's a 3 feet cone area at very bottom and smaller as you get closer to the bottom of the ice. Where as with FFS I can scan the entire water column from bottom of lake to bottom of the ice for 100 feet or more. I can also tell which direction the fish are moving and with experience, what type, size and mood of fish. If this isn't a game changer than I don't know what is IMHO

I have used it, but I don't see myself saving up the money to buy my own unit anytime soon. They are simply way too expensive. I can think of a lot of better things to do with $3000. As for gamechanger, I guess for you it did change what you are doing. I think that for whatever reason people tend to dismiss, or simply overlook like side imaging or down imaging, or 360 which is side imaging with a special transducer that spins. That's not new tech either, those are from 20 years ago. It appears 360, which is what would be useful for ice fishing only came out about 10 years ago. All those things that you describe, being able to see 100' out or more, those are things that have existed way before livescope. In some ways the sideimaging is superior to current livescope due to how much clearer a picture you get. The thing Garmin Livescope brought to the table was the fact you are now getting instant feedback like a flasher, yet you get the larger range like 360 which had a refresh speed of like 10-15 seconds.

So you absolutely could do everything you describe 10 years ago, it's just that it wasn't quite as nice as livescope is now. That's why I don't view it as the all mighty end of the world like some do. Where are we supposed to draw the line? Instant feedback was fine (flashers), seeing long distances was fine (side imaging), seeing long distances in all directions was fine (360), but now seeing long distances with instant feedback is just way too much? If the criteria is how does instant feedback long distance sonar like Livescope allow fisherman to significantly effect the fish populations that other sonar tech doesn't, the answer seems pretty clear to me. If the question is a moral one, for sporting purposes, then that's a different discussion. I just don't see how you can morally ban one particular thing, while saying all other sonars are perfectly fine. So you ban that, what happens when some new tech that doesnt even rely on sonar comes out? We are going to ban that too? 2002 was somehow the perfect level of fishing technology for people, not too much, not too little?

[ryguy80]

How about pairing Livescope with Apple Vision Pro?    Only a $6,500 set up!

[thomasthepikehunter]

If I had almost $7000 laying around, Id be buying a brand new Yamaha YZ250X.

[KingPerch]

If I had almost $7000 laying around, Id be buying a brand new Yamaha YZ250X.

I’d spend the extra on a 450!!😁

[KingPerch]

I’m old school and have almost, always fished by instinct. Whatever happened to going fishing and figuring out the fish??? 🤔 FFS would wreck it for me.

[jerryfishing]

Thomasthepikekiller

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Even a life long professional tournament fisherman states that FFS is a game changer. Another pro says "it's not fishing"

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