MyFishFinder.com Just like iceshanty but warmer
15 yrs ago, if you told me there would be live imaging and sonars you can use through your cell phone, graphs, split zooms, side imaging... I would of thought you were nuts. Yet here we are.And all of that technology still isn't going to make us the next Dave Genz or Kevin VanDam. As I said before, finding or seeing fish doesn't mean your gonna catch 'em. If that was the case, we'd all be on stage at the final weigh in. It ain't happenin'.
I remember when the Marcum LXi handheld locator came out, for hole hopping. Thought that was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Then I moved up to the Showdown II, and an Aqua-view mini-cam....and the batteries and cases and cables and transducers...sometime s I spent more time fiddlin' than fishin'.
Thnx for the help. If I have a hard time seeing my hook I turn up the gain and that usually helps. I'll have to try the split zoom, IF, I can figure it out, lol.
I know I am going to get ripped for this...but here goes anyway. I can't stop thinking how all this "live imaging" is bad for fishing. There I said it!With the ability for anyone, even poor fishermen, to find fish SO easily. Then when they get on them, being able to track them and follow their every move makes them much much easier to catch. We already have fish population issues all over the place that bag limits are getting reduced drastically. I think these live imaging units are going to hurt tremendously...more than people have even thought of. Again, I know a majority of people on here are going to disagree with this take but I have been thinking about it for some time now and I just had to say it.Go ahead rip away!
Is the concern that you guys have is that these guys with live imaging are keeping their limit every time they go out or worried that the more they catch and release their is more hook mortality? I am curious on how many guys are catch and release with the occasional one for the pan.
Here in Michigan in the early 80's there was no limit on perch on the Saginaw Bay. Then in the 90's a limit of 100 was enacted. In about 2000 the limit went to 50 and as recently as last year it went to 25. We can take 25 perch, a mix of 25 gills and specks, 5 large or small mouth bass that must be over 14 inches and 2 northern pike over 24 inches. I wasn't in agreement that the perch limit being reduced to 25 but if the limits stay what they currently are, at least you can go out and still catch enough for a meal for a family of 4. Fifty perch fillets off of fish that are 8+ inches is a pretty good meal. The limits get down to 5 here, I'm done buying a license too!
Nothing better than watching someone with a Livescope set up, move to where the fish are spotted and catch a fish. Everyone on the ice is going to notice and swarm the area.
They follow me, to ask me, "Have you got any auger gas I can borrow?"Nope, I run a 4-stroke. What they should've asked me was how's the fishing. I would tell them, it's great!. It's great to go looking for fishing spots ABC's. A Sea of nothing. Be catching nothing. See nothing on the flasher.
I grew up fishing the hard water back in the 60s and we never had any electronics at all. We caught fish some days and got skunked other days. When I retired I got deep into being the electronic gadget fisherman with the fanciest gadgets and an AquaView camera and some days I caught fish and other days I still got skunked. I tossed all the gadgets and went right back to the old way. I don't honestly care if I even catch fish because I go just to be out relaxing and hanging with my pals. On a rare occasion I might take a fish or two home for dinner that evening because I am a firm believer that fresh caught, never frozen fish are the best we can get.As far as over fishing and crowded lakes goes, I think it has more to do with the other gadgets we now have. Tents, pop up shanties, heaters and even tip ups that do the jigging for you and also flag signaling devices that probably link to your phone to tell you the flag is up. At 70 I sure do appreciate the shanty and heater and it beats sitting out on a bucket like we did as kids. I appreciate having a power auger and even a motorized power puller to get my gear out and back. Back in 1964 we could have the entire lake to ourselves on most days because not many guys were nuts enough to stay out there freezing their buns off to catch a few fish. These days I leave all the battery operated stuff home except my phone for the camera. Staring at a screen seems more like being at home than it does like fishing. Our world is changing pretty quickly these days and I just saw this hunting season where some guys have cellular trail cameras that link to their phones so they can see the deer coming long before it gets there. It doesn't sound like sport to me but that is where things are heading.
When they come over to look at my screen and ask "Whaddya seein' ?" I like to tell 'em "not much, just some old Gunsmoke reruns".....
I couldn't agree more. Exactly how I feel. Very well put, sir. Maybe us old pharts still walk to the beat of a different drummer.