Garmin or Humminbird Fishfinders and Trolling motors

[KurtR]

I stand corrected. I never thought of watching the baits while running bouncers or down riggers. I was thinking more on the line of pulling cranks while scanning in front of the boat.

It pretty cool watching and seeing how many come up and look and gives a really good idea on how they react to different presentations

 

[Svivian]

It pretty cool watching and seeing how many come up and look and gives a really good idea on how they react to different presentations

Yep it’s especially important with fish like Kokanee where they could be biting a color one minute then another color an hour later.

 

[wapitibob]

Guides up here are using live for Kokanee, it's pretty awesome to see the schools. Youtube has a bunch of vids. I can't afford that stuff, my electronics already cost more than the whole boat.

 

[fulldraw1972]

It pretty cool watching and seeing how many come up and look and gives a really good idea on how they react to different presentations

I run a 360 and love it. Most the water I fish is either sand, scattered rock or weeds.
The fish show up in the sand very good on 360.
I bought a mega live transducer last fall only because I got it dirt cheap and run helix units on my boat. But I haven’t put it on my boat yet. I know it’s not even close to being as good as LVS 34 or mega live 2.
Don’t even know if I will put it on the boat or just use it this winter ice fishing on a shuttle.

 

[BrentH]

I use livescope here in Washington for trolling for salmon on the Columbia. It absolutely helps see what depth the fish are, and you can actually see how deep your gear is. I run my LVS34 on a pole mount on the transom, forward facing mode, but pointed out the back of the boat. I’ve also used it trolling in the ocean with good results.

 

[Hill Difficulty]

OP

Pls let me know if interested in a deal on a HBird Explore 9 BNIB.

 

[N.ID7803]

I’ve been on guide boats before and they all had Garmin. Last year the guide actually referred to Humminbird as “Humminturd” when I asked what he preferred. Said they use to run them and now everything is Garmin, but I don’t see them paying much attention to the fishfinder either. Probably after fishing areas so long you don’t really need to rely on electronics?

 

[Macintosh]

Im pretty much 100% casting, and my boat is “hopelessly out of date” (ultrex tm with linked humminbird side imaging at bow and console). I completely re-rigged my 2003 boat in 2015, so 10 years ago my setup was +\- state of the art. Now…its antiquated. I can’t speak to trolling, and I haven’t used the newer Garmin stuff, it literally didn’t exist in current form 10 years ago. But, a couple tidbits not already mentioned that I think apply here.

1) all of the imaging sonars I have used, both Hummingbird and Lowrance, anytime you use one of the imaging views the screen size and resolution makes a massive difference. If you are considering spending to get any imaging sonar, make sure you have AT LEAST a 9” screen, and even that is on the small side. On a smaller screen, the images still look cool, but most freshwater fish sized objects simply don’t show up against the background with that resolution. If 9 to 12 inch screens are not in the budget, I would stay with basic sonar and get a better quality basic sonar—for the imaging views. I’m not 100% clear how this does or doesn’t translate to fwd facing sonar, could be interesting to get some feedback on that.

2) this is an area where the technology changes very very rapidly. If there’s something NEW you want now, you’re going to pay for it. But guys seem to change electronics the way bow hunting guys buy a new bow every year. It’s crazy, literally insane, how much people spend on this. I think there is some sort of tournament fisherman racket where they get a discount, then sell it at a profit a year later to buy the newest, etc. Anyway, some of the big fishing forums you can save a ton of money buying used sonar setups that are just a year or three old.

3) last piece of info I have is that I used to be a big humminbird and Minnkota fan because they had really, really exceptional tech support and warranty service. Over the last five or six years I’ve had a couple issues where I needed help, and things had changed a lot. I got uniformly terrible service over the last few years. I don’t know if this was a Covid hangover thing, or if things have really changed there, but my opinion of their service changed 180°. I might look into this and get some up to date feedback if you start looking at any used stuff or if you intend to keep a setup for a while.

 

[summs]

That I dont know. Is Livescope worth it? I hear its amazing. I probably go trolling for the above mentioned a dozen times a year, but my kids are getting to the age where I could see us going a lot more often.

Live scope is very overrated. It's cool, and I learned a ton 'using it' the past 3 years. However, to sit and video game cast at 1 fish is a waste. If you have a co angler... soon you wont.

I fish normally, and while I'm moving down the bank/ ledge/reef, i'll scan around and see some structure or debris to cast near.

Garmin is my vote for fish finder, but i'd take an ultrex tm over a ghost.