New One Man Boat

[catscratch]

Yea, the pics you see are probably from demo mode, like the units rolling in Cabela's or elsewhere. Unless you are going to do spot lock, I wouldn't use a pole, put it on the trolling motor. When I fish I want to have a rod in my hand, not a trolling motor remote in one and operating a transducer pole with the other, but that's just me. I use a foot control motor, leaving my hands free.

I usually anchor if it's windy. If it isn't windy then I'll drift and use the trolling motor for slight corrections. But... I've found if I have beer I can run my trolling motor with my foot and use both hands for fishing.

 

[swat1018]

I usually anchor if it's windy. If it isn't windy then I'll drift and use the trolling motor for slight corrections. But... I've found if I have beer I can run my trolling motor with my foot and use both hands for fishing.

If that's your style of fishing you would put your live transducer on the motor. To "look around" with the livescope you just rotate the motor with the foot control.

 

[catscratch]

If that's your style of fishing you would put your live transducer on the motor. To "look around" with the livescope you just rotate the motor with the foot control.

Lol, you're assuming I have a foot control! It's just a normal motor that I can kick around to kind of go where I want.

 

[yoderjac]

I don't trust advertiser pics much. I always assume they are tuned perfectly and not real close to reality. Kind of like pics of a McDonalds burger... what you think you're ordering and what you get are different.

You are right. That was my point. I'd say my pics are about 90%+ of the ones you see in that marketing pic. I've just been using the default settings. I typically see a little more speckling and noise, but the level of detail is about the same as you see in the marketing pics.

My intent was to take some actual pics for you today, but as luck has it, I couldn't. I headed out to fish today and I could not get the megalive 2 to work at all. It was windy. I just got out away from obstructions and put the Terrova in spot-lock to try to figure out what was going on. I tried looking at the settings and NONE was selected for the Megalive 2. I could not unselect it. I figure I'd just try starting from scratch. MISTAKE!

I turned off the Megalive 2 and then the Xplore and then turned them back on. The Terrova suddenly started taking me in circles and spinning around. It would not respond to the steering commands from the remote. I finally had to turn it off and back on. It then performed as expected. I believe turning the Xplore off confused it. Either that or it was just a coincidence.

The Megalive 2 still would not work! I then noticed there was no light on the network switch for the Megalive 2. I then went to physically unplug the Megalive 2 from the battery box. I found the problem. I had evidently stepped on a cable or something. A wire had come out of the crimped butt connector for the Megalive 2. It had no power. I had no tools to fix it on the boat.

So, I decided to just go fish. Without the ability to look for fish, I headed back to the spot I was catching crappie on Monday. I caught a few crappie and bass, but less than half as many as I caught on Monday. It may have just been a worse day for fishing, or, more likely, I was simply much less efficient without the Megalive 2.

They are calling for rain tomorrow, so I'll work on fixing the connector for the Megalive 2.

 

[yoderjac]

Lol, you're assuming I have a foot control! It's just a normal motor that I can kick around to kind of go where I want.

I much prefer mine on a separate pole. Quite often, I want the trolling motor pointed in a different direction than the Megalive 2. Before I got the electric steer Terrova, I would troll into the wind going up the lake. I would rotate the megalive 2 looking for schools of crappie. I would then troll through them. Like you, I would then drift back through them with the wind, correcting as needed with the motor.

Having the Megalive 2 on a pole has become even more important since I got the Terrove with Spot-lick. When I find a school, I can spot-lock. The motor keeps me in that same spot with no effort from me and it adjusts back and forth as needed as the wind changes. I can then point the pole independently.

There is one more important use of a pole. While spot-locked, I can get much more accurate casting. The beam on the Megalive 2 is about 120 degrees vertical and 20 degrees horizontal. So, if the target (fish) is 45' away from you it could be anywhere in in the beam 8' to the left or 8' to the right of where it is pointed. By rotating the pole until the target disappears in one direction, and then the other, you can then point the pole in the middle of those two positions and you are pointed directly at the fish.

 

[yoderjac]

Looks like we have some nice weather coming next week. I don't fish on the weekends. I leave those to the working folks and avoid any crowds. I take some real-world pictures of brush and stumps and stuff for you Cat.