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.

 

[yoderjac]

I fixed the power wiring on the Megalive 2 today. Hopefully, next week I'll be able to test it.

 

[yoderjac]

I was just thinking about yesterdays fishing trip. I am a little amazed at just how ineffective I felt without the forward facing sonar. I did try to use side imaging and down imaging to fish, but it was pretty ineffective for me. Down imaging and side imaging are much like 2D sonar to the extent they require movement to produce a meaningful image and by the time you see the picture you are past the subject. They are much higher resolution, but still have the motion limitation.

They are great tools, much better than 2d, sonar for mapping out candidate fishing areas. The fact that I can mark an object in the imaging on the screen and a waypoint is produced at its actual location is extremely useful for establishing candidate areas to fish.

However, when it comes down to actual fishing, there is nothing like the real-time feedback of forward facing sonar. Rather than looking at things I've passed, I get a real-time picture of what I'm pointing at. I'm not good enough with it to consistently follow a crappie jig and watch fish react to it like you see on youtube. On occasion, I can do that, but most often, it is simply giving me the confidence that I'm casting in the right general area for fish to see my jig.

I also find it useful as a tool for scanning for schools of fish. I can use the Terrova to follow a contour and scan left and fright as I slowly motor by looking for schools. Since I'm looking forward, I can correct course to move to the school and then spot-lock.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, the best laid plans of mice and men....

I'm not sure when I'll get back out now. Last night, I had some bad kidney stone pain (not my first). I was eventually able to get it to subside enough that I could sleep without going to the ER, just taking some low level pain meds. I feel like I was rode hard and put up wet this morning but the residual pain is just a dull ache.

Sometimes these things just move a little bit and stop blocking the flow and you are fine. Other times you need to pass them. Only time will tell. It is safe to say that I am going to be careful with my activities so I'm not isolated (like on a lake in a boat) if this flares up again. These things seem to come at the worst times. We are scheduled for a controlled burn this week at the farm.