Today I used livescope for the greater good. One of the conservation orgs I've been talking to asked me to go get some livescope footage of salmon staging in a certain zone they're trying to get commercial sanctuary boundaries updated. Hopefully it helps.

 

Rejection is one thing...not to mention, the aspect of what do you do about it when a fish refuses your gear? Will the "TV" tell ya why, what to use? I'm in the camp of making yourself into a better fisherman by gaining and using fishing knowledge not by watching a "TV" all day.
Not getting bit? Reasoning usually works...Is it location, color, depth, wrong bait/lure? You will learn more by experimentation/thinking/asking yourself why, than watching a screen that tells you if/when/what a fish bites on (or doesn't). The mark of a good fisherman is what he knows about fishing. Knowing how to/what to do to remedy a no bite situation is gratifying.

So, without the livescope how do you know that fish are just refusing your bait due to "color, depth, wrong bait/lure"?? Maybe you aren't in an area that doesn't have fish? With the livescope, I can see them either totally ignore my bait, show some interest and follow it, or eat it. BUT, I know I am in fish. With out it I don't know if I am fishing in an area devoid of fish or not. Once knowing I am in an area with fish I can work on how to get them to bite. I'm not wasting my time changing baits and presentation trying to catch fish that aren't there.

 

2slow, You're 100% right, I don't know when I miss fish nor for what reason, but I DO know when I see fish on the sounder (and they're not biting) I should do something different. In other words, I don't need livescope to tell me where fish are or that I'm not getting bites. It's fairly obvious.
I will agree that livescope can be another great tool to determine that "yup...fish are seeing/looking at my bait, just not biting" but that's the challenge of fishing. Sure, it has merit but I'm (like you) I enjoy finding ways or figuring out ways, or figuring out why I'm not catching. Livescope doesn't tell me that. I'm not "bashing" the use of livescope per se' just not willing to put out 3-4 grand for the knowledge that fish are refusing/neglecting my offering. My sounder already tells me there's fish, If I'm not getting bit, I need to "fix" that.
Admittedly, I look at the sounder more than I should, mostly because I want to know if there's fish there and what depth they're at. The tools to help fisherman catch fish are many... If money were no issue spot lock, livescope etc etc would all be great additions but no amount of money or tools makes a fish bite or tells me why they're not. That's why fishing is a fun challenge!!!

 

So stripping line after a "bite" isn't something that has worked for you? I've fished with guys that didn't believe in doing that. I'd say it woks at least 50% of the time. I think it'd be fun to have a query on how many strip line after a bite...
That's pretty common for us in the pond but it even worked the other day in the river. I recon it's like a flip with a tail or an aggression strike to stun the bait, then they come back for it when it "moves/falters/flutters like it's wounded". I could be way off on the theory but stripping line after a hit will always be in my toolbox. As for dropping "into" or even reeling up slowly, that maneuver has produced many a fish bite. It's those surprise catches that makes fishing even more fun.

Haven't tried it yet on a "biter" that didn't stick. Just on followers. Actually since I got it, I didn't really watch any short strikes happen now that I think of it. I'd try that next time I see it happen though.

 

I'm not expert in sonor but the arches you see on a 2d screen don't necessarily represent a fish at the depth. As I understand it, represents (depending on the return strength?) a fish that many feet away from the transducer. So a mark at 40 feet that isn't a strong return (meaning right under the transducer) could be 20 down and x number of feet to the side of the boat (sorry the algebra isn't happening in my mind today).
Probably way more technical than needed but interesting.
Maybe someone else has more knowledge in this.

 

One thing LS taught me is that my Garmin Echomap with its standard GT56UHD transducer is useless and I was fishing blind previously. Ive been on top of large pods of salmon, either swimming in the opposite direction or matched speed and swimming upstream with me, meanwhile the traditional sonar is totally blank. Other times, I see what appear to be and what I previously would have thought to be large pods of fish on the traditional sonar that are nowhere to be found searching around on the LS. So, after dropping all that money on the new LS, I will probably also need to shell out for a nicer Raymarine sonar unit 💰

 

My experience as well. I have two screens - one with LS and a split screen with my contours + traditional sonar. Traditional sonar is often returning false positives or missing fish altogether. They SOMETIMES corroborate each other, but not always. That said, pre-LS, I did mostly just fine using traditional sonar to get an idea.

 

I target the fun-sized. I’m a LS addict. In fact, I’d consider a second system to dedicate one to perspective and the other to forward.

As it is now, I use forward when my targets are stratified and perspective when the water cools and fish are in the top water.

Occasionally I’ll take a Quick Look at one of my other two transducers. The fish move day to day and throughout the day. Often I see fish that don’t register on my other two systems. At the cleaning table people talk about hooking “ghost fish”. I can see a single aggressive fish swim down and tie up. I don’t have many ghost fish experiences.

I’ve stepped up from the 32 to the 34.

System is also part of the experience when I take friends out. Talk about the techniques that help put action on our rods.

I have been making up for lost years that I kept my nose to the grindstone. About 5 years ago I gave myself permission to dump money into a fish harvesting tractor. And permission to get out on average a day per week. Point is, as a recreational fisherman, I’ve logged about 150 days over about three years. If the system cost $4,000 that is what, about $25/trip? Less than $1.50 per harvested fish. I’m not done using it, so I’m on a mission to get my cost down to a nickel per fish and a buck per launch.

No regrets experiences is my program. Grateful that I have access to tools like this that feed my fishing compulsion.

I can say that this has helped me put fish in my box. Some days more than others, but if I’m plowing water, that transducer is deployed.

I’m learning how to interpret content on the screen and figure that will be the case years from now.

I’ve enjoyed this thread and the thoughts shared.

Last I’ll say is that I don’t watch my gear usually. However on a trip a couple weeks back I put on a little class - saw we were approaching a small school. I grabbed a stacked rod and “hunted” it. Ran it up and down the DR cable in about 5’ runs and wham. Got a good reaction from my fishing buddy that went out that day to learn about LS. Glad the fish followed the script. The fish hit the 1 rod that was hunting and skipped the other three. LS helped my timing.