I just wanted to write a short blog piece noting how impressed I am with the latest in the world of fishing electronics, more specifically, Garmin’s Panoptix Livescope. Angelo and I have been hard at work studying all the latest technology on our Garmin fishfinder/GPS units and let me tell you: It’s intriguing, complex and extremely fun once you get into it.
On a recent trip, I was using the Panoptix LiveScope mode in more of a traditional style rather than “literally looking for live creatures.”
Water conditions were not great for physically seeing weedbeds (even with polarized sunglasses). Instead of having to hover over the weeds searching with the traditional fishfinder screen, or puttering along with my side viewing screen, I simply spun my LiveScope transducer 360 degrees to find a weedbed and, specifically, the front (deep) edge and some very important fringe weeds leading in.
GARMIN LIVESCOPE
In the above photo, my boat is positioned right on top of the big zero in the “10.8ft” text in the screenshot. LiveScope looks forward, down, and even slightly backward—or, in my case, slightly under my standing position on the bow of the boat. The depth of the water breaks up (gets shallower) from around 14 feet to 11 feet. The main weeds started at about 19 feet in front of my boat (transducer) position. By casting out a short 20-foot launch, my craw bait hit just inside the thickest part of the weedbed and very close to the outside edge (deep weedline). The Smallmouth that I caught was sitting just on (or very close to) that edge.
EASIEST PATTERN
Quite honestly, it was one of the easiest patterns I’ve put together in a long time because of its simplicity. Incidentally, you can do the same with the original Panoptix mode.
This beauty smallie pushed my scales at close to 5 lb. Garmin’s LiveScope is honestly the main reason I caught this fish. Think about it: Without seeing those weeds or even knowing where they were, I’d either be casting randomly (which doesn’t happen very often anymore), or I wouldn’t cast at all.
Technology plays a huge role in modern-day fishing; embrace it and learn!
Pete Bowman
