I am looking into purchasing Garmin’s Livescope. I was thinking if a guy mounted the forward looking transducer to look behind your boat you might be able to see your crankbaits while trolling 80-120 feet behind the boat? Does anyone have any information on this?
That may work. I’ve heard of guys mounting it to their trolling motor and having it point the same direction as the trolling motor. In my opinion, this may be a better option as you can turn the motor and scan around you vs having it point directly behind the boat. But it really depends on your application, if you were to use it for trolling only you might be better off mounting the transducer on the transom facing back.
This picture is from an Uncut Angling YouTube video in which he mounts the transducer on the corner of the transom and uses the cone angle mode for jigging. The green area is the area in which the transducer will pick up a signal.
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I would think it would work. Just turn it backwards on the transom and change it to forward looking on the graph. I am thinking I am going to aim my panoptix transducer to see the cranks, and the livescope straight down. Need summer to get here.
I run panoptix in transom and with downriggers can see spoons or cranks but only in perfect situations. With down rigging only 10-25ft back normally so that helps. With standard trolling much too far to see cranks. Hope that helps.
Garmin states you should be able to see 200 feet with forward facing transducer. Is that a stretch from what you have seen? Or are you stating you can see 25ft with the down view?
I doubt you would be able to see a crank bait that far out. Down rigging I can see the rigger balls with a ps30 panoptix transducer, and normally run cranks 25′ behind the ball, but can’t see the cranks. My thought is tilt the ducer up a bit and see if I can see the cranks. I think James Holst did that on Superior to watch his spoons. I think it would take trial and error to get it aimed correctly.
Livescope or panoptix is never going to show you your cranks if you are long line trolling and they would likely struggle to see them if your running lead core.
The problem is they are just too far away. The distance you can see horizontally is dependent upon the vertical depth.
If your running down riggers I see no reason why you wouldn’t be able to see your cranks but the settings would have to be just right. Also you will likely only be able to see one at a time.
200ft with livescope is a far stretch. More like 150 max, I’ve heard some say 120.
With a ps30 panoptix transducer I can see each downrigger ball. I think if it is aimed back a bit, and you don’t run too much line behind the ball you should be able to see both cranks. It amazes me how many fish come up to look at the ball.
Livescope or panoptix is never going to show you your cranks if you are long line trolling and they would likely struggle to see them if your running lead core.
The problem is they are just too far away. The distance you can see horizontally is dependent upon the vertical depth.If your running down riggers I see no reason why you wouldn’t be able to see your cranks but the settings would have to be just right. Also you will likely only be able to see one at a time.
200ft with livescope is a far stretch. More like 150 max, I’ve heard some say 120.
With a ps30 panoptix transducer I can see each downrigger ball. I think if it is aimed back a bit, and you don’t run too much line behind the ball you should be able to see both cranks. It amazes me how many fish come up to look at the ball.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>jaimep0725 wrote:</div>
Livescope or panoptix is never going to show you your cranks if you are long line trolling and they would likely struggle to see them if your running lead core.
The problem is they are just too far away. The distance you can see horizontally is dependent upon the vertical depth.If your running down riggers I see no reason why you wouldn’t be able to see your cranks but the settings would have to be just right. Also you will likely only be able to see one at a time.
200ft with livescope is a far stretch. More like 150 max, I’ve heard some say 120.
Sorry for the confusion mojo…I was talking specifically livescope there.
I do agree, no issue seeing both with the PS30 but may take some fine tuning to see the cranks clearly consistently.
Old thread but I thought I’d chime in since I just installed my livescope.
I have ran some tests and from what I have found is while trolling with downriggers, flasher and a spoon I can see my gear about 60′ back. Any further and it wont even show on my screen. I’ll run just a 4″ spoon with no flasher about 40′ off the ball and see a faint blip for the spoon while trolling. The range on the livescope is very poor. It’s still impressive BUT its poor considering the fact Garmin says 300′.
I will often troll for Bull Trout and Lakers in lakes that often run at 250′ to 300′ deep. The Livescope cant even operate properly at that depth in my opinion.
The trick I use while trolling is to find my lure, adjust my depth on the unit as well as the forward range and I’ll get a bigger picture of my lure. Otherside it’s just too small to really see what’s going on. I imagine the new update with the zoom feature will be helpful, I just haven’t been out since I last updated the unit
Attached is a photo of the Livescope looking behind the boat. You can see a spoon running off the ball about 30′ back.
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How wide do you think the beam is at 30′ back. Any chance seeing 2 at the same time on each side of the boat? Do you have your transducer on he same line as the rigger in able to see it?
Old thread but I thought I’d chime in since I just installed my livescope.
I have ran some tests and from what I have found is while trolling with downriggers, flasher and a spoon I can see my gear about 60′ back. Any further and it wont even show on my screen. I’ll run just a 4″ spoon with no flasher about 40′ off the ball and see a faint blip for the spoon while trolling. The range on the livescope is very poor. It’s still impressive BUT its poor considering the fact Garmin says 300′.
I will often troll for Bull Trout and Lakers in lakes that often run at 250′ to 300′ deep. The Livescope cant even operate properly at that depth in my opinion.
The trick I use while trolling is to find my lure, adjust my depth on the unit as well as the forward range and I’ll get a bigger picture of my lure. Otherside it’s just too small to really see what’s going on. I imagine the new update with the zoom feature will be helpful, I just haven’t been out since I last updated the unit
Attached is a photo of the Livescope looking behind the boat. You can see a spoon running off the ball about 30′ back.
How wide do you think the beam is at 30′ back. Any chance seeing 2 at the same time on each side of the boat? Do you have your transducer on he same line as the rigger in able to see it?
I don’t think so. We were dragging 3/16 oz jigs/plastic in 12′ of water and could see them 60′ back, but only on the side with the livescope setup.
My downrigger is on the port side and my livescope ducer in the starboard side by my console. It is aimed slightly towards the port side. Next time I go oit I’ll move it to the side with the downrigger and see if it will display my gear clearly. I have a Tracker with the Veratrack system. I also welded and machined a removable mount for the panoptix transducer so I could move it around easily.
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