Pool 2 Report (2021)

Spot lock.

-J.

I would give up my SI before my spot lock. I would also give up my SI before auto stow/deploy.

I’m just that lazy.

That’s a tough one. I’d say spot lock if you already know the river well, but side imaging if you don’t. You can use an anchor instead of spot lock (like most of us did for years and years) but there’s no substitute for side imaging when it comes to seeing what’s down there.

Spot Lock is great when pitching wing dams. There’s an art to getting the boat exactly where you want it when using a rope and an anchor. With Spot Lock, it’s as simple as pushing a button and using the Jog feature to tweak your spot. You can spend more time fishing and less time getting the boat where you want it. You can fish “faster” since changing positions is so easy.

As John stated, side imaging is very helpful to see what’s down there. Not necessarily for seeing fish, but for seeing the structure.

I just added a Terrova and a Humminbird side imaging unit to my boat last summer. I really like them both but it’d be an easy choice for me if I could keep just one… it’d be the Terrova with Spot Lock.

Much appreciated guys, this was very helpful. Good luck out there.

On the same topic. For pool2 I’m curious on opinions on upgrading an excellent condition powerdrive v2 to ipilot with spotlock and jog. I can do that for about $600, which I can stomach. Can’t swing a brand new terrova at the moment. My boat is lightweight, maybe 1100 pounds loaded, so I only have a 12v system— not sure if I’ll have enough power to make spotlock work for extended periods of time in river current?

dirtywater wrote:

On the same topic. For pool2 I’m curious on opinions on upgrading an excellent condition powerdrive v2 to ipilot with spotlock and jog. I can do that for about $600, which I can stomach. Can’t swing a brand new terrova at the moment. My boat is lightweight, maybe 1100 pounds loaded, so I only have a 12v system— not sure if I’ll have enough power to make spotlock work for extended periods of time in river current?

If I understand correctly you’re asking whether your money is better spent upgrading a 55# PD with spotlock or saving up for a new 80# Terrova – that is a tough call. I used to have a 55# Terrova on my jon and it was perfect in 90% of situations. It would also last all day with a fully charged 100ah battery. That being said, I now have an 80#’er and I could never go back.

JasonP wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dirty Water wrote:</div>
On the same topic. For pool2 I’m curious on opinions on upgrading an excellent condition powerdrive v2 to ipilot with spotlock and jog. I can do that for about $600, which I can stomach. Can’t swing a brand new terrova at the moment. My boat is lightweight, maybe 1100 pounds loaded, so I only have a 12v system— not sure if I’ll have enough power to make spotlock work for extended periods of time in river current?

If I understand correctly you’re asking whether your money is better spent upgrading a 55# PD with spotlock or saving up for a new 80# Terrova – that is a tough call. I used to have a 55# Terrova on my jon and it was perfect in 90% of situations. It would also last all day with a fully charged 100ah battery. That being said, I now have an 80#’er and I could never go back.

That’s pretty much the gist of it. Getting to a Terrova won’t happen this year, so the question is more whether a 55lb/12v system is worth a crap on the river for spot lock?

Think I would save the money and by the bigger trolling motor. Listening to the news you should have enough money for one very soon.

Mike W wrote:

Think I would save the money and by the bigger trolling motor. Listening to the news you should have enough money for one very soon.

Funny you say that. That’s exactly what mine will be going towards!

Pretty sure mine is going for a new gun. Going to need one for the work truck since Ill be back in MPLS this summer.

I bet those Terrovas and ulterras become tough to find in stock once that stimulus drops.

Decisions, decisions. Luxury problems. If I drop the $600 upgrading the powerdrive I’d probably be able to get a chunk of that back on the used market if/when I decide to upgrade. I’d love to stick with a 12v system if possible, my boat has very limited bow storage as it is.

I wouldn’t try the 12v system. It’ll likely work about 75% of the time but holding in heavy current or trolling upstream won’t work. When you really need it you won’t have it. I lived that dream in the past.

Keep what you have and save up to get 80#. You will not regret that at all.

I had an old 55# PD with Co-Piliot and it was ok. Upgraded to a Terrova a few summers back and its 100% night and day difference. I would take spot lock over SI any day of the week. Once you have spot lock, then you can use SI to find the spot on the spot. Everything is easier with anchor mode esp. when fishing in current.

Mike W wrote:

Pretty sure mine is going for a new gun. Going to need one for the work truck since Ill be back in MPLS this summer.

I heard Biden is taking our guns tho.

Matt Moen wrote:

I wouldn’t try the 12v system. It’ll likely work about 75% of the time but holding in heavy current or trolling upstream won’t work. When you really need it you won’t have it. I lived that dream in the past.

Keep what you have and save up to get 80#. You will not regret that at all.

I agree. You can always take it off if you choose to upgrade.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I have a new 12v Powerdrive 55” on a 17’ Lund with a 50hp and it works just fine. I fish the Mississippi River down here and further up north and have never ran out of battery and that’s fishing 10-12 hours straight when the wife lets me. I got the $1200 unit with the remote instead of the foot pedal. Make sure to get a quality battery. Best investment. If you had a 20’ Ranger then you probably want to go with a 24v system. Marine General out of Duluth seems to have the best prices: https://www.marinegeneral.com/

Mike Otis wrote:

if you had to choose between spot lock or side imaging, which would you prefer or find more useful to have on pool 2.

That would be side imaging by a landslide.

Nothing can hide from SI.

There’s a LOT of boats with spotlock, who cannot catch fish, or have to Fish to Find FISH…Because they don’t understand HOW to see FISH on SI.

IMO, don’t wet a line until you see FISH!

boone wrote:

As John stated, side imaging is very helpful to see what’s down there. Not necessarily for seeing fish, but for seeing the structure.

Common Dan…That is simply not true! I quit fishing structure many years ago!

boone wrote:

You can spend more time fishing and less time getting the boat where you want it. You can fish “faster” since changing positions is so easy.

This is called Fishing to Find Fish, and it is a royal waste of time.

You cannot search water for fish faster by fishing than with side imaging.
Take cold water periods where presentations are slow vs hot water where presentations are fast. #1, cold water fish are congregated (Generally). Warm water fish are scattered (again, generally). I would lobby that spot lock isn’t necessary in the warmer scattered timeframe and SI would be priceless when your looking over 90% of the water to find the 10%.

Of course, with a gentleman like yourself, you cannot replace the time on the water and experience to know where to start looking either. But, you and I both know that winter spot of mine (Dunes) goes untouched by almost everyone, because it doesn’t have the ‘structure’ that many search for…and i can promise, even without that ‘fisherman catching structure’ it holds more fish than the entire rest of the pool.

This is IDO. The answer must be….BUY BOTH

“ IMO, don’t wet a line until you see FISH!”

Sounds boring and anticlimactic. But to each his own…

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike Otis wrote:</div>
if you had to choose between spot lock or side imaging, which would you prefer or find more useful to have on pool 2.

That would be side imaging by a landslide.

Nothing can hide from SI.

There’s a LOT of boats with spotlock, who cannot catch fish, or have to Fish to Find FISH…Because they don’t understand HOW to see FISH on SI.

IMO, don’t wet a line until you see FISH!

Andy, (aka FBRM)
I thought of you when I replied to Mike Otis. I knew you would opt for Side Imaging vs. Spot Lock and I knew it wouldn’t even be close for you. As typical, you shared some great insights. For example, why “look” for fish by fishing when you can cover 100 feet on each side of the boat at 5 mph with Side Imaging. Your comment about cold water vs. warm water periods is also insightful and true.

Here’s my experience in the past 8 months that I’ve had both Spot Lock and Side Imaging. For warm water periods, say May-October, I’m a wing dam junkie. I like to use my kicker to back-troll Dubuque rigs on the wing dams.
Some trips I don’t even take the Terrova with me when I know this is how I’m going to be fishing because I won’t use it any way. So side imaging wins in this situation. But I will say, I don’t have enough experience or knowledge to use Side Imagining to see the fish on wing dams very well. Often times I can’t see them but I know they’re on the wing dams because I’ll be catching them there.

Cold water periods (November-December) I’m still a wing dam junkie but will typically Spot Lock and pitch jigs or stick baits to them. So here Spot Lock wins because as I’ve stated, I have a hard time seeing fish on on the wing dams anyway. January-February seems like I do more jig dragging or slow trolling stick baits on sand flats and dunes. So here Side Imaging wins. For example, one day this past winter I was dragging jigs / stick baits with a friend and side imaging was showing a lot of fish off to the sides but we weren’t catching anything. We figured because we were in shallow water (6 feet) we might be spooking fish with the boat. Casting to shore in 2 feet of water and bringing the jigs back to the boat started to produce some fish. So here, Side Imaging wins.

I still maintain that Side Imagine is very useful for seeing structure… whether there’s fish on it or not. It’s cool to see what’s down there. I’ve found Side Imaging useful for looking at dunes, and as opposed to wing dams, I can often see fish on sand flats or dunes…. sometimes hundreds and hundreds of them.

So I guess for me it comes down to how (pitching, dragging, trolling) and what structure (wing dams, sand flats, rip rap shore lines) I’m fishing as to whether I benefit more from Spot Lock vs. Side Imagining.

I guess one can always use an anchor and rope instead of Spot Lock. It’s more time consuming and difficult but it’s what I used for decades before I got the Terrova last summer. But there’s no substitute to Side Imaging.

You are a wing dam junkie Dan!

When you understand the hydraulics of the area your fishing, you’ll understand where to drop that anchor! Current isn’t always “directly downstream” is it!

And, some spots you simply cannot precisely anchor as the current direction fluctuates.

See ya out there bud.

When I first started fishing the river, I was in for a lot of surprises. At the top of the list was anchoring. Where the anchor ended up biting and where the boat ended up was always confusing. I still struggle with it. I might be the world’s best at throwing out a Waterspike and having it land upside down too.

I’m definitely “old school” and I’m going to stay that way. SI and spot lock come with a hefty price tag, which is out of reach for me. So I’ll get it done the old fashioned way and if I catch fewer fish than the next guy I don’t have a problem with that. I’m having fun too.

SR

Holy bumper boats out there this morning! Counted 25 trailers when I left hidden falls.

Curious to hear if anyone is catching, depths and presentations. Marked a lot of fish but our boat came up empty this morning. Was good just to be out!

It was pretty slow for me today as well! I ended up with 2 dink walleyes and a big buffalo. I was fishing from shore on the north side of the confluence! I’m sure I saw some of you guys out there today just didn’t know who.

What are you guys seeing for water clarity above the confluence?

It’s suprisingly dirty over northside. Usually gives me good reference for that area down there.

Thanks nick. Interesting