As someone who’s gone from regular Panoptix to Livescope after a few solid years of using Panoptix, I think the regular Panoptix still has its time and place. If you are just searching for fish, or are running and gunning, the Panoptix still does everything I need. With a little bit of practice, you are easily able to pick out which fish are larger, and the GT10HN 2D transducer is great when you are fishing deeper water.

I will say though, the Livescope does give a much higher quality image, which is like going back to watch standard def tv after seeing high def.

Thanks everyone, finally was able to find someone. Figured I forgot to buy a piece unfortunately.

If taken care of by storing these batteries properly, lifepo4 should be lasting thousands of charges. Lithium tech has become very reliable now imo.

TimberCrappie wrote:

ec1 you will get anywhere from 8-11 hours on both running wide open.
If you fish for more time than that…bring a second one.

Amazing to know. The 12a is probably what I want to be looking for in the future. I will definitely be unplugging the panoptix transducer this winter when it is not in use to hopefully save me a little bit of juice.

I own the 12v 10a by Energized Outdoors. Seems to work fine but I also haven’t given it a full day test in weather that is below 32f. Slightly worried that my panoptix ice will not last a full day at 100% brightness.

Would like to hear the differences from others if you’ve tried both.

No one has mentioned the Garmin units yet. Panoptix ice has extra functionality of the ones mentioned, and GPS capability. In terms of delay / lag, it’s not bad but it’s not as instantaneous as a flasher.

Unless the IDO team has a multi year deal signed with Marcum, I’d be surprised to not see them talk about it in the near future.

Oh, but without a snowmobile and a lithium battery, that garmin is a pain to carry around. Hole hopping is clumsy. I’m happy with my purchase, but I don’t think it can be my only sonar. And more importantly, all this technology doesn’t guarantee that you’ll catch more / all the fish. lol.

With the LX7, the shuttle was a no brainer. The soft case had potential to drop the entire sonar, and holding the unit became a lot easier.
With the flashers, do you find holding it a problem? I had the LX5 as well and thought that it was fine to hold and hole hop – except it needed a rod holder.

The light I find is great for walking from hole to hole, not so much for fishing at night. That light is blinding when you catch it at the right angle. If money’s not a problem, I’d jump on it.

I think you ‘m’ight be correct
i hope there’s a lot of interesting stuff coming this winter.

Joe Scegura wrote:

So do you think the magnets are going to work with ice build up? FYI: Magnets will only work with clean even contact on your blade.

Snap cover for me, ice build up or not I’ve had no problem.

I’m not experienced with magnets and what 17# in pull force feels like, but I am kind of hoping that it will be able to attract the blades through a thin layer of ice. I will report back after everything is installed. These guys do advertise they are, “Your source for the world’s strongest magnets”

If this doesn’t work out like I’d hoped, then the snap cap it is.

Thanks for all the help everyone! I bought the magnets and will be installing that over the summer.

So actually what I was reading was that the Snap Cap from strikemaster actually won’t fit the auger if there is any ice buildup on the cover and that it works great in the garage, but doesn’t work as well on the ice and snow.

I will look into the cold snap cover, thanks for the heads up gentlemen!

______________ wrote:

I use threaded magnets on my covers. Two 3/4 inch magnets work well.

https://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=181

Fishwater, can you give me a picture of how you are doing this with just magnets? Thanks.

More fishing stuff to watch on Youtube, Thanks for sharing!

Lithium technology should be getting better as time passes. It’s just a matter of when the technology that powers Tesla etc. trickles down into our little 12V batteries.

Going to be a while yet especially after hearing all these failures but I believe it will happen eventually.

The ifishpro will be great for bigger fish like eelpout or pike. I think you can say forget it for crappies and panfish. So far I’ve caught only 1 eelpout with mine and I do notice it has some freezing problems. This will probably apply for the Finicky Fooler as well but it does look awesome! I may have to get a couple.

Baffins go maybe about 5″ below the knee but they are very warm. Striker bibs do not fit over top but I usually just zip up the bibs and leave the rest hanging out. Not the best fashion statement but who cares when you’re warm and catching fish

At the price though, it can’t be beat.

Had an electric and a gas side by side for a winter because I love my husqvarna and my buddy loves his ion so we always bring both out.
Weight wise, they are practically the same except the center of gravity is in different locaations.
Quickness, about the same.
Longevity, we’ve been able to use most of the battery but the gas held up.
But for my ears, the Ion wins for being quiet.
Pull start happens in 2 or less pulls every time so I guess the husky has that going.

Interesting that they bit only the big tackle… Glad you got some good meat to go with it!

Nicely done! And them coming out of the weeds on that screen! Thumbs up!

WarEagle wrote:

Ifish Pro’s, with a little bit of a modification you can make those babies extremely sensitive! I use them for perch and <em class=”ido-tag-em”>crappies all the time!

What might this modification be? Whenever my flag has gone up while fishing for crappie, they let go by the time I get there to set the hook.

I own baffin titans as well.
The striker bibs do not fit over them without undoing a few buttons.

For its price (99CDN), I don’t think you can get any cheaper for a boot thats warm and waterproof. I’ve had my pair for about 4 years and still going strong.

I’m sure there are better fitting boots out there, but be ready to pay more $$

I do this all the time whether it’s ice fishing or softwater. At least it feels nice to think you’re as prepared as you can be. Then you get out there and realized it’s not the first time you’ve fished after a cold front.

I do like that you can really build up a knowledge base that you can go back and refer to at some point in the future.

Ling Thing
This video will take a huge part of the learning curve out for you. A video from the Canadian boys that I’ve been trying to learn from for the past few years.

From my experience, I luck into walleye while fishing for them right at dusk. Then the pouts show up shortly after. The eelpout are hands down my favorite freshwater fish to eat!

Way to go Andy! Still no ice here over in Ontario, makes me super jealous! Awesome to see you catching some great fish.
Hopefully the fish are in early ice mode as well when I get on the ice next week.

Thanks for sharing! That new flat screen has got me jealous – no more snow covering the display!

Knots that go through the eye of the hook twice have been best for me. Uni knot with 2 loops through the eye, the San Diego Jam has been stellar knots. Wet and lubricate the line before cinching everything down!

Wow those are trophies! Congrats!

that is a giant!!

ajaikens31 wrote:

I’ve preserved them in coke before and that works great!

Very interesting. Do these minnnows end up being mushy?

Forgotten bites that have been left alone for a few years may surprise you! Nicely done!

If they have one that is like a noodle rod, it could potentially be very good for night time crappie!

At the moment, I have a very bright glow in the dark paint that seems to last about 20 minutes per charge with a flashlight. I have painted a glob on the tip of my panfish rods to act as a strike indicator.