Searching for lure with LS

I think my fishery makes LS more challenging. In south Louisiana we most often fish 4 - 7’ of water, both canals and shallow lake shores. Fallen trees, submerged stumps, aquatic grass, soft mud bottoms, etc.. When vertical jigging the target distance is ~9-12’. Since the distance is so close to the boat and the water is very shallow, the cone (width) of sight is only about 3.3’ wide. At the extreme sides of the 3.3 the lure gets dimmer. Too many times I struggle to find the lure.

1. Often it is difficult to find where the line enters the water. Mono, fluoro, and braid are so thin. It can be hard to find. I am going to try a very thin piece of hi-vis dacron, tied between the main line and leader.
2. It seems to me that in my fishing environment that a lead weight above the jig might be detrimental in detecting upward bites. Because of this I use a 1” section of plastic worm that is threaded through the middle with the leader. Seems to work well for me in place of lead.

I am relatively new to LS. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Danny

If using the stock 8° mount that comes with LiveScope, the biggest challenge is visualizing (in one’s mind’s eye) that the beam is 8° off vertical ... the beam is like this - / - (or this - \ - dependent on which side the shaft the xducer is mounted) …. The Livescope beam is not like this - | - ...

*Keep the LiveScope xducer stationary ...
*Put bait at 2ft deep and move the bait horizontally until the bait is the brightest on the display and note where that bait’s horizontal position is as compared to your LiveScope direction indication (TM or pole direction)
*Perform the same test at half the water depth ...
*Perform the same test at near the bottom ...

You should easily see that the horizontal position of the bait as compared to the LiveScope direction indication is different dependent on how deep the bait is in the water column - simply due to the 8° offset stock mount ...

The shallower the bait is, the more to one side (of the direction indication) the bait needs to be positioned - to be in the strongest part of the beam ...

The deeper the bait is, the more to the opposite side (of the direction indication) the bait needs to be positioned - to be in the strongest part of the beam ...

Rickie

Thanks, Rickie. My transducer is pole mounted and on a 0 degree mount. I do like your idea of sweeping the lure through the cone of view and plan to use it as a learning tool.