If you HAD to decide on only one

I've got an older boat, a 94 Spectrum fish & ski. The trolling motor and both fish finders are going on about 10 years old at this point. Fish finders work great for showing depth and bottom features but don't have the new technology like side scanning or livescope. Trolling motor works fine, but it's all foot controls- no spot lock, GPS features, or remote.

If you could only upgrade one of these this year- a trolling motor or the fish finder, which would it be?
(I'm leaning towards the trolling motor. Spot lock or following a depth/contour seems like a game changer). I can still find humps, holes, points, fish cribs, etc w/ the fish finder as-is. Just doesn't do great at actually showing the fish themselves, which I don't feel like I totally need at this point. IDK, just looking for other perspectives on if I'm not thinking about this right.

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Originally Posted by Tooth

I've got an older boat, a 94 Spectrum fish & ski. The trolling motor and both fish finders are going on about 10 years old at this point. Fish finders work great for showing depth and bottom features but don't have the new technology like side scanning or livescope. Trolling motor works fine, but it's all foot controls- no spot lock, GPS features, or remote.

If you could only upgrade one of these this year- a trolling motor or the fish finder, which would it be?
(I'm leaning towards the trolling motor. Spot lock or following a depth/contour seems like a game changer). I can still find humps, holes, points, fish cribs, etc w/ the fish finder as-is. Just doesn't do great at actually showing the fish themselves, which I don't feel like I totally need at this point. IDK, just looking for other perspectives on if I'm not thinking about this right.

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Livescope setup,with livescope you know 100% sure your fishing for a fish.

Sent from my SM-S515DL using Tapatalk

Spot lock TM, then try to work forward facing sonar with a compatible head unit in your budget. Should be able to get a deal on Lowrance Active Target very soon, as they are introducing new technology.

Depends on the type of fishing you do. For shooting docks give me the spot lock trolling motor. I have side scan. But I don't feel handicapped if it stopped working. The trolling motor I don't want to live without

That trolling motor is fine to me. I would go for a good depth finder. Oh and give me foot control any day of the week over those others.

Livescope . I don't use spot lock . I have my transducer on my trolling motor (foot controlled ) . It works great fishing cover
or chasing open water fish .

I would get the Livescope/sonar first.I had a very basic trolling motors for years and it worked well for how I normally fish.Now that I got an Ultrex with all the extra features,I find I still use it the same as my basic motor most of the time.

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Originally Posted by blueball

Livescope setup,with livescope you know 100% sure your fishing for a fish.

Sent from my SM-S515DL using Tapatalk

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I agree 100%!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by blueball

Livescope setup,with livescope you know 100% sure your fishing for a fish.

Sent from my SM-S515DL using Tapatalk

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I agree 100%!!!!!!

I'm in about the same boat. My depth finders are older as is my trolling motor, the trolling motor probably has less than 15 hours on it though. I do have side and down imaging that I'm content with. My next move will forward looking sonar, the decision now is Lowrance or Garmin and what unit to run it.

Me personally I would opt for Mega 360, it is a fast search tool and will put you on fish faster then Livescope. IF you are fishing lakes you already know. in that sense then I would opt for trolling motor with spot lock and Link. Could live without SpotLock but life is so much easier with it, the jog feature is great to use.

Would not give up the map features for anything on my boat . Finding creeks and seasonal pattern hotspots is a must .

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Originally Posted by Eagle 1

Would not give up the map features for anything on my boat . Finding creeks and seasonal pattern hotspots is a must .

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So w/livescope, that's all you got? You don't get the standard maps and other features om the screen? I guess I just thought you buy the unit that has maps, regular bottom contours/depth finder, then you added the livescope transducer to that. I guess I need to do a bit more reading/research.

Depends on what you buy. I purchased my 93sv complete way before I purchased and added livescope. I have both the normal transducer which provides side imaging, clearvu and traditional sonar and maps. Then I purchased livescope and mounted the black box and the livescope transducer to a pole which gives me the live imaging. I can't display both at the same time but its easy to switch between them by selecting which I want to use.

If you purchase a livescope package deal they might not include the normal transducer.

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

Depends on what you buy. I purchased my 93sv complete way before I purchased and added livescope. I have both the normal transducer which provides side imaging, clearvu and traditional sonar and maps. Then I purchased livescope and mounted the black box and the livescope transducer to a pole which gives me the live imaging. I can't display both at the same time but its easy to switch between them by selecting which I want to use.

If you purchase a livescope package deal they might not include the normal transducer.

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Thank you, your set up sounds like what I would be planning to do. Upgrade the current sonar and display and add livescope. I'm dreaming right now tho, I just want the boat to be out of storage and warm enough to go fishing. I don't care about upgrades or any other BS til I can get that baby floating again for the season!

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

Depends on what you buy. I purchased my 93sv complete way before I purchased and added livescope. I have both the normal transducer which provides side imaging, clearvu and traditional sonar and maps. Then I purchased livescope and mounted the black box and the livescope transducer to a pole which gives me the live imaging. I can't display both at the same time but its easy to switch between them by selecting which I want to use.

If you purchase a livescope package deal they might not include the normal transducer.

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:hesaid

Hard decision. I bought live scope first. Then when trying to fish in a lot of wind i knew pretty quick that i wanted spotlock. They go hand in hand big time especially for vertical jigging in my opinion.

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Originally Posted by Les Young

Hard decision. I bought live scope first. Then when trying to fish in a lot of wind i knew pretty quick that i wanted spotlock. They go hand in hand big time especially for vertical jigging in my opinion.

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That's kinda why I been leaning towards trolling motor w spot lock. I can find structure and generally find good fishing spots w my current electronics. Staying on those spots is another story tho

It really comes down to what type of fishing you do as to which tools work best for you.

Financially with all the good deals going on right now with electronics I would take advantage of that.

Livescope.

I have an Ipilot trolling motor and don't often use the GPS features when actually fishing. I find it far more precise to just drive with the remote and fish with my other hand. I will use spot lock occasionally when I have to deal with a fish, retie, switch rods, etc, and I use autopilot for trolling or just motoring along a bank.

If you're using a trolling motor mount for livescope you typically cannot use it while on spot lock, it just isn't precise enough, livescope has a very narrow beam.

Another vote for Livescope. I have Spotlock too, but nothing beats seeing the fish in real time!

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Depends on the type of fishing you do. For shooting docks give me the spot lock trolling motor. I have side scan. But I don't feel handicapped if it stopped working. The trolling motor I don't want to live without

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I would second this comment.
Where i fish there are no docks, like as in none.
But there is wind everywhere, and trying to stay in a particular spot is at times frustrating.
There are lots of different ways to be successful when fishing, and boat control is important with most of them.

With my fishing style, I would benefit more from having a better view of what's below and beside me. I'm currently using the Garmin Striker 4 and I pretty much use it as a flasher. The sonar helps, but I can only tell what's directly below me and I spend months making a mental map of the areas I fish. 90% of cases end up being if I can see it on the fish finder, it's too late.

I feel like I could benefit more with having the option of livescope in the future and an improved look at what's below and out beside me. I fish strictly with no bobber so I'm either hanging on to logs or slow trolling up the creek looking for crappie.

I came to this conclusion Thursday on the shore at a local lake while my boat is getting some weld repairs done. The lake water was clear as a bell, and the guys I talked to when I showed up were telling me they weren't biting. I used my knowledge of what to look for where fish would be hiding at pulled 12 fish on to the bank that afternoon.

I'm in the camp of learning how to fish without the nice electronics, and then when you develop some skill go buy it and utilize it to its full potential.