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I finally got my settings dialed in and can see my bait good.
It took a while to figure out how to keep up with my bait, with the transducer mounted on my trolling motor.
Now if I could just find some fish that will eat, I'm not having any problem finding fish, they just won't bite.
A lot of folks think with live sonar you find them and they jump in the boat, not my experience. LOL
You guys are saying the fish won't fight to get on my hook???
I'm glad you got yours adjusted in. I wish I could get mine. I get frustrated. I can see fish, but I can't see my bait drop. Sometimes, I can see it if let it go down to the bottom, then raise it up. I'm sure I will get it figured out one of these days.
Sent from my SM-S908U using Crappie.com mobile app
One of the most frustrating fishing experiences is to find slabs and not be able to get them to bite. Without FFS I would just fish that spot and after getting no thumps I would move to a different spot convincing myself there were no fish at that spot. With FFS however I see the fish. I can even hit the fish on the head with my jig. Its hard to leave a large group of slabs but one must do so quickly if one wants to stink up an ice chest.
I struggled at first with my FFS and all I can say is “time on the water” is the only solution. I even launched several times and reset my unit to factor settings and adjusted all the settings till I got the clearest picture and could see my jig hit the water and fall. I did not plan on catching any fish I went simply to get experience and confidence with my electronics.
Bon Temps!!
They will, nothing but limits of 3+ pounders for you going forward! LOLQuote:
Originally Posted by DWILL
I was the same way, I had to just start adjusting my setting and figuring out how to keep my bait in the cone.Quote:
Originally Posted by Curlytail
I can see a 1/32 jig now.
Experiment with different weights to figure out what fall rate works best because if they're falling to fast you're pretty much not getting bit. Yesterday while pitching to brushpiles they wouldn't hit an 1/8 ounce head with a baby shad on it. I tried a 1/16 but it fell really slow & didn't do well in the wind so i added a number 5 split shot about 15" above the jig & they bit it pretty good then on the same lure they wouldn't bite on the other two tries.Quote:
Originally Posted by jusanothajoe
In a few years you will be able to tell what size they are . lol So easy a caveman can do it .
You have a big part of the equation out of the way now but still a bit more to it. Take it for what it's worth, but I will offer a couple things to think about going forward. First, just because you can see your bait near the fish on the screen near the fish doesn't necessarily mean you really have the bait where it needs to be. Focus hard on the intensity of the return of both the fish and the bait, they both need to be really bright to truly be lined up on the fish. And secondly, even once you get to where you can consistently put it on their nose, that doesn't mean that is where or how they want to see the bait. I see a lot of comments on here and other places about how the bait doesn't matter, just have to put it on their nose blah blah and on and on. That may work on some lakes with dirtier water and less pressure but not everywhere. Les touched on it a little, dropping in too fast, which can definitely happen with more weight, doesn't work a lot of times. Only you can figure out what will work on your lake on the fish you are trying to catch. But I can tell you from a lot of hours doing it, controlling where and how they see the bait and really paying attention to how far the bait is away from the fish when they first react will go a long way to helping you get a hook in the fish that you see. I disagree a little with some of the other guys that post here about bait/color line color etc, but boat control and bait control with Livescope will always be the most important factor most of the time.Quote:
Originally Posted by jusanothajoe
pab1981 what line do you use & do you not think bait color matters in different water colors whether clear, stained or muddy & do you think the amount of light whether bright sun or extremely cloudy make a difference in colors needed sometimes & the way crappie react? I tried a few different styles & colors of baits like tubes, crappie magnets & baby shads that i make Sunday & finally settled on a baby shad in black back/ chartreuse belly with red glitter in the back because it was the only thing either of us found that they would bite consistently but the water was pretty brown in color compared to the usual clear that it is. You gave me some great tips when i was first starting scoping crappie so it never hurts to ask does it? :biggrin
No, I fall more in the camp of color/flash can matter and think line size and color can matter as well. I normally keep a couple rods on deck/rod locker with 12lb fluorocarbon on baitcasters, a couple with 8lb fluorocarbon on spinning reels, and have at least one rod in the boat with 4-6lb clear mono or fluorocarbon. Honestly, I'm still messing with lightest setup trying to find something I really trust in tournament situations. I typically run 14 and 17ft Dobyns, Huckabee, or Ozark rods and haven't really found any lighter lines that hold up on hook sets reliably with the longer rods without the occasional unexpected break. The answer is probably a shorter and a little softer rod, but I don't like the feel of the older style, floppy rods much. I said all that to say, in tougher bite conditions that I find sometimes I feel like I get more bites with lightest, clearest line I can get away with.Quote:
Originally Posted by Les Young
As far as baits, I don't use or keep nearly as many colors/styles of baits as before LS. But I still do basically keep a few colors of the same style baits(baby shad, crappie magnet, small tubes, and few bigger profiles) you mentioned and a box of hair jigs from 1/64 to 1/4. With LS, as I mentioned in last post, I think controlling the presentation probably is more important most of the time. But there are times where I still see a certain bait profile, jig with more sparkle, dull or flashier hair jig seems to trigger bites better. One of best examples I can remember is a couple of winters ago there was a school of fish loosely scattered and suspended in a protected bay I mess around in a lot in the winter when weather is bad. Away from this school of fish in other areas of the lake, bait or rigging seemed to matter very little. But this particular school of fish was very finicky. I messed around in there for four or five hours before I finally figured out by switching to a Dude colored Crappie Magnet I could catch 4-5 out of every five fish I dropped on, whereas about any other bait I tried I might catch 1 or 2 out 5. I duplicated this experiment all winter in this particular bay. White crappie on Barkley primarily feed on threadfin shad, log perch, and baby drum. The only thing I can figure is that bay had a bunch of log perch in it and very little of the other two and that color matched the hatch enough to trigger more bites.
Thsnks for your ideas as usual. They’re always helpful.:ThumbsUpQuote:
Originally Posted by pab1981
Curlytail, If you can,t see your bait spin your transducer up 1 click.
Heres and older video that explains in more detail.
works on LVS32 and LVS34
.
https://youtu.be/BZJ1Bi_3x4E?si=VcWlIDnmbvy35-fp