Seeing is Believing by Marc Marcantonio, Page 4

Seeing is Believing by Marc Marcantonio, Page 4

®

Winter 2023

Bluegill suspended

Perch School Weeds

Sand Bass Pair Largemouth

Bluegill Perch Looking Back

Yellow Perch Pair

Single Largemouth

Perch Bluegill Millfoil

Rock Sand Bass Largemouth

Smallmouth on Sonar

just above the bass is key to catching them anytime they are not hugging the bottom.

So, you see fish on your sonar unit, but they won’t bite!

Maybe they are inactive and waiting for better conditions, or maybe they are carp? Lower a camera and know.

No need to worry that using a camera will spook the fish. In most cases the fish are curious and come right up to the camera, or they simply ignore it as if it belonged there. I have even caught bass in deep water vertically dropshotting my plastic worm in front of the camera, and watched the bass eat the worm.

ON YOUR SCREEN

If you have a Lowrance fishfinder you can view your underwater camera directly on the screen of your sonar unit.

There is a video page that can be displayed which gives excellent clarity. This is especially helpful because you can see the Lowrance HDS LIVE or Carbon screens even in bright sunlight since they stop glare.

I use an HDS LIVE 16 on my bow, and a LIVE 12 on the console. Both are gimbal mounted on JohnnyRay swivel mounts, and both units have an HDMI port to directly feed video to my Lowrance unit. With smaller size Lowrance units (including Elite FS models) that don’t have an HDMI port, you can add an RCA type jack as an accessory power cable for the unit.

Being able to display the underwater camera image on the Lowrance screen makes use more convenient and more informational because you can do split screens that show your depth, speed, water temperature, chart, etc. By displaying a split screen with regular sonar, you can see your sonar image and the actual video picture side by side. There is no better way to learn to interpret your sonar images.

With my Lowrance Ghost Trolling motor networked to my sonar, I can sit at the console or at the bow and control the boat movement while searching with the camera by using the autopilot menu directly on my screen. With the Ghost remote control, you can drive the boat from anywhere inside the boat while viewing your camera.

Usually when first learning to use an underwater camera a vertical approach speeds up the learning curve.

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