Fishing’s Version of Gaming

Video games make me neurotic. I get so anxious, I need to win because I am hypercompetitive. Getting bombs dropped on me, having mouths chase me or the bouncing imaginary ping pong ball all make me sweat.

You can only imagine what I think about all the electronics on the boat. I’d rather leave them to the professionals but going out on the water, not knowing where I am or what is under the water or where the fish are, I have found the need to ask question after question.

“What does this do?”

“What’s that for?”

“What are we looking at?”

Recently I learned about forward facing sonar and have found my video game of choice. The only thing that would make me neurotic about this game would be if I see the fish come to my bait and I screwed the pooch on the hookset.

Garmin’s version is called Livescope. Humminbird has MEGALive and Lowrance offers Active Target.

Forward facing sonar shows you what is beneath the water but IN FRONT of your boat. Seeing cover, such as trees, brush and rock, which may be holding fish is a huge advantage. Making the fish eat, that’s the hard part. If you see fish, throw at them and they have no interest, you can move on. But if you see fish and they move toward your bait, GAME ON.

My game was played on Livescope (which Pete has on his boat as well), with ace instructor Chad Morgenthaler of FutureCast Academy and now when Pete asks if I want to run the trolling motor he may be surprised at my answer.

Click on the video below to check out what Livescope looks like, a little bit about how it works and all the fun we had finding and catching fish. If you’d like a personalized lesson contact Chad directly.