Last week I hired a guide to take some employees out for a day. Talking fishing all day was well deserved for these guys. One of them had used this guide before so no problem booking him.
Crappie were staging out from the banks; guide would cruise timber in a creek channel and dial us in via livescope to a specific tree that held one or two crappie. I'd say 60% of the fish took the jig immediately and another 10% were coaxed into biting. Some spooked and some didnt eat. This guide has been in front of these high-powered electronics since they hit the market several years ago. He knew his stuff. Pointing out carp, gar, catfish, and then crappies. He was an ace with boat control. It was a great day.
I'd been in a friend's boat with livescope but pinpoint targeting one or two specific fish was not in my what he was looking for. I think the scope helped us find groups of fish.
I learned a couple things with the guide (other than I need a new boat with Livescope !)
1) Jig presentation - we didn't jig. We kept the jig above the fish and let them come to it. If they didn't smack it immediately, a slow rise often triggered them to come up. Even the rise and fall of the waves cause some to spook. I thought this was fascinating to keep the jig stationary. I'm not a seasoned crappie fisherman so maybe this is old news to you guys but good for me to see 'live'.
2) Flatheads and Blues - These fish were a little hard to view on the livescope (since they dont have scales). The guide knew what he was looking for and he helped point them out to use. Often as we approached a tree with a big catfish on it; the big ones were often the surface. They would watch them cruise up and down the timber. They seemed to be a little more skittish than the crappies and would cruise away when the boat got overhead.
A great day on the water and amazing to see a pro work the livescope.
