Anyone Doing This? Transom mount livescope used during idling?

[TohoRookie]

Saw on Milliken Fishing. I'd guess he has it facing forward, and stops before he gets to the fish he sees. Seems pretty slick, I'd never seen LS used while boat was moving.
Almost time for a new boat, and this is one of the things I'd consider. So long as y'all don't say that there's not any reason to do so.
Also, can transom mount transducers be easily adjusted to face down from forward?

[Fishysam]

I wouldn't think it would be easy to switch while on the water. I could see it as object avoiding as well as seeing fish, however to see fish more than 30' out they need to be somewhat off the bottom and are your target fish doing that? Crappies will, will spots/largemouth/smallmouth ?

[Kulibin]

My boat is moving. Look at the boat icon ... I deploy the sensor on the go.
View range 40 feet ...

[Genec]

i have been using mine on tm and turning tm on a 45 degree to boat and setting LS at 110 feet out and seeing brush piles with fish on it while i am running big motor slow with my 122 garmin at front,could not do it with old box.i saw a pile that was half off screen at 110 feet so it will pick up the brush with fish on it at atlease 110 feet,i do not turn it 90 degrees because i do not want tm turn that far side ways while running big motor and also i wonder if i would go by the object too fast that way

[LWINCHESTER2]

I do it all the time searching for schools of fish or bait. Force works spectacular for this. Stays pointed where you point it. Most of my banks are quite steep and irregular. Much easier seeing fish than SI against the background of the bottom. Turning trails on helps. When fishing, I turn trails off, but for searching, trails on. I'm running a 16 in screen and for searching quiet often I'll run the range out to 120ft. Works great for any schooling fish including spotted bass. I generally see them in pods of 8-12 although sometimes I'll see 20 or 30 together. It's a blast.

[TohoRookie]

Just wanted to revisit this. Electronics are the only dilemma I have with boat setup. I think this could be far more valuable than Downscan, and would be will be to give up the screen space for it. Just have a sliver of 2-d to catch what I'm rolling over to go with the LS on one unit....and Sidescan and Mapping on the other.

I think what y'all are saying is I might not need a transom mount to do this...just drop the trolling motor and idle and have the LS connected to the console as well. Is that correct?

[PJ-Rohlf]

Aaron (Uncut angling on yt) has it set up and has a bunch of videos with it. I think he actually has a transom mount and another one at the bow

[Chief Brody]

had mine clamped to the transom with a rotating mount and used it for facing forward to follow depth contours while trolling on un-mapped lakes, and also pointed towards shore behind the boat at 45 degrees to follow my bait while trolling. worked great.

[TohoRookie]

Thanks, excellent info...I will check out the youtube.

CB,
what mount did you use? Would like to check that out.

[Chief Brody]

A gutted electric trolling motor.

$30 on craigslist. cut the motor off the bottom, keep the head unit on to aim or remove it for something smaller.

[jbird68]

A gutted electric trolling motor.

$30 on craigslist. cut the motor off the bottom, keep the head unit on to aim or remove it for something smaller.

I am picking up a Panoptix PS22 Transducer in a couple weeks on my way to Northern Wisconsin. In the meantime I had an old Minn-Kota 35W trolling motor hanging in my garage I got from my dad. It had one speed that was not working anyway. I unscrewed the motor from the bottom and disconnected all the wires and pulled off the handle from the top of the shaft. I am using the bracket to mount my PS22 on. I made a mini transom board and drilled a 1 inch hole in the bottom or it. Then I had a shaft made in the tool room at work out of plastic. the shaft goes in the hole in the bottom of the board and then fits into the Attwood flush mount rod holder on the rails of my boat. I have 5 flush mount holders in the boat. So, I can move the PS22 to 5 different positions on the boat. I have a EchoMap 73sv at the console and a EchoMap 73dv at the bow of my boat. they are not plus models so I am limited to just Panoptix...no livescope.

After mounting the trolling motor bracket I see the shaft is not quite long enough to reach the water at the bow. I ended up buying a new trolling motor shaft from a Minn-Kota dealer close by ($30 for 54" composite shaft). The shaft needed to be 1-1/8" diameter to fit in to the old bracket. Now I just have to wait a few weeks to get it all set up. Still trying to figure out what to use for a directional indicator on the top of the new shaft. I don't want to use the old trolling motor controls.

[Chief Brody]

I didn’t know you could buy just a shaft. $30 is a decent price for it, too

any ‘ol thing that you can clamp on to or run thru the top of the shaft would work for a handle

[jbird68]

I made a handle it of PVC. 3/4” elbow, 3/4" end cap and short piece of 1" pipe. I had to drill out one end of the elbow to fit over the 1-1/8" diameter shaft. I used a spade drill and centered it as close as I could. Got the drill press on the lowest speed I could get it. Then I glued the PVC pieces together. Sanded the pvc with 220 grit sandpaper and painted it all black. I drilled a hole in the end of the elbow I made the opening bigger and placed it on the shaft. Then I drilled a cross hole through the shaft and put a 10-32 stainless steel bolt through it to fasten it to the shaft. Turned out pretty nice.

[MikeF]

PVC makes a decent pole for stationary use.

If underway, the pvc will bend depending on speed.


Only drawback of moving with an actual Tmotor shaft is when you hit something, say a stump.

Not very forgiving like pvc.

[Wayne P.]

PVC makes a decent pole for stationary use.

If underway, the pvc will bend depending on speed.


Only drawback of moving with an actual Tmotor shaft is when you hit something, say a stump.

Not very forgiving like pvc.

Schedule 80 PVC is quite stiff in less than 5' lengths in the diameter that equals a trolling motor shaft. I use it sometimes instead of the trolling motor shaft depending on what the application is. This is the MAXXUM transom bracket and shaft with a SI transducer attached.