Panoptics PS21

[ifishinxs]

I just picked one up and installed it yesterday. Crazy how my main menu changed once the PS21 powered up.

I'm fishing with it tomorrow. Its attached to my 93SV. Anything I need to know before it hits the water, adjustments or settings that work best.
Im pretty excited to put the Panoptics to work.

[3dogdare]

Maybe bring an extra cooler for all the fish

[LWINCHESTER2]

I really like using it with a 2 panel screen. I set the left side to the 2d Traditional sonar and the right side to Panoptix LiveVu FOrward. Depending on the terrain sometimes I use a manual depth for the Panoptix just to keep it from jumping around if I'm in an area with widely varying terrain. If the terrain is pretty consistent auto depth works fine. I don't like the scroll history so I choose HIDE for it. With the 2d panel on the left it's not needed and it doesn't work as well. Gain -Auto Medium. Grid Overlay SHOW, Noise reject LOW. I leave bottom fill off now, but when I first started using it I preferred to have it ON. Start with a range of 100 ft and work from there. Trails start with Medium and then change to Fast or Slow depending on your preference.

Go get'um.

[mean_dean]

I just got my 93SV with PS21 mounted up and am eagerly awaiting the trip to the lake on Saturday, thanks for the tips.

[GetReel]

One thing I have noticed with my 21 is that it works better the deeper you go. The clearer the water, the better the image as well.
when you get to 8, 9 or even 10' deep and beyond, in water clarity greater than 5', It really is a game changer!
I am still learning with it myself and I do struggle to pick up fish that are laying on the bottom. But if they come up slightly, I can pick them up.
It doesnt work in every situation and I have to keep reminding myself of that, but when the conditions are right, its a thing of beauty!

[ifishinxs]

Holy cow!
I motor up to within 60 ft of the dam. Drop the trolling motor down. Point it at the Dam and its an aquarium in front of me. I can see fish swimming around on the screen. Toss out my Ned rig and watch as it slowly sinks to the bottom and watch this moving red blob follow it down, set the hook and fish on. This took all of 2 minutes. Ridiculous!

[MonteSS]

So I guess you like it?

[WSfishin]

Holy cow!
I motor up to within 60 ft of the dam. Drop the trolling motor down. Point it at the Dam and its an aquarium in front of me. I can see fish swimming around on the screen. Toss out my Ned rig and watch as it slowly sinks to the bottom and watch this moving red blob follow it down, set the hook and fish on. This took all of 2 minutes. Ridiculous!

What settings and distance????

[ifishinxs]

Is you can tell I hated seeing fish in real time

Leonard pretty much nailed the settings. I'm still messing with what works best. I found it worthless in shallow areas with lots of weed growth but fantastic in deeper water. I have to wonder why even have a standard type transducer when you can go LIVE. Now I need one to face down at the stern or better yet live side-scan

when you can cruise down a bank and see what's in front of you below the surface, it's nuts. Its just crazy to watch suspended bluegill swim to the bottom as the boat gets closer. Grebes swimming underwater chasing small fish was interesting.

[TrackerPT175TXW]

[QUOTE=ifishinxs;8485377]Is you can tell I hated seeing fish in real time

Leonard pretty much nailed the settings. I'm still messing with what works best. I found it worthless in shallow areas with lots of weed growth but fantastic in deeper water. I have to wonder why even have a standard type transducer when you can go LIVE. Now I need one to face down at the stern or better yet live side

Not seeing that with PS-31 :( What depth do you consider deep?

[LWINCHESTER2]

One thing I have noticed with my 21 is that it works better the deeper you go......when you get to 8, 9 or even 10' deep and beyond........

I keep forgetting how the rest of the world fishes. The only time I'm in 10ft of water is to launch and load the boat. Today the fish were 60-80.

Now I need one to face down at the stern or better yet live side-scan

That one is called PS30.

What depth do you consider deep?

Around 90-100 ft. Real deep for me is 150 because at that depth, even with a stiff rod, braided line, etc when I catch one jigging I was just lucky. Real hard to feel a bite with that much line out. While it's advertised no stretch, when you have out 150 ft it stretches enough to make jigging tough.

[ifishinxs]

10ft to 40ft plus is deep and even 50 ft in winter and late summer. PS30 is next.

[Larry3215]

Ive used mine in 2ft to 3 ft of weed choked fresh water = almost useless other than to know how deep it is shortly ahead of the boat when transiting a shallow canal to a pike lake. I had to raise the motor and the PS21 stick up to clear the bottom, but we made it in and out safely = more so than we would have without the PS21 looking ahead of the boat.



We've also used in in salt water to well over 200 ft with success salmon and halibut fishing and everywhere in between including fast moving rivers.

Clean, open water is by far the best bet though.





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[LWINCHESTER2]

Larry. Your second pic is something people really need to pay attention to. In shallower water the fish show red. In that deep water they are not red, but it's still fish.

[Larry3215]

If its a strong enough return, it can still be red, but it takes a big, solid target. Individual fish wont do it but a large, dense school will or something like a seal or sea lion.

I didnt capture it (because of that irritating delay with Garmin screen captures), but that small blob at around 125 ft near the surface was a seal diving on that school of herring. That school of herring had some salmon or maybe sea run cutthroat attacking them and the seal was after the bigger fish. You can see some red mixed into the herring ball, but the seal also flashed red off and on while diving. He was moving fast, so he was hard to keep up with and would appear and disappear on the screen.



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