Live sonar and jigging

[BeechRockFarm]

Hello all,

 

First time poster here, but have been reading for years dreaming of the day in which I’d have a boat of my own. 
 

That day has come and I’m in the process of deciding how to outfit the boat. 
 

I’d to focus on lake trout jigging and deeper water panfish, and think that the live sonar systems could really be helpful. I was wondering if anyone has first hand experience using either of the three brands, I’m leaning towards Garmin at the moment. 

[Copperliner]

I really enjoy using my Garmin, very user-friendly.  I once added a Panoptix PS30 transducer for lake trout jigging, but find that traditional 2D honestly works plenty well enough to find fish and easily view the jig.  I use a GT15 transducer.   

 

Teasing a school of perch in the top pic, stack of lake trout in the other...  

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by Copperliner

[Followed The Waves]

Yeah, pretty much what Copperliner said, especially on the 2D sonar.  I have 2 Humminbird Helix 5 FF's.  One is the fancier version---down imaging, mapping, chirp, whatever…  I'm not very impressed with it despite working through every possible setting.  It's up in my flybridge and I watch it mostly for the mapping feature.  For vertical jigging off the back of the boat, I have a plain Jane 2D sonar Helix 5.  I think I paid 185 bucks for it or so and it works great for watching my jig and the Lakers snubbing it.  In the photo below, you can see my jig descending diagonally through the cloud of bait and a Laker or 2 coming up to give it a sniff and then head back down to the bottom to sit in the mud and wait for Nick to come by. 

 

[MXFisher]

I agree with what has been said, 2D is sonar is all you need. I’m relatively new to jigging for lakers, and it didn’t take long to turn it in to video game fishing. Getting your settings right is key, but not difficult. Plenty of online info about it. You can clean up you pic pretty well, and the setting that I think is most important for jigging is chart speed. I run it as fast as it will go. This is a Helix 7 GN3, and you can see fish hugging the bottom and also chasing my jig.

 

 

[REEL STORIES]

You can't go wrong with 2d. I have all Garmin including panoptics. It's a great tool but not necessary in all honesty. It's nice to know how far off or back a fish can be where traditional doesn't generally allow you to see that information as the cone will read a target but which direction, who knows. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyways, Garmin UHD units are a great bang for the buck. Currently on sale at west marine and bass pro for big savings. 7 and or 9 inch screen is plenty with transducer. If you find one with a gt54, no worries it will do the same job. 

 

 

 

And if you decide to upgrade. The networking Is easy. 

 

 

 

Nick