Livescope/Conservation question

bluball said:

I think everybody and there mommas are getting it.You would be surprised if you saw how many are selling locally and people that stop by asking questions about livescope that they have bought somewhere else.Also lots of bass guys wanting to convert to crappie fishing its unreal.

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local bass guys wont matter much, most cant catch a 15lb limit. i think the crappie are safe.

my count last year was about 1 in 4 livescope boats on the water. honestly i havent been on the water much this year to notice so there may be an uptick in them, but i dont fish on the north end anymore. its always gotten hammered up there anyway.

scn said:

"MANY" years ago, the top fisheries biologist school in the country was probably Auburn University. At the time, we were all taught, from Auburn research, that sport fishing had little if any impact on any sportfish population.

It didn't take too many years for that thought process to go by the wayside.

Letting folks do what they want to means mega $$$$$ to wildlife agencies. If I had to make a guess, there won't be any adjustment to this new technology until it is almost past the point of no return. We have seen this agency/commission level thought process throughout the country with the decline in turkeys.

The new tech stuff wasn't a big deal for a while because it was super expensive, and not many folks were using it. Once it becomes the norm rather than the exception, you WILL see fish populations go down the toilet. All of you in here, including the ones now using that tech, know that the increased pressure is not sustainable.

I guess enjoy it while you can??

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maybe but i remember a couple of years ago we had a discussion on here and elsewhere where folks was claiming the asian carp was eating baitfish when the baitfish disappeared that first year. most werent paying attention to the freezing weather we had that winter and all of the bait kills. thats when they had the meeting in paris from the hysteria and some fishermen were calling for a 12" length creel like in mississippi. broadbent and fiss actually did their jobs and dissuaded that notion. it could have been disasterous for ky lake if they had per an exact study on the subject from tennessee tech. the "feel good" creel change didnt have an effect except bringing a state wide creel limit more in line. two years later the bait fish was back with a vengeance and the crappie and bass spawns somewhat better.

i was watching an nwtf presentation last night where by their data the turkey population had started declining somewhat in 1985, while they were still stocking. then he said there was a larger decline in the last 20 years or so, since about 2004. i was thinking today how that related to fishing on ky lake. two commonalities, weather and habitat. its probably a culmination of many different things and will probably have to be solved nationally with all state agencies working together. that said i dont think reaping, decoy spreads or other tech are a major cause of the problem. im just wondering if turkeys are not a sustainable resource and will need a restocking program again in the future?

one thing is for sure, there is a little more crappie than a few years ago, seems like a little less asian carp and ive seen a bunch of young poults in the fields around the house. sometimes i think we need to look up from our tech sometimes and take notice.

i have no use for the politics of the commission. my old supervisor was a commissioner, she was a drunk who sometimes sauger fished and friends with ray bell was about all of her qualifications.

WTM said:

local bass guys wont matter much, most cant catch a 15lb limit. i think the crappie are safe.

my count last year was about 1 in 4 livescope boats on the water. honestly i havent been on the water much this year to notice so there may be an uptick in them, but i dont fish on the north end anymore. its always gotten hammered up there anyway.

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Anyone can catch them with livescope if they put alittle work into it,its that easy.Definately wouldnt count the bass guys converting to crappie with livescope out.Theres even guys catching 50-100 redear in the summer in a couple hours using livescope.Hanging out with customers while working with my buddy you would be amazed at the pics of all the fish they are catching.

I must be the worst fisherman ever. I have a live scope and still cant catch a limit!

bluball said:

Anyone can catch them with livescope if they put alittle work into it,its that easy.Definately wouldnt count the bass guys converting to crappie with livescope out.Theres even guys catching 50-100 redear in the summer in a couple hours using livescope.Hanging out with customers while working with my buddy you would be amazed at the pics of all the fish they are catching.

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yeah for a certain area but once those are fished then folks are like until someone tells them more spots or they get lucky. lakes like ky lake probably wont have a problem but these small lakes will probably get hammered. two things about most human beings, laziness and greediness.

thats another point that needs to be addressed and that is endorcement and creel checks. imo, twra doesnt do enough of but then again their hands are tied for now, i imagine with the new acts and bills that john stevens is trying to pass. creel checks without a warrant might be the norm especially if a poacher with a little money can find another liberal judge that hates law enforcement to side with him.

live scope looks like it takes most of the fun out of it to me.They don't allow drones to hunt with. Why live scope to fish. ?

I'm afraid livescope and it's "effect" will be kind of like what social media hunting shows have done to hunting. Sure some people can watch those shows, maybe get a little useful info, apply it if needed and keep trucking. They'd probably eventually get it down regardless. On the other hand, some watch the crap religiously, and couldn't do/buy squat without just copying whatever *insert gimmicky sounding outdoors channel name here* says they should do/buy. You then have to share the woods with these googans and deal with their shenanigans.

I don't think it gets touted as this magic device that gurentees success, but let's not fool ourselves into thinking that's what the average person who buys/wants one is hoping for and lots of it. I don't mind DIE HARD fisherman(novice or pro) catching fish or learning how to catch them, it's when the TRY HARD crowd shows up and messes with the "art" of doing a thing that drives me nuts!

To add to the 2 fisherman 1 brush pile example, I imagine that happens A LOT but, that same scenario can happen without livescope. I've fished sxs with friends. Same bait, line,etc. and it just seems some days they like it a certain way. Do you think after the guy who knows current gets his limit the scoper won't be over there trying? Or the next day and every day after because he now knows he saw someone catch a limit there. All the while he's on that side trying to figure it out, that other side of the pile won't stay empty, it will be used by someone else whose watching him.

Live scope does give an advantage to some who just do not need to have it IMO. We will be seeing a generation of younger fisherman who know no other way and think it's the best thing ever same as they do with cell phones, fb, etc. The "old way" will be so far removed that they know it all because the screen says so.



More power to whoever uses, has,likes,needs,or wants them but I'm afraid they will do more harm than good when we look back on them 20 years from now. At least that's my fear, far fetched as it may seem to some.

Crappie are prolific breeders and grow really fast in good conditions. That's why I think they haven't seen much impact on their creel surveys and all.

But as others have said, I am pretty certain the technology used in turkey hunting has caused a lot of decline. Plus there are too many turkey hunters because of social media.
Crappie fishing may have the same thing happening to it when everyone has a livescope. And with the livescope plus, spider rigging into schools of crappie just got that much easier.

I do not think livescope is cheating by no means. Not yet anyways. But I do see how it can create an unfair advantage.

By the way, I have a livescope, and I can't catch a fish with it period no matter what species. Haha

One thing for sure that was reinforced again this morning is you might can find them and see them but if they won't eat that don't mean squat.

If it wasn't for @cbhunter I would have went hungry tonight!

woodsman04 said:

By the way, I have a livescope, and I can't catch a fish with it period no matter what species. Haha

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You aren't alone. I fished with a guy Thursday that is a livescope guru. He is just phenomenal. We caught keeper #30 at 11:20. There were 2 guys in another boat livescoping in the same area we were in all morning. We loaded up at the same time. They had 2. The learning curve is real.

It is a "tool" under the right conditions that can make a terrible fisherman look like a pro! It by all means is not a guarantee tho....as mentioned if they aint interested you're not gonna put them in the box!!
Friday I fished by myself (before all the lake lice showed up) and pulled over 100 fish out of the water and the best time I can remember....crappie on every piece of structure I pulled up. I stopped keeping track when my clicker jumped numbers on me at 63. Kept a limit but it took me biggest part of the day fighting with the 9.5" fish. Still fun tho!!
Saturday I cleaned 5 and today I cleaned 4......
It is a big learning curve that I think most will not take the time to master. I still get the "thats cheating" comments at the cleaning station when they stop to see how I did.
If the big 4 in MS can sustain with the amount of guiding going on plus hobby fisherman I think things will be fine.

Friend of mine on Grenada lake with livescope yesterday. His first trip to Grenada, and he and his GF only kept those over 1.5lbs.

I asked if they were on structure or ledges... he said neither. Just suspended 8ft down in 12 ft water on large flats. Found them with the livescope.

He just got the livescope a couple months ago, so learning curve must not be too difficult?

megalomaniac said:

Friend of mine on Grenada lake with livescope yesterday. His first trip to Grenada, and he and his GF only kept those over 1.5lbs.

I asked if they were on structure or ledges... he said neither. Just suspended 8ft down in 12 ft water on large flats. Found them with the livescope.

He just got the livescope a couple months ago, so learning curve must not be too difficult?

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I had almost zero problems figuring it out.
Couple videos on YouTube and done.

I dont worry much about the populations although I wouldn't be suprised if they took some sort of hit in the future. I wouldn't think that's something you're going to see the effects of for a while. For me it's more about the amount of pressure they get now. No different than over pressured deer on public. Every single day tons of people right on top of them trying everything they can think of throwing the kitchen sink at them.

Someone posted in the seek1 thread something about we don't have hunters any more we have shooters. It's kind of the same thing here. People don't want to fish they want to catch. Instant gratification. Population #s will be fine because they may eventually get wise to what we're doing and not bite as much lol.

Again, if people want or need them, then more power to you. Lots of the people 30+ years of age are mind blown and never thought they'd see anything like it. Everyone younger is already looking foward to whatever tops it. It could be a slippery slope. I don't need a computer, camera, or whatever to tell me exactly where a deer is at that moment so I can try to kill it, same applies to fishing *for me*. I don't think of it as cheating it's just not something that really does anything for me.