P20 - FISH & BOAT, April 2019 Fishing LIVE Action! By Luke Galea world of marine electronics. It’s truly As dedicated anglers, it’s fairto say that we are continu-ally pushing ourselves, striv-mind-boggling if you actually stopand think about it.I have the 12- ing to catch more fish, larger fish inch Live unit, and all whilst trying to ascertain and I now get a more intimate appreciation and super excited understanding of what is happen- every time I ing beneath the surface of the wa- hit the water. In ter. Whilst a percentage of fisho’s go areas of struc- fishing to simply relax and unwind, ture, I thought I there is absolutely no denying the once knew well, I am fact that we are all there to have our now seeing more detail rods bent, ultimately resulting in a and definition than I have ever more memorable time on the water. seen before. It is allowing me to Whether you are a gun tournamentmake better-informed decisions and angler looking to get an edge over my fishing has improved as a di- your competition, a super keen rec- rect result. I am spending less time reational angler or a mum and dad searching and guessing and more fisho fishing with the family, our ob- time fishing because I am able to jective is always the same – we want delineate more clearly between to catch fish, and plenty of them! structure and fish. In short, I have Companies such as Lowrance aremore faith in what I am seeing on no different. Their forward-think- the display. This is due to the faster ing mentality and their continual processors improving scroll, and pursuit to seek out the best fish- ping speed, allowing for faster chart finding technology on the marketredraws, sonar updates and not com- makes them leaders in this field. pressing images, resulting in a more Notice the copper colour of this barra? Obviously, she has There is absolutely no substitute for clear and crisp return. Not to men- been living amongst the weeds for a while. The FishReveal quality and whilst many anglers are tion a brilliant little feature called function allowed me to see this fish embedded within the prepared to shell out the big bucks FishReveal, but more on that later. weed and allowed me to target her. when purchasing a quality rod and The 7 inch and 9inch units have reel (or several), I personally believe dual-core processors, and the 12 that anglers should be exercising a inch and 16 inch Live units have a some. A 3-in-1 sonar solution, it similar approach to a good quality quad-core processor. The processing combines Lowrance CHIRP sonar fish finder and its ability to find fish power makes a big difference as it with SideScan and DownScan im- for you. It’s all about putting togeth- contributes to overall high perform- aging allowing the angler to search er the pieces of the marine puzzle. ance through smooth and lag-freefish-holding structure with a higher After all, it is another world under operation. level of clarity and target differentia- there, and we need to have faith in The Live units have far superiortion (i.e. structure, fish and bottom our electronics to see the things we processing power composition) with can’t and relay that information back and memory ca- Whether youare a gun tour- awesome live sonar to us. pabilities than nament anglerlooking to getimages. The 3-in-1 The Lowrance HDS Live has been the previous an edge your competi- offers more clarity an absolute revelation since it hit the Carbon units. over and resolution than shelves in October 2018. In fact, I Thelist of in- tion, asuperkeen recreationalStructureScan HD don’t think Lowrance would mind novative sonar angler or amum and dadand allows you to me saying that the HDS series has improvements, fisho fshing with the fami - view multiple an- The middle right of this image easily shows the come forward a long way since their when compared ily,to previous mod-our objective is always the gles at once. arched shadow of a large barramundi. Weed arrival in the market-place in 2009.The Live picks up where the Car-els, is exhaustive. same– we want to catch fish,3-in-1 Active Im-I have found the beds and an old creek channel to the left. bons left off, adding a new range of Whilst I can and plenty of them! aging transducer to distance of the side scan and the in- to be “noise” or debris in the water) outstanding features and live sonar harp on all day be extremely help- credible boat speed that the unit will to give a more comprehensive and views. These units are really break- about these, I would really like to ful, especially in large water bod- still clearly read bottom. Like most accurate interpretation of the “real” ing new ground and pushing theflesh out just a few of my absoluteies such as the stocked barramundisounders, there is also an optionalscenario taking place beneath the boundaries to the next level. favourites which have been game-impoundments (namely Kinchant455kHz for those who want/need towater. This function has HUGE In fact, if we are getting this level changers for me. Dam and Teemburra Dam, Mackay)see past 120 feet. potential in all the areas I fish, both of clarity and definition now, then Active Imaging Transducer where I spend a considerable amount FishReveal fresh and salt, but the arena I have imagine what will be achievable If I could sum Active Imagingof time fishing. FishReveal has got to be my ab-found this to be extremely effective within the next 5-10 years in the up in a word, it would be – awe- Impoundments are such expansive solute favourite function within so far is seeking out the barramundi areas and that in itself can be daunt- the Live unit as it takes out all the amongst the weed beds in Kinchant ing to an angler as they may become guess-work when trying to differ- Dam. overwhelmed with exactly where to entiate between structure and fish, These weed beds would show up concentrate their efforts. particularly when fish are hard up in, as large masses in other units and Active Imaging allows the angler or concealed completely within the on the standalone sonar setting. You to see further in order to locate structure. sure as heck could not see the fish structure and fish. It is perfect for This is a massive attribute in your amongst them that’s for sure. Barra locating fish-holding areas such as favour when compared to normalfishing in the dams during Winter rocky outcrops, timber stands, chan- sonar or the outputs displayed bycan be a bit trickier than summer, nels, drop-offs and weed beds, and less powerful units on the market. but I’m thinking that FishReveal picks up this structure at a longer It does this by boosting solid sonar will be worth its weight in gold range than any other structure im- returns from the fish’s swim bladder Continued next page aging technology. and eliminating weaker ones (likely In order to obtain this level of clar- Below: Splitting the screen allows you to interrogate the Don’t have the upgraded C-MAPS card? ity without having to sacrifice range, waterway in more detail. The SideScan image (bottom right) Never mind - the Genesis Live function the guys at Lowrance have played clearly shows what the recently deployed artificial habitat allows you to create your own live contour around with the bandwidths andlooks like under the water. FishReveal (bottom left) differen- maps of the waterway you are fishing. different transducer casings to get the very best out of the unit. tiates fish from “noise” with the solid yellow returns. They intentionally opted not to go with 1200kHz Mega-imaging be- cause what they could achieve with the 800kHz whilst still keeping its range was amazing. For the new players, increasing the kilohertz (kHz) certainly increases clarity but often comes at a reduc- tion in range. With the Live units, Lowrance have enhanced the power and clarity of the 800kHz setting without reducing the units ability to see greater distances. The Active Imaging 3-in-1 trans- ducer replaces the TotalScan and DownImaging with FishReveal certainly LSS-2 in previous units, and the delineates the fish (shown as solid yellow tweaked crystal placement and soft- arches) from the timber beneath the boat. ware advances in the Live improves