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That's a tough call as I haven't seen the pro's in person yet. From my understanding, they can handle multiple active imaging transducers so you can a forward and down or forward and scout at the same time where the live would only allow for one at a time. With the 2nd active target transducer you can unlock a few new views like scout wide view and the 180* view that looks both forward, backwards, and down at the same time. I believe in order to do this you need a second at module along with the transducer so that's a big chunk of change right there. If you want to move up to structure scan HD you'll have to have the module regardless of which series it's used on as well so there's really no advantage there either. Screen resolution on both units are also identical so they'll be equally as clear. Keep in mind that Structure Scan HD, Active Target, Active Target 2, and the Ghost are all compatible with the HDS Carbon, HDS Live, and HDS Pro. If you wanted to run Active Target 2 on a HDS Live you can go that route and still have just as clear of a picture on the screen. I'm thinking if you're not planning on running more than 1 Active Target transducer the Live would be the better deal.

That's a good deal for that unit as they're just clearing out the older models now that the HDS Pro is coming out. The active imaging 3 in 1 is not the same as the active target which is the forward facing sonar. The 3 in 1 has side scan, down scan, and traditional 2d sonar built into one transducer. To use that unit for active target (forward facing) you'll need to buy either the original active imaging (the transducer and module) or wait and get active target 2, the newest version. Good deals can be had on the original active target right now since it's also getting cleared out for the newer version. It should be around the $1,200 ballpark.

There are a lot of really surprising responses in this thread. It's interesting to get a glimpse inside of everyone else's head about what they like and dislike and how it differs from my own preferences.

Wow! That's quite the school there!

Very nice! Looks like a sweet rig that will help you catch many bass!

Haha popped up as a suggested video a week or so ago and I had to take a look. I think the video pretty much proves that in fact there can be too much of a good thing lol

I don't know that I've actually retired any as I like playing with different ways to catch fish. If it's a technique I've heard a lot about and I'm not catching fish with it I usually attribute it to user error. One that's on the back burner and has been for probably 5+ years is the flutter spoon. I'm sure it catches fish so it would be user error on my part. Maybe I should bust that one out this year and give it another go.

I saw who put the video out there and and didn't even bother to watch. So much crap comes out of that guys mouth it's not worth watching the video in my opinion. I saw who put the video out there and and didn't even bother to watch. So much crap comes out of that guys mouth it's not worth watching the video in my opinion.

Although your boat is longer and wider, it sounds like your setup is leaving a little on the table. a lot of reports I'm seeing are showing numbers in the upper 30's and low 40's with the 75.

My thoughts exactly the first time I saw something on it. An unpegged Texas rig will accomplish the same thing. It is possible with the ring on the weight it might let the weight slide a little faster than a Texas rig would letting the weigh separate from the bait just slightly more. I'd have to take a look at it in an aquarium to see if that distance is significant or not.

I really like the Trokar Weedless Wacky hook generally in 2/0. The weed guard is stiff enough to do an adequate job of keeping it wheedles, but are soft enough they don't interfere with hookups. It's worked really well for me so I don't have a reason to switch currently. If I threw a Neko rig more, maybe then I would as I could buy one hook to cover both applications instead of having to buy two separate hooks.

This one is a tough pick for me since I was bouncing around a few possible options, but I'm going to go with a Texas rigged D-Bomb in Super Bug. We'll see if that ends up being the case or not.

In my personal experience I've seen the opposite effect. If the baits are missing something I seem to get less bites on them. It could just be a confidence thing for me too, but anymore if a bait loses a major appendage it goes into the scrap pile unless it's my last one, or it got ripped off from getting bit. I'll usually make another quick cast or two to the same spot if I don't have anything similar rigged up in hopes of at least putting something in front of the fish before it moves.

Not sure I own a rod that doesn't pull double duty. Technique specific rods are great at their intended use, but most of them are pretty good at other things too.

Last year was the first year in a looong time that I actually kept a log since my friend wanted to do one to share information. I didn't get to fish as much last year as normal, but I totaled 90 trips. In recent years I usually average over 100. Not sure how 2023 will end up as I do have some DIY house reno work planned, but maybe I can focus on getting the shell up and do the rest of the finishing work over the never-ending winter. Not sure how my girlfriend will feel about that....but we'll see.

Kick'n Bass has some pretty potent scents and anise/shad is one of my favorite. It last the longest when it's applied to a bait and has time to dry a little. I'd give that a shot.

Active Target is fine to run on the same battery as your head units. As long as you have good power and good connections you'll have great images. As far as running AT at a higher voltage, you can run it at 12V or 24V. From a few screen shot's I've seen elsewhere on the interwebs I really see no difference at the higher voltage. I saw a video a while ago on doing the same with livescope and you can take a look for yourself.

I'm sure guys have done that before. Before making a permanent change put the battery up there and run it to see what happens. Regardless, depending on how your boat runs you might want to consider having some prop work done or run an entire different prop all together. There's a lot of reports out there about people losing speed when switching to lithium batteries like woody's above. A lot of that has to do with prop design and the relationship to balance/leverage. Generally speaking props with more blade area create more stern lift and props with more rake tend to generate more bow lift. A boat that's set up properly and runs well with weight in the back may suffer when the weight is removed due to too much upward force on the transom which in turn pushes the bow down.

For the UHD's you'll need the black box as well so it'd be about $1,200 to upgrade. For that price, there were a few packaged deals out there with the older LVS 32 livescope transducer where you could get the whole system including transducer, black box, and another Echomap UHD 93sv for $1,700

Congratulations on the new ride! I feel your pain though, I can't stand the wait! Even though I'm not waiting for the first trip in a new rig, I just can't wait to get back out the water. I have laundry list of things I want to do to mine, but it's currently sitting in an unheated storage and it was also in the -20* range here this morning so I can't even get it ready to go until it starts to warm up.

My study shows they work equally well on both shad based fisheries and non. There are only a few bodies of water up here that are shad based fisheries, the rest are all bluegill, perch, or minnow based. I've had really good success in all of them with the slow sink jerkbaits. I think it just triggers a reaction regardless of the forage base because it looks like an easy meal.

Why not just use the regular 100% fluorocarbon then? The XL seems to have a bit more of a rubber band effect than the regular 100% but otherwise they seem pretty similar in my experience.

I use mine for shakey heads, 3.8 swimbaits either on and open jig head or with a belly weighted swimbait hook, smaller texas rigs, wacky worms, finesse jigs, etc. As stated they'd make good topwater rods too, I just don't use them for that since I have them both spooled up with fluoro.

It's been a few years now. My PB smallmouth came back in September of 2015 she was #5 even PB Largemouth was in September of 2018 and she weighed just fractions over 7 lbs. 5 oz. One of my goals for the upcoming season is to catch a new PB smallie. Our tournament schedule has a 2 day tourney on a body of water that I feel like that's a very real possibility and I also have a trip planned with a friend to another body of water that is known for some very large smallies. Not sure if I'll ever catch one the size of those "menderchuck" brown bass though! It might be a while before I can break the largemouth PO again though. I'm sure there's a few bigger swimming up here somewhere, but they're very few and far between.

Using a regular knot is fine, but as stated already, it's very light twitches. Basically twitching is just enough to tighten up slack and then immediately reverse the rod tip and give the line slack. If you don't, it won't allow the frog to continue to turn so it will basically pull the bait back straight and it won't walk.