Paul Mueller unloaded a wealth of knowledge just now on Bassmaster LIVE. Most of it was the well deserved accolades he spoke of about the Garmin Panoptix technology and specifically, the LAKEVU HD mapping that displays details down to one-foot contours. What intrigues me the most is just how dialed in he is to interpreting the details of an area when he arrives.
“First, I can see whether or not fish are there and then on the LiveScope just how the fish are behaving,” he explained.
LiveScope is live, real-time scanning sonar that allows the viewer to actually see a lure being retrieved and even a fish following it.
“The benefits are I can see around the spot and tell whether or not the fish are set up the right way, instead of having to waste time trying it out with a lure.”
In other words, whether or not it’s worth the time to drop a lure in at all, or just move on to the next spot.
What else Mueller is doing is a mystery that we’ll soon find out about.
“I’ve got areas where they set up and don’t spook,” he added. “I’m dialed into a certain deal on how to read the maps that are high percentage areas where the fish won’t spook when I catch one from the school.”
Typically, when you catch one fish from a school it sends a warning to the others, making them difficult to catch until they settle back down. That consumes valuable fishing time. Obviously, Mueller is confident that he doesn’t have that to worry about.
Lastly, he made a key switch from fishing a suspended jig to a swimbait fished on the bottom.
“Before, these fish are smart and could look up on the bait, see it, and with the swimbait they don’t have that chance because it’s on the bottom,” he added.