Northwest Fishing Reports

Has anyone taken a close look at this new system from Garmin? I just heard about it and it looks like a real game changer for small boat sonar tech.

http://sites.garmin.com/en-US/panoptix/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Kind of $$ but not as bad as I would have expected based on what it does - assuming it actually does all it says well. If you dont have a suitable Garmin head unit it looks like it will run around $3000 to get started. I havent found many first hand reports yet though.

Im saving my pennies while waiting for some reports from the field.

I've been following the reports from users on the Panoptix and it sounds truly amazing. The videos have had me drooling for months now.

My bro and I recently decided we should go ahead and up-grade our sonar setup. We currently have a Humminbird 598ci SI HD sidescan setup. It works really well - especially considering the cost - but the screen size is pretty small.

After playing with a bunch of different models at West Marine and other places, I talked him into switching over to the Garmin so we can add a Panoptix ducer. We decided to go all out (for our budget) and get the 10" touch screen GPSMap 7610xsv and the Panoptix PS-21 forward view ducer for the trolling motor. We will get the usual chirp/sidescan/downscan ducer for the transom.

If all goes according to plan we should be picking up the 7610 in a couple of weeks. The Panoptix PS21 wont be available until mid to late Jan. Once I get it all installed I will post some screen shots from on the water if anyone is interested.

Here is a video using the Garmin Panoptix for arctic char fishing by vertically jigging in deep water. This is similar to deep jigging for lake trout.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSrvmL0sjYk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I like that video. I get a chuckle the way that guide talks to those kids

This is one f my favorite vids of the forward view version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_0UjkoCbtw" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The price of the P21 is $999 (side view), P30 $1499 (down), and P 31 $1499(down/side) plus when you add the compatible unit, it is some serious money. I don't think Garmin makes an adapter for the P21(trolling motor mount) to allow it to shoot straight down so it would be a forward/side scan only with no down scan capability?

That's mostly correct but the P21 is real time forward view not side view. The Panoptix units are transducers only and you still need a head unit to go with it. With the P21 you can see the bottom pretty much straight down and forward of the boat out to 150-200 feet or so based on what I have read.

The main difference between the 21 and 31 is that the 31 does electronic scanning with a narrower beam to generate the pretty 3D forward views in addition to the live forward view in the above video. The 31 is also much bigger physically which makes it more difficult to attach to a trolling motor.

I don't really need the pretty 3D forward view. I'm more interested in seeing fish 200 ft in front of the boat in real time with the live forward view and watching them chase my lure. The money I save there is going towards a bigger touch screen and better transom transducer.

List price for the setup I'm going with - 10" touch screen head unit + their best transom mount xducer for chirp/sideview/downview + the Panoptix P21 - works out to about $4300. So far I have found a couple of dealers willing to discount but only about 15% or so at the most. The GPSMap 7610 by itself goes for $2699 list with no xducer.

You can also use the Panoptix with their EchoMAP series of head units. Many of them come with the regular transducer included and can go for as little as $700 including the xducer for a 7" screen but no sideview. So you could get into Panoptix for as little as $1500-$1700.

Just ordered our new sonar chart plotter setup. We went for the Garmin GPSMap 7610xsv with the GT51 chirp/down/sidescan transducer and the Panoptix PS21 forward view transducer. I also added a NMEA 2000 kit to hook up to our Yamaha F115 so we can see fuel flow, RPM, water temp, oil pressure and trim data on the plotter screen. Right now the only engine instrument we have is an analogue tach.

The Panoptix ducer wont be available until the first part of Feb but I'm hoping to get the rest of the goodies here in a week or so and get it installed.

We got a great deal from Brian at BBG Marine online. You need to call him to get the discounted pricing.

Our new Panoptix PS21 forward view transducer arrived today! I will be installing it tomorrow. Just need to wire up a power connector and finish mounting my home brew retractable swivel mount for it. Hopefully I will get to test it out next week.

Here are a couple of poor cell phone shots of the Panoptix install on my home brew mount.

I just got back from my first freshwater test on the PS21. I am very pleased and very frustrated at the same time. Over all - its awesome, but its going to take some time to get used to working with it. Its very different from any sonar I have ever used.

My number one complaint is that my 7610 does NOT record the Panoptix when doing a sonar recording!!! Why? This is a major over site in my opinion. It didn't even occur to me to try recording with my cell phone using the Garmin Helm app. Thats kind of a pain anyway because I use Android and you have to use a separate APP to record anything. On top of that, if you touch the cell phone screen at any time, you mess up what ever the operator is doing with the 7610. Garmin Helm totally controls the 7610 - which is pretty cool sometimes and a nuisance other times.

Its impossible to screen capture anything interesting that may be happening on the Panoptix screen because screen captures take soooooo loooooooong to do. The action is long over by the time you get a screen capture. I managed to get a couple of shots today that show the aftermath but not the good stuff. Frustrating.

On the plus side - the PS21 is pretty much awesome!

I have some questions about the screen views that were dificult to interpret. I'll have to talk to customer service to figure out whats going on with them. Its probably some setting I havent figured out yet. There are a LOT of those.

We were fishing a Spenser lake and its only about 39 ft deep at the max. Unfortunately, the fish mostly stayed home today and refused to come out and play with us. I marked a few very small arches right on the bottom (the chirp did a great job of letting them stand out) and maybe two or three other very small arches in the water column at other times. It was mostly dead water and almost no one was hungry for what we were offering today.

There were two exceptions to that which were pretty cool to see on the screen. When we first got there, we went shallow into an area where there are normally a lot of Lilly pads. Right now they are very small, far apart and still under the water. The stems are maybe 1/8"-1/4" and the pads are maybe 2"-3". They show up really well on the Panoptix. When you are close - 5 to maybe 15 feet depending on gain setting - you can easily see the stems and the pad is a larger, darker blob on top. Further away, you just see the pads and they are impossible to tell from fish - just a blob in the water column - except that they dont move of course.

Within about 1 minute from first dropping the transducer into the water, I saw something just above the bottom in 10 feet of water about 30 feet out, that seemed to be moving slowly away from us. I told my brother to toss his new super lure over there. As he was bringing his lure by that spot we could easily see his lure and then see the fish come up and go for it! He got two hits - which we saw on the screen - and he missed both times! The delayed screen shot I got doesnt do it justice. After that, I couldn't find the fish again and we didnt see another one (that we were sure about) on the Panoptix for a couple of hours.

The second was in deeper water - about 39 feet - and the range was out to 130 feet or so on the screen. My bro's were using power bait and trying for the tiny marks we could see on the bottom with no luck. I was occasionally looking at their gear on the bottom but mostly scanning all around the boat with the PS21. Just when we were giving up for the day, I spotted a nice size dark red blob about 70 feet out and about 15 feet down. It was obviously swimming towards us on a slight angle. We started up and idled towards it trying to see it on the traditional or downviews. We could easily see it begin to go deeper as we got close. It turned and sped away when we were about 15 feet from it and I couldnt find it again. None of my attempted screen shots show the fish!

My home brew swivel mount worked very well. I really like having it right next to the helm position. I was able to mess with the screen with my left hand while turning the PS21 with the right to scan all around the boat. It even looks under the boat to the port side pretty well - but there is a lot of noise from the hull on the upper part of the screen. Our outboard also shows up when looking back to the aft end.

As far as what all shows up on the screen - some lures dont show up at all unless they are very close to the ducer - under 10 feet. Others can easily be seen 60-70 feet away. Top water stuff is invisible. In fact, I didnt see anything until it got well down in the water column - maybe 5 feet or more. Stuff near the surface was invisible. That may just be a setting change, but I dont know yet.

Sometimes you could even see 8# braided fishing line leading down to the lure or bait! At one point my bro had a swivel, a small split shot and a trout hook on a short leader with a small ball of power bait. I could see all three when it was close to the boat and it looked like a larger blob out to maybe 40 feet.

Im really disappointed we didnt actually catch any fish. I really want to see what the targets look like and compare that to the actual fish at different distances and depths. Have to catch one first and my bros let me down. Im off the hook because I was just running the 7610 all day

Tomorrow - weather permitting - we are going out into Puget Sound to see how it works in salt water and at much greater depths.

I'll post some screen shots later if anyone wants to see them....

Im kind of surprised there doesn't seem to be any interest in this. Am I the only nerd fisherman around here ;)

I'll post some Panoptix liveview screen shots any way and then leave it be. You guys dont know what you're missing though

This is a tree underwater off to the side of the boat at Spencer lake. Might have a fish hanging around it but not sure. This is looking under a dock in Gig Harbor. This is with the ducer pointed aft again at spencer. You can see my motor in the water and a lure being reeled in.

Ok, that is really bizzar! I only uploaded 3 shots, and more are showing up - and they are the wrong ones!!!

I'll try again.

This is looking towards the clay banks and the under water cliff and a possible fish or two.

This is a small seal just below the surface about 70 ft out. We fist spotted him about 150 ft out to the right front of the boat just sitting on top.

Last one. This is a diving bird about 25 ft in front of the boat and about 20 ft down. We spotted him much further away and watched him go down to about 80 ft where we lost him. This is him on the way back up.

That's pretty amazing stuff. Have you been able to see bait fish schools in front of the boat? Also, if you were able to, could you tell what direction they were? That seems like it would be a huge advantage.

I talked to the Garmin guy at the sportsman show in Puyallup and it was really interesting, especially when they put it in the 3D mode. Thanks for sharing, that would be helpful to anybody looking to buy. Maybe in a few years for me.

I have the transducer mounted on a pole made from an old trolling motor shaft - see a few posts back. I can turn the transducer in any direction I want to look. So, yes I can tell where the targets are. That seal for example, was out to the right front of the boat and the diving birds were almost dead in front and I saw fish behind the boat at Spencer and off to the side.

As far as bait fish, we didnt see any bait balls or much of any fish at all on the days we went out. That was using the other sonar as well. The water was mostly dead.

The 3D views are rally cool, but you have to have the more expensive PS31 for that. We opted for the smaller, cheaper PS21 and it only does the live view.

If you do a search for Panoptix videos, you will find a bunch that show bait balls with larger fish going after the bait and then going after lures. Really cool stuff!

That was so smart to mount it on a separate pole. I was just locked into thinking you had to mount it to your trolling motor. What a great idea. Thanks for sharing. Very cool.

I just installed a new software update. Turns out there is a compass built into the PS21 transducer. Havent had a chance to try it yet, but it sounds like there will be some sort of display on the chart that will show which direction the transducer is pointing. Im also pretty sure I can touch the screen of the PS21 display if I see an interesting target and mark a waypoint for a fish or what ever I see off in any direction.

Looking forward to trying that out - if the weather ever breaks!