Livescope fishing: fascinating but controversial
21/8/2025
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
Pictures: Lorenz Keller
Staring at a screen instead of taking in the landscape. Fishing with real-time imagery is fascinating, but also highly controversial – and sometimes even prohibited.
No phone, no computer. When I’m by the water, I do nothing but fish. Instead, I slow down and relax. It’s almost like meditating. It’s screen-free time, so I’m not checking the news, scrolling through social media, nor can I be reached. At least that was the case until my trip to Hamburg.
When I went fishing guiding with Pro-Guiding.de (page in German), I spent the whole evening looking at a 10-inch screen. I could see the structure under the water, my bait and the fish – almost like a video game.
Using Livescope in the Port of Hamburg
The guide drives slowly through the port of Hamburg and turns the transducer. That’s a pole with transmitting and receiving elements attached to the side of the boat and dangling into the water. It acts as an underwater camera that sends live images to the screen. We can see what’s in front of the transducer, as you would with a video camera.
The first step is to interpret the images on the display. Fish are easy to make out, but it takes practice to tell apart the similarly sized bream and zander. The second challenge is to approach the moving fish in a way that the boat is right next to it and the bait is wriggling seductively just above its head.
The guide catches over a hundred zander that evening. My job is to lower the bait at the right moment, bring it to the right height and move it slightly. The reaction of the fish is clearly visible on the screen. Some zander are indifferent, others swim off. Some take a quick look and then turn away.
When one of them stops just below the bait and slowly creeps up on it – almost like a cat sneaking up on a mouse – the tension grows. The zander could attack at any time and suck in the bait with negative pressure. It’s in these moments when I have to mentally disengage with the screen. I need to strike when I feel the pull on the fishing rod, not when it happens on the display.
Fishing technology under fire
This real-time fishing technique is highly controversial, even amongst anglers. In fact, the controversy has gone so far that the canton of Obwalden in Switzerland banned fishing with «echo sounders using live sonar technology» in 2023. This ban also applies on Lake Lucerne, where all four cantons bordering on the body of water agreed to this.
The reasoning behind this law is that real-time sonar systems only target large fish. These, however, are particularly important for the overall fish population in a body of water because the older animals produce more offspring than younger ones. So if you only catch, kill and eat large animals, you could be harming the ecosystem.
Livescope anglers are also suspected of partaking in «catch and release». This practice involves releasing caught fish back into the water. Although this would do less harm to the numbers, it’s prohibited in Switzerland. Although an angler may release an individual fish, there’s no basic rule that allows you to throw all your caught fish back in. The laws in other countries, such as the Netherlands and Spain, are exactly the opposite. If you want to kill and eat fish there, you need a special permit. However, throwing your catch back is permitted.
Many anglers in Switzerland still simply want to continue enjoying their strictly analogue hobby or are critical of the fact that the Livescope method is only accessible to a privileged group. The technology alone costs several thousand francs, not including the boat.
I can fully relate with many of these reservations. For me, fishing is primarily a hobby where I’m out in nature. Standing on a mirror-smooth lake early in the morning at sunrise are amongst the most beautiful moments. Discovering a new body of water abroad is also part of the fascination for me.
Obviously, I enjoy making a catch. But the time leading up to that is just as important. Figuring out where the predators are hunting and convincing them through skilful baiting that my rubber fish is an animal worth attacking.
Like an adrenaline-fuelled fever dream
Livescope fishing, on the other hand, feels like a fever dream, in which one adrenaline rush chases the other and I’m constantly tense. Because of the high-tech approach, I experienced fishing in fast motion. To me, the experience was kind of like eating fast food. Quite nice on occasion.
So should tech-aided fishing be banned altogether? I don’t think so. Angling is already a highly regulated hobby and doesn’t need more laws, especially not given the fact that they vary from region to region in Switzerland. But above all, because part of the angling community would like to see everything banned that might reduce their own catch.
My excursion showed me that Livescope fishing isn’t a simple computer game. If you want to master the technique, you need a lot of training, knowledge and experience. But it can become quite addictive at first, which makes it similar to gaming. What happens is that first-timers will indulge excessively in fishing on a screen until they lose interest after a while. Judging by chats I’ve had with fellow angling enthusiasts, I’ve learned that most of them have stopped using the technology all the time after the initial euphoria. But depending on the situation, or to better understand bodies of water and their inhabitants, they do occasionally use it. I believe it’s a fundamental question: just because I don’t normally fish with Livescope myself doesn’t mean I should forbid others from doing so.
My most important takeaway from the Livescope fishing session in Hamburg Harbour? I’ve learned a lot about the zander and now know how difficult it is to outwit them. The prey fish or bait needs to be dangling right in front of their nose in murky water for them to notice it. In addition, less than ten per cent of those who saw the bait took it. Sometimes they’ll follow it all the way back to the boat, only to turn away.
So if you’re fishing without any technical assistance from the bank, it simply takes patience, perseverance and a bit of luck to catch a zander. This means you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy your surroundings.
Time to fish for your comments: what do you make of fishing with Livescope technology?
Lorenz Keller
Senior Editor
Lorenz.Keller@digitecgalaxus.chGadgets are my passion - whether you need them for the home office, for the household, for sport and pleasure or for the smart home. Or, of course, for the big hobby next to the family, namely fishing.
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