Spot lock for simcoe

Was wondering how important spot lock is for fishing Lakers and whities on simcoe. I have one buddy saying it’s a must ,but my brother says he wouldn’t waste his money he’d upgrade fish finder instead? Opinion?

I think you buddy & brother are both correct.

First you find the fish using the fish-finder, then hold on them using the spot lock....then that is just me.
As usual, it is the most expensive....by using "both" options.

Good Luck.

fozzy47 is correct, if you can't find them nothing else matters. but once you find them and want to jig and in deep water how you going to stay on them. you can drop a 100ft of anchor line, but you not on them any more and if there is any wind you can't just stop over them. I have spot lock and a good finder and together the 3 days i spent on Simcoe were very productive. also you can mark the spot and come right back to the spot the next time out. We noticed that the fish came in at exactly 830 so we tried around the area with no luck then just clicked go to and went to the spot by 815 and got our whities by 9. So you get more then just spot lock with the motor.

I've outfished guys on some extremely nice rigs with nothing but a 12ft tinny powered by a 40lbs trolling motor and a 15lbs anchor to hold me in place. That said I wouldn't trade my trolling motor with spot lock that I have now for anything. Fish finder as long as it's marking fish and you know they are there that's all you need but if you have to move around to find them it takes a toll on you heaving that rope and chain nevermind what it does to timid fish like whitefish when it first hits the bottom. Just my 2 cents.

Yes, both a must - a trolling motor with a spot lock and good finder . Obviously.the fish can be caught without them but having them makes fishing more productive and enjoyable .
I remember the days when we were anchoring in 70-100 Fow fishing for whitefish . Not fun

The finder I have is a helix 7. Is that considered a good finder?

You will need a good fish finder, and some way to spot lock or anchor.

On days with no or little wind or current, you can drift. But those days are typically reserved for early morning and you don't get too many of them out in laker territory.

A helix 7 will do the job, but the bigger, the better. The reason for this is that every single pixel on a find fisher matters when hunting lakers. You need to read their every move. If they sneeze, you want to know immediately. Because once you see them start to run, you want to start reeling up and away from them.

I use a helix 12, and that seems just about perfect. At the front of my boat, I have a helix 10, and that seems a bit small and much harder to read than the 12. If I had no fish finders and had to buy them all over again, I'd go as big as possible for lakers because every data point matters.

Here's my video on showing you how to set up a Helix Humminbird Fish Finder. You should get an idea from this. This is on a Helix 12.


https://youtu.be/b8O5UoM4o0s


If I had a Helix 7 and no spot lock, I'd certainly get a trolling motor with spot lock before looking to upgrade my Helix 7. You can work with the Helix 7 because you can have it focus in on the 40 feet off the bottom, the part that matters. If you are in 120 feet of water, set your upper range to 70 or 80, and your lower range to 130. Yes, you want your lower range deeper than the max depth because you want to be able to see every pixel on that bottom. You do not want the bottom to ever go off the bottom of the screen. This is critical.

If you have any questions, let me know. If you are interested in whitefish and lakers, be sure to subscribe to my channel as I'll be putting out a lot of great content that's going to help you for next spring/summer. I'm fishing them literally every day possible during the soft water season.

I’ll watch anything I can get my eyes on if it will help me on simcoe. Hardest lake for me to figure out. Like my brother said I’m the only one who buys a new truck and boat come spring to fish a lake where I’ve caught 1 fish in 3 years on the hard water…LOL

I'll take you out on Simcoe come spring if you want.

All it takes is someone to show you how they do it, then you can figure out how you can do it on your boat and gear.

Lakers aren't one of those fish you just stick a rod in the water and catch one. You need someone experienced to show you how it's done and give you real-time tips. They don't call them the elusive lakers for no reason. That said, once you learn the ways, it becomes like a video game. Easy to implement, hard to master. But what a rush when you hook a big one

If you’re still n my position and can’t afford all the best gear I can tell you the graph is a must.
As for spot lock do I want one absolutely. Can I afford one? No freeking way.

I don’t have spot lock. I sit over my baits using my trolling motor and watching my line angle. Takes practice but it can be done. Make small movements on a low speed setting. I catch a lot of Lakers this way.

You don’t absolutely need spot lock but do absolutely need to mark them.

Sheesh.. who's this Disco guy? Not like he's caught 25lb Lake Trout or anything. (sarcasm)

Disco has caught bigger lake trout than most of us. So it just goes to show you that you don't need all the fancy stuff sometimes, but it most certainly does help.