LP from what I've seen MOST that have spent the money and have live tech still DON'T catch any more fish than they would without it.....
There are still must do rules that have to be done even if you have livescope to be "consistently catching crappie"..... That 20° cone kills most folks ability to put their jig where they may see a fish ...
This is no different than when side imaging 1st came out and I feel SI helped more folks catch fish than live tech.... Just my opinion....

This is a good recent study on this topic...Bottom line, there's no negative impact to crappie population because of livescope.

https://www.agfc.com/en/news/2022/02/23/angler-survey-study-shows-no-impact-from-live-sonar/

Great info and backed up with some actual data. These findings are identical to the info I heard from the two fisheries biologist for east TX.
Good everyone

Regarding crappie populations only, here are a few facts.

Crappie populations are highly cyclical. Crappie rarely have consecutive years of great recruitment. It is not uncommon to have a tremendous year class followed by a couple of poor ones.

Crappie tend to do better in lakes that have fluctuating water levels.

Crappie that hatch live off their egg sack for approximately four days and after that point they are largely dependent on zooplankton, until they are large enough to eat the smallest of fish. Having good and numerous planktons is essential to their survival. And on occasion plentiful plankton is just not there.

Cover for them to hide in after the hatch is of course greatly beneficial as they are slow swimmers and are pretty easy prey.

In a healthy system with a good food base they can grow to ten inches in ten to twelve months. Some lakes it takes three years for them to attain that size.

A three year old crappie is just that.. Old.

A four year old is rare, and a five year old is a dinosaur..

These are not my opinions as the above info was provided by biologists from PAW after many studies conducted across Texas and the southern US.

this is interesting

" In Arkansas, the annual mortality rate on crappie is pretty high anyway. About 65 percent of crappie die each year and are being replaced with the young of the year. '

I wonder how this was determined...
if 65 percent die, and lets guess 15 to 20 percent are harvested, your looking at an 85 percent depletion per year..
theres no possible way a lake could sustain its population with these numbers ,
furthermore, livescope hasnt been in existence long enough to make a reasonable judgement on its effect to fish populations. maybe 3 or 4 years, and the first year or two many anglers waited to see if the technology was legit, and reliable, such as myself. cost prohibited many others from getting livescope as well..
the biologist also said that out of 700 anglers only a few got limits, and one was a guide,.,thats not a very healthy fishery in my opinion when 700 fisherman go out, and only 2 or 3 can achieve a limit. ,. JMO..
One positive aspect though is that they can do fish sampling in Arkansas , so they have a better idea of what is in the lakes,, I would assume thier lakes tend to be shallower.. whereas in most texas lakes, the crappie cannot be netted or electroshocked.

I recently visited the fishery in Athens texas.. wonderful place, a great hatchery that specializes in hatching potential trophy largemouth bass.
I dropped off a potential state record bass to be genetic tested.. I asked them if they did any hatching or studies on crappie and the answer was NOT AT ALL..everything they do is geared towards producing huge bass and stocking bass in the state of texas. They do not hatch or study any other species intimately nor have they ever done so.
If you have not yet been to the hatchery in Athens it is amazing. wonderful knowledgeable folks, and many interesting things to see.