Portable GPS

[ATRAIN]

it's pretty damn useful for fishing.

how so?

[Soul_Patch]

Offshore - no points of reference to find structure to fish on except GPS coordinates. Talk to any blue water fisherman, and almost all of their "fishing spots" are coordinates, when you reach said spot, it looks like just about anything else in the ocean...just a bunch of water, but there could be structure 2800ft below you that shelter a lot of tuna / AJ / etc...

Inshore - Same thing realy. you ahve points of reference, but want to know where reefs are, channels and markers, shallow vs deep water, etc...I bought a Navionics gold pack for my Lowrance 520c and it has water depths, reefs, insane level of detail for back lakes, small cuts, etc...helps you find fishing spots.

[CosmicCowboy]

WTF you use it on a boat? Does it tell you where the nearest floating Mcdonalds is at?

Boats were the first major civilian application for GPS...We have been using them for years to fish Baffin Bay...We'd leave the boat ramp at 5am and run south in the dark at 50mph, navigating around shoals, rocks, hitting navigable boat cuts etc. so we could be in the water fishing at sunrise...

[ATRAIN]

Boats were the first major civilian application for GPS...We have been using them for years to fish Baffin Bay...We'd leave the boat ramp at 5am and run south in the dark at 50mph, navigating around shoals, rocks, hitting navigable boat cuts etc. so we could be in the water fishing at sunrise...

wow had no idea but very interesting to say the least. You learn something everyday. Do the current GPS's tell you whats coming up and what not?

[CosmicCowboy]

Offshore - no points of reference to find structure to fish on except GPS coordinates. Talk to any blue water fisherman, and almost all of their "fishing spots" are coordinates, when you reach said spot, it looks like just about anything else in the ocean...just a bunch of water, but there could be structure 2800ft below you that shelter a lot of tuna / AJ / etc...

Inshore - Same thing realy. you ahve points of reference, but want to know where reefs are, channels and markers, shallow vs deep water, etc...I bought a Navionics gold pack for my Lowrance 520c and it has water depths, reefs, insane level of detail for back lakes, small cuts, etc...helps you find fishing spots.

I remember fishing off shore before GPS and we thought we were the cats meow because we had LORAN...it would get us in the neighborhood when we were 40 or 50 miles offshore but we would still have to circle around and find the structure with the depth finder...We were about 60 miles off shore once when the LORAN system went down and we had to navigate/dead reckon back and missed the jetties by about 15 miles...we were damn glad we had plenty of gas and beer LOL.

[CosmicCowboy]

wow had no idea but very interesting to say the least. You learn something everyday. Do the current GPS's tell you whats coming up and what not?

Oh yeah...it's like a moving map that keeps scrolling down as you go forward...shows water depths, obstacles, inter coastal channel markers, boat cuts, etc.

[ATRAIN]

Oh yeah...it's like a moving map that keeps scrolling down as you go forward...shows water depths, obstacles, inter coastal channel markers, boat cuts, etc.

wow thats bad ass

[CosmicCowboy]

wow thats bad ass

The problem at Baffin is that it has lot of rocks that aren't on the map so you can't trust it totally. Most guides that fish there have hundreds more manually plotted on theirs than the original map showed...

We were wade fishing in the badlands a couple of years ago and I saw a guy in a brand new $60,000 flats rig that apparently didn't know that wipe out his lower unit and transom...served the dumb ass right...we were a little over knee deep but the area is covered with rocks that reach almost to the surface...asshole runs right in front of us going about 40mph and then tried to cut between us and the shore...I actually tried to wave em off and told my friend "watch THESE assholes!"...about 3 seconds later it was BLAM! and it threw all of them right out of the boat...

[Soul_Patch]

I remember fishing off shore before GPS and we thought we were the cats meow because we had LORAN...it would get us in the neighborhood when we were 40 or 50 miles offshore but we would still have to circle around and find the structure with the depth finder...We were about 60 miles off shore once when the LORAN system went down and we had to navigate/dead reckon back and missed the jetties by about 15 miles...we were damn glad we had plenty of gas and beer LOL.

Heh, we used to go offshore when i was a kid with nothing but a compass. We never really went more than around 30 miles out, but we just checked what our bearing was heading out, and reversed it to come back. Never had a problem being off more than about a mile or so. I still think it is amazing that we used to go so far off shore in a 19ft Whaler, with little to no electronics, single engine, and have an absolute blast. Never fished bottom structure back then, usually either went out to the exxon rig, or found blue water, and trolled the rip for kings / dolphin / hoo....man i miss that stuff.

Now people freak out if you go out with anything less than 2 outboards, epirb, radar, chart plotters, sat phones, and a 30ft boat. I dont see how people afford it these days.

[Soul_Patch]

The problem at Baffin is that it has lot of rocks that aren't on the map so you can't trust it totally. Most guides that fish there have hundreds more manually plotted on theirs than the original map showed...

We were wade fishing in the badlands a couple of years ago and I saw a guy in a brand new $60,000 flats rig that apparently didn't know that wipe out his lower unit and transom...served the dumb ass right...we were a little over knee deep but the area is covered with rocks that reach almost to the surface...asshole runs right in front of us going about 40mph and then tried to cut between us and the shore...I actually tried to wave em off and told my friend "watch THESE assholes!"...about 3 seconds later it was BLAM! and it threw all of them right out of the boat...

I always get really nervous in baffin, and really wont go there without someone that knows it at least a little bit. Although, i can fish in St. Charles bay with my eyes shut. There are probably 75% more things that can destroy a boat in that little bay than anywhere else, i guess its just a matter of what you are comfortable with.

[CosmicCowboy]

Heh, we used to go offshore when i was a kid with nothing but a compass. We never really went more than around 30 miles out, but we just checked what our bearing was heading out, and reversed it to come back. Never had a problem being off more than about a mile or so. I still think it is amazing that we used to go so far off shore in a 19ft Whaler, with little to no electronics, single engine, and have an absolute blast. Never fished bottom structure back then, usually either went out to the exxon rig, or found blue water, and trolled the rip for kings / dolphin / hoo....man i miss that stuff.

Now people freak out if you go out with anything less than 2 outboards, epirb, radar, chart plotters, and a 30ft boat. I dont see how people afford it these days.

Yeah, we went out the same way before LORAN...fish rigs and weedlines...we would have the long rigs mapped and dead reckon to them...

That day we missed the jetties so bad was because we were trolling blue water and not really using the LORAN, and didn't even know the system was down till it was time to start back...so we didn't really know exactly where we were starting from.

[Soul_Patch]

Yeah, we went out the same way before LORAN...fish rigs and weedlines...we would have the long rigs mapped and dead reckon to them...

That day we missed the jetties so bad was because we were trolling blue water and not really using the LORAN, and didn't even know the system was down till it was time to start back...so we didn't really know exactly where we were starting from.

I am sure that could get harry, When i went out on my own a few times after that (when i was at the helm) i forgot to check my bearing a time or two, always made me feel uneasy. I always knew, somewhat, where i had to point to hit the jetties, and always made it back within reach...so thats good i guess