GPS for fishing inland waters???

[fishrdan]

How many of you guys use GPS while fishing lakes? Is it a must have now that you have used it, why? Do you have the basic map or upgraded high detail map?

I've never had a fishing GPS and now considering GPS with a new sonar unit, but after playing with a couple and seeing how lacking of detail the "free" map was, I'm not sure I'm impressed with the features for the price. A detailed Navionics map can be added, and I it looks useful, but it's another $150+-..........

So, should I go for the GPS, and pay the extra $150 for the good maps?

(Oh yeah, I boat on big lakes 60 miles long, 1-3 miles wide, but I don't have a problem navigating and know where I'm at.)

 

[dingbat]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

I know where the fish are, or should be, so I can fish w/o sonar if I had too. I can't fish w/o GPS because I don't know where that place is. :lol:

Do yourself a favor and buy the biggest Garmin you can afford. Garmin is the best GPS on the market and they come preloaded with Blue Chart, equivalent to Navionics Gold, at no additional cost.

The single, large screen is viewable from the transom but I found myself constantly walking up to the helm all the time to adjust the zoom. That got old and I bought the remote control for the unit. Now I can zoom in and out w/o going up to the helm.

I was into the ?don't have a problem navigating and know where I'm? camp too but.....Getting caught 27 miles out of port in mid-December, in low visibility, with a fuel gauge reading far from full and darkness on the horizon sure changed that attitude.

The very next day and I bought my first GPS unit. It was a handheld with a black and white screen that sold for over $400. I have not been out in a boat w/o since.

 

[Charlie61]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

I like it becase i can mark the spot if the fishing is good in my GPS and next time it will put me back in the same point , I will be getting a better one as soom as I can

 

[JB]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

It would be real easy to get lost or pile up on rocks on Lake Of The Woods, where I fished for years. My Garmin(s) guided me back to choice spots, avoided rocks and showed me how to get home safely. Success would have been far, far less without Garmin and Mapsource.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

Thanks for the replies guys. Emergency situations and safety is one of my concerns and GPS will help to some extent. Though, I'm not sure now much I'm going to trust it on Lake Mead since the lake is 100' low. It should be accurate on Lake Mohave as that lake maintains it's level pretty constant.

I received a Lowrance Mark 5x Pro sonar for Christmas, but I sent it back as I want a down imagining sonar to locate sunken trees and structure. (I'm aware of the poor DI performance in choppy water.) Now I'm considering Humminbird's 581i that has DI sonar, 2D sonar, along with GPS. Humminbird's standard maps don't have any detail at all, so I would have to upgrade the map for GPS to be useful outside of marking waypoints.

I'm pretty much set on Humminbird as they offer 2D sonar and DI available in a mono unit, Lowrance is either 2D or DI, and Garmin doesn't offer DI.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

Check into the Lowrance HDS-7 or larger. You will love them and can add things to the network as funds permit. I have the HDS-7 Insight. Have found no need for anything else as far as extra charts go for it. And even on split screen they look amazing to me. Get structure scan and you can scan with the regular depth finder on one side and the down scan or sidescan on the other. Comparing the two sides really gives you an idea of whats down there.

I run two Hds-7 so I can run chart plotter and radar on one and the downscan/depth finder on the other. If you can go bigger, go bigger, but these were perfect for my boat. I have alot of images if your interested in seeing some let me know.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

Check into the Lowrance HDS-7 or larger.

I would love to, but those are out of my price range, I'm looking at something $300+-. I was talking to my wife and told her I could solve all my problems of deciding which sonar to get, by just buying the $2500 unit that comes with everything. :lol:

I have an old unreadable Eagle sonar mounted on the transom that the Christmas present $200 Lowrance was going to replace, but one thing lead to another and now I'm into a DI sonar with GPS. I'll probably mount the new sonar/GPS at the helm and move the functional Eagle 480 Fishmark to the transom. The way I fish (troll), I need a sonar at the transom so I can see depth changes quickly, otherwise I'm constantly turning around the check the helm sonar. Literally a pain in the neck....

 

[dingbat]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

The way I fish (troll), I need a sonar at the transom so I can see depth changes quickly, otherwise I'm constantly turning around the check the helm sonar. Literally a pain in the neck....

Get a good set of detailed maps and there is no need to watch sonar for depth changes. You'll know the depth in front of you long before sonar shows it.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

Get a good set of detailed maps and there is no need to watch sonar for depth changes. You'll know the depth in front of you long before sonar shows it.

Navionics supposedly has a 1' graduation maps for Mead and Mohave. Though, I'm not sure how accurate it's going to be with fluctuating lake levels, Mead is down 100'+ right now and Mohave was down 13' for maintenance last month. I found that "some" GPS/sonar units can compensate for lake level, but not sure the low end unit I'm looking at can do this.

I use sonar depth to zig-zag troll, in to 20' out to 50', and a map wouldn't help with that too much as I'm waiting for the sonar to click over to "20" or "50" before turning. Having the transom sonar unit makes it easy to see depth and the troll rods at the same time.

I'm actually looking forward to a detailed map as it will show areas I should be covering, that I haven't seen before. That's the reason for DI too, so I can find sunken trees and mark them with with GPS. There's sunken forest out in the middle of Mohave that I've been itching to fish....

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

I would love to, but those are out of my price range, I'm looking at something $300+-. I was talking to my wife and told her I could solve all my problems of deciding which sonar to get, by just buying the $2500 unit that comes with everything. :lol:

I have an old unreadable Eagle sonar mounted on the transom that the Christmas present $200 Lowrance was going to replace, but one thing lead to another and now I'm into a DI sonar with GPS. I'll probably mount the new sonar/GPS at the helm and move the functional Eagle 480 Fishmark to the transom. The way I fish (troll), I need a sonar at the transom so I can see depth changes quickly, otherwise I'm constantly turning around the check the helm sonar. Literally a pain in the neck....

Hey man, I know how budgets go. I saved for a long time, then sold an old jeep I had before I had any electronics on the CC. You may be able to find a generation one HDS-7 though for about $500 used since alot who have them want to move up to the gen II. Anyway good luck, There is nothing better than knowing right where a piece of structure is.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

You may be able to find a generation one HDS-7 though for about $500 used since alot who have them want to move up to the gen II.

I thought of doing that, but I'm leery of buying used sonar's since I've seen so many Lowrance refurbs for sale through Cabelas.

I finally finished installing a Humminbird 581 HD DI at the helm and a Humminbird 570 DI on the engine doghouse. I couldn't decide if I wanted to install the DI/GPS unit at the transom or helm and where to leave my old Eagle 2D sonar, so I bought 2 sonars that could easily swap back and forth,,, they both use the same stand and Xducer.

Kind of weird on how this project morphed as I was just looking to replace an old dead 2D sonar, then DI came into play, then GPS, then a second sonar. Oh well,,, for what used sonars are fetching on Ebay, I figure I can pretty much pay off the 570 DI by selling the 2 good sonars I removed from the boat.

 

[jhebert]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

How many of you guys use GPS while fishing lakes?

GPS is the GLOBAL positioning system. It works the same on an inland lake as it does in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Fishing has no real role in how the Global Positioning System works.

 

[D1vemaster]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

Backpackers will tell you a Gps is a useless device until you are LOST.
Then it can be a matter of life and death.

I have a Chart Plotter and an old handheld as a backup.

Beats the heck out of trying to figure out landmarks in the pouring rain.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: GPS for fishing inland waters???

Fishing has no real role in how the Global Positioning System works.

I was asking how people use GPS while fishing... And wanted to know about inland waters opposed to offshore as they carry different risks. (Not going to find myself arriving in Tokyo if I get lost on Lake Mead )

I was on Lake Mohave last weekend and the stock GPS map was pretty darn accurate, showed me 10' off a cliff I was trolling by. Though, it showed the lake as a big white bowl and didn't show any depth detail. Another $140 will solve that...