TECHNOLOGY IN FISHING
By Bob Jensen
The
thing about fishing that appeals to so many people is that it can be as
simple or as complex as we want to make it. A person who enjoys simple things
can get a rod/reel, a few hooks and sinkers and some nightcrawlers and go
down to the river bank, cast the line in the water, and sit back and wait
for a bite. For some folks, that’s a good time.
Other people will do all they can to increase their odds for getting bit. Technique specific graphite rods, specially formulated lines, and big boats and motors are what some anglers obtain to increase their odds for fishing success.
I’ve always been kind of a middle-of-the-road technology angler. My boats have always had sonar, and a couple of years ago I started using GPS more and more. GPS(global positioning system) allows an angler to find the recent hot-spots much quicker, and provides safer navigation. GPS also enables an angler to drop an electronic marker buoy on fish. Instead of throwing a floating marker on a school of fish, you simply push a button when a school is located. That marker will appear on your sonar screen and you can go right back to it repeatedly. No more marker buoy lines to get tangled in, and no more marking fish for other anglers.
Recently I moved up in the technology thing big-time. I got one of the new side-imaging units Matrix units. These units read out to the side of the boat as well as straight up and down. They show structure that is to the side of the boat up to two hundred feet away. Neat stuff!
However, the feature that really got me hooked was the charter/plotter. This feature shows what the lake bottom looks like all around you. It enables an angler to drive right to a sunken island, hold a trolling path at a certain depth, or set up a drift that will send you right over the structure you want to fish. Amazing and very simple!
A Navionics chip that is inserted into the unit provides all the mapping details. The 987c Matrix unit that I was using allowed us to split the screen. On one side we could see the map; the other side gave a detailed traditional sonar look. We could detect the presence of fish, and also see the topography all around us. Amazing and very effective!
I was first introduced to this technology on the Bay of Green Bay, a huge body of water in Wisconsin. We were fishing about ten miles off shore. The Navionics chip in conjunction with the GPS that is integrated into the 987 took us right to the spot that had been productive for my fishing partners a few days earlier. We drove right to the area where the fish were and caught and released a number of walleyes in the six to ten pound range.
Technology may or may not be the thing for you, but it is here to stay. The Matrix units from Humminbird make it possible to be a better angler. They are extremely easy to use, draw a great picture, and provide features that will make your fishing more fun and your boating safer, and that’s a good deal no matter how you look at it.
For more fish-catching information, visit fishingthemidwest.com
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