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Can handheld GPS help you catch fish from the shore!

2K views 22 replies 14 participants last post by  juanpablo 
#1 ·
Ive been thinking about this for awhile and think this could really help. Hand held GPS are relativaly cheep to buy, or you can use your phone if it has gps. Basically you go to a new venue at low water and have a good walk about looking for gullys, rock piles, weed patches etc............
If you find a hole or a gully stand in the middle of it and turn the gps on....Stand still for about five mins so it can get an accurate reading then hit MARK, save as "deep gully 1"................
Then walk in a straight line to the high tide line or where you would sett the tripod up and hit MARK again, and save as "tripod mark No.1."
So when you come to fish the beach, navigate to "tripod mark No.1" and when you get there, sett-up.
Then from that point navigate to "deep gully 1".
It should then tell you how far in meters you have to cast to the gully. Depending on the hand-held gps, you should be within 10 meters of accuracy. Which i think is better than guessing.
You could do this as many times as your memory on the device will let you. Meaning you have back up marks if it not fishing.
What do you think?
Would you be prepard to give it ago?
 
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#6 ·
i have a tomtom one in the car. for a while i had some freeware on it so that it read like a gps rather than a map. this stopped working after a tomtom update. can't find the link now.

anybody know?

btw tt1 runs on linux
 
#8 ·
#11 ·
Friend of mine saw the possibilities of this when Tom Tom was launched, sadly he had cancer at the time and died before he completed it. He was attempting to log in all the fishing marks in the North West.

I was supportive then as I happened to think it was a cracking idea, anyone want to guess if my mind has changed since?
 
#13 ·
When you lads going to take along a robot to cast and retrieve your rods??????? :bleh:
 
#15 ·
Friend of mine saw the possibilities of this when Tom Tom was launched, sadly he had cancer at the time and died before he completed it. He was attempting to log in all the fishing marks in the North West.

I was supportive then as I happened to think it was a cracking idea, anyone want to guess if my mind has changed since?
I've been trying to think of how you could do it so we could make some kind of national database of maps with logged gulleys, rocks, etc. and how this could become feasable? http://www.gpstm.com/ :doh:

Potentially setup or use a website for the platform by which people can upload their own gps plots, so people can search the site for an area/town and download them?

The more I think about this (would people want to share their good fishing spots?), there seems to be a lot of question marks and hard work, but imagine a website by where people could log on, find an area, download a map, log it into their gps and bobs your uncle. There seems to be no barriers to entry to this, but I think it would definitely add value to an already existing website? :blink:
 
#16 ·
I have a Lowrance chartplotter on my boat and its chart shows where the gullies and drop offs are right up to the shore.

My old Garmin handheld GPS can then be set with possible interesting shore marks. Giving each mark 'instructions' in its GPS title means you have a good chance of getting your bait into the best area on your first visit.

Tried it a couple of times and it does give me confidence that I am in the right place. You can also use this C-Map site when looking for interesting new marks: http://mappe.c-marina.com/partners/ucina/portsearch_main.asp?jInstalled=true
- just copy the positions into your handheld GPS.
 
#18 ·
I have been using my Car GPS for a good while plotting marks, features and various fishing venues.
 
#19 ·
I have been using my Car GPS for a good while plotting marks, features and various fishing venues.
I started a long post yesterday but lost it :(

Anyway, they are good, primarily for safety and scouting.

Handheld hikers ones have features like route track back, ability to take average waypoints (giving excellent accuracy), much longer battery life, inbuilt compass and the most important - are available waterproof and rugged.

They are expensive though - when you factor in getting OS maps on them , but the garmin ones (some models) at least let you (for a considerable outlay) load up the admiralty charts on them (bluewater maps).
 
#20 ·
So you have marked the position of the feature and marked the position of cast at the high tide mark. But this still leaves the guessing game of how far the cast actually went!!!
If you were serious about this you could consider using a system much like the multi coloured braid used by some boat anglers (every metre of braid is a different colour). What I mean is somehow marking the line at the desired distance so that you know you can overcast and then retrieve till the line mark reaches the rod tip then you KNOW your gear is right on the money!!
A lot of effort but if you were to spend a good few sessions just testing out the one mark it would be well worth it!
Alternatively strap a wireless transducer to your lead and wait for the GPS to beep mid flight! :bleh: (ok maybe that one was too far!)
 
#23 ·
Stevie thats a good suggestion!

I do not believe that most people can ACCURATELY judge their casting distance having heard many people stating that their cast was over 150yds and then if paced out on dry land it turns out to be about 80!!
Remember distance perception is affected if you are higher than the sea it will look further and if you are the same level it will look shorter!
You have to have some way of 'marking' the distance to the waypoint as Stevie has suggested above.
 
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