GPS Fish

Maybe you could set it up so this female voice says, "cast just toward that cedar tree... there's a submerged brush pile about fifty feet from you in that direction." Wouldn't that be useful?

Joe ___________________ "alwaysfishking" <Fishking@nospam.ptd.net> wrote in message news:-_ydnSeH14LNpnLfUSdV9g@ptd.net...

I bought a small handheld GPS unit earlier this year, when the fish started moving deeper, I began marking anything I got hung up on out in open water, well it has paid off. I'm catching fish and eliminating a lot of useless water( I think) the problem is with the 3 lakes I fish, my GPS map looks like a sprinkeled donut from an ariel view, dots everywhere. Any good handhelds with larger screens? I am currently using a Garmin E-trex

It is actually a dual usage unit. I use it on my tin boat with a mount, and a plug in cable tied directly to my main battery. ON a few occassions when I want to use it on the road I simply unplug it and let it run off four AA drycell batteries.

I am not sure if the 176 is still available, but there are some newer versions out there. If you want I can take a look at my electronics distributors and see if I can get you a decent price on one.

The 176 and its newer versions where never as cheap as some of the small hand helds, but I like mine very much.

There are many out there that will hook to a computer. I have an older GPS no longer in production that hooks to mine. I only load the GPS points for the area I plan to fish so to eliminate confusion. I fish in South Louisiana from the Mississippi State Line down to the Atchafalaya Spillway. Both freshwater and saltwater in many of these areas. There are many small lakes and bayous with the same name in different locations throughout Louisiana. I clear my way points after each trip. Once I decide where I going to fish, I then download the way points for that area.

Sarge

I suggest you look for a GPSMAP-176 for the best display at a low price. It is a couple generations old so there may not be any for sale anymore. The two I listed below can be had new from guys wiht conenctions in the electronics distribution industry for about $600. You might also be able to find them on EBAY on guys who bought them up in bulk cheaper.

This one is a little on the pricey side with a litium ion rechargable battery and a color screen, but its still a portable semi-handheld. I think it runs around $600 retail. Maybe a little more than you were thinking.

https://www.dbldistributing.com/commerce/Images/catalog/large/010-00331-00.jpg

GPSMAP-276C GPS Marine Chartplotter and Auto Navigator a.. Built-in Americas autoroute base map and tide and celestial tables a.. 480 x 320 color 3.8" TFT LCD screen a.. Stores up to 3,000 waypoints and 50 reversible routes a.. Course deviation indicator notifies user if boat has veered off course a.. WAAS-enabled GPS receiver for 3m accuracy a.. Accepts Garmin pre-programmed or user created data cards a.. Alarms for anchor-drag, arrival, off-course, proximity waypoints and clock a.. IPX7 waterproof a.. 5 11/16" W x 3 3/16" H x 1 7/8" D a.. Includes rechargeable Li-Ion battery, USB/PC interface cable, power/data cable, marine mount, and AC adapter

I have the older 176 not color that runs off AA batteries, but...

You know that some of the chart sounders from Garmin can be had in the same price range. While they are not hand held portable tey do come with an adaptor cable theat allows you to plug them into your computer at home to load maps, and set way points etc.

https://www.dbldistributing.com/commerce/Images/catalog/large/010-00340-01.jpg GPSMAP-178C Sounder GPS ChartPlotter and Marine Sonar a.. 200 MHz processor for quick data acquisition, panning and zooming a.. Single frequency 200 kHz transducer for inland lake use a.. See-ThruŽ separates fish from thermoclines and structures a.. Depth Control Gain for detailed images of structure and bottom densities a.. User waypoints automatically tagged with date, time, water temperature and depth a.. Stores 10,000 active and 700 saved PC-transferable track points a.. Built-in marine basemap a.. 320 x 320 CSTN 4 1/2" color screen with adjustable CCFL backlight a.. TracBackT mode guides to points along route a.. Alarms for shallow-water, deep-water, fish-by-size, low battery, anchor-drag, off-course, proximity waypoints and clock a.. 4 7/8" W x 6 5/16" H x 13/16" D a.. Includes power/data cable and adjustable tilt/swivel mount

I just bought a Magellan Explorist 500. Nice unit but still has the smaller screen. The only reason I went with it over a PDA model was durability. If all of my fishing was done in a bass boat I would go with a PDA. But I spend a lot of time in canoes, wading and float tubes so I needed something that wouldn't mind me submerging it in water from time to time. If you are interested in a PDA GPS unit send me an email and I will get you any information that you need and pricing.

Ronnie (rmoore@ozarksbass.com) -- Flysmallie

Do what Ronnie suggested - zoom out. Use the buttons on the left side of the Etrex when you are viewing the waypoint map on the screen (I have the same unit). When you get to the 200-500' range, you should see waypoint seperation.

I have a data cable for mine that I can hook up to my PC - handy for working w/ maps. One mapping program (shareware) is Ozi-Explorer - a pretty good tool. If you can lay your hands on a contour map of your water, it can be very useful. The shareware version will only allow you to "sync" two co-ordinates, but if you pay the fee, you can really zero in w/ 16 positions.

Shoot me an email if you have more questions.

Jim

On Tue, 2 Aug 2005 05:22:23 -0400, "alwaysfishking"

As an aside, you do know that you can "zoom" in on your waypoints (or I can on my eTrex Venture) so that they are so clumped up appearing, right? At least I assume the zoom feature is onboard the entire eTrex line anyway...so long as you can see where you are, and where you want to go, the little handhelds can tell you bearing/distance as good as anything much more expensive IMHO, so long as you're zoomed to the proper level.

I like my little eTrex, as it works pretty good on my little boat, with little need for a perma-mount LCD/GPS or GPS standalone. Out of my 500 available waypoints, I have a shade over 300 stored on various lakes, bays and ICW spots among the various NC waterways I haunt.