Using GPS to mark where I cought fish....HOW?????

Let me tell you about Magellan. The customer service support is non
existent .They ignore all requests for help.The user has to have a degree in
programming and interfacing to be able to operate it proficiently.It's over
priced and the instruction manual sucks.About the only good thing about it
is that it doesn't take up much room in my garage
Ken
"Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers" wrote in
message ...

":-:NeWcS:-:" wrote in message
link.net...
Im getting a Magellan GPS 310. It will hook up to my PC so what
software
should I get? Will it have the lakes I fish one the software???

I'm not a big fan of Magellan gps units. It seems to me that Magellan
makes
their units harder to work with than Garmin or Lowrance. As far as what
lakes are on the software, I have no idea.

Look at the Garmin units, from everything that I've heard and experienced,
they are a much better unit and I know Fishing HotSpots maps are available
to interface with the Garmins.
--
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers
http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com
G & S Guide Service and Custom Rods
http://www.herefishyfishy.com

In article ,
"Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers" wrote:

":-:NeWcS:-:" wrote in message
link.net...
Im getting a Magellan GPS 310. It will hook up to my PC so what software
should I get? Will it have the lakes I fish one the software???

I'm not a big fan of Magellan gps units. It seems to me that Magellan makes
their units harder to work with than Garmin or Lowrance. As far as what
lakes are on the software, I have no idea.

Look at the Garmin units, from everything that I've heard and experienced,
they are a much better unit and I know Fishing HotSpots maps are available
to interface with the Garmins.

I would offer a counterpoint on this.

If you have not used one in the past couple of years you may not be
familiar with the current functions.

I have had a Magellan Meridian Marine model since they first came out. I
have had some issues but no complaints about the detail It is in fact
more detailed than the GPSMap 76 from Garmin. As well, the track is more
detailed also (not just my observation check out the comparisons at
http://gpsinformation.net/.

The unit is easy to use and a big plus is the SD card which allows me to
use the Magellan BlueNav to load detailed information for my specific
fishing areas. Also capable of popping that into a card reader and
downloading or even editing directly (careful about changing the text
format and string length limits though).

Hot Spot maps are okay but the thing to remember is that is everybody
has that information the chances that they are not over fished is slim.
As always to have the best spots takes some personal exploration. The
environment changes as well so what was hot one year may not be the
next. That is where your GPS comes in. I have spots marked where I have
caught fish and returning to those waypoints has been productive. I also
mark holes and cuts at low tide in the flats for later opportunities.

Along with the suggetion that you can plot your waypoints on a map
(still takes some work) you can use several of the mapping services with
your GPS coordinates to add them to the map and then save/print this
image. That may also help ease plotting on your charts.

I have a review of the Meridian on my site that I note pros and cons.
The biggest issue is that losing all battery power can cause the
waypoints to be lost. Having them on a card resolves that issue. Also
makes it easy to share points with another magellan user.

I not only would buy another Meridian if given the chance but I DID
after my first one was donated to the Gulf of Mexico when it slipped off
my kayak on a night fishing trip in a ripping tide at Ft. Desoto. By the
time I noticed it was gone it had floated off and was never seen again.
Hope someone found it.

Good Fishin'

atljoe
--
"Atlanta Joe" aka Joe Webb
Flats fishing is Flat Fun!
Visit my site at http://flatsfisher.com

"Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers" wrote in
message ...

"Calif Bill" wrote in message SNIP

Even if it is neither, you can still read off the GPS coordinates and
plot
them on a map.
Bill

This is true, but I got the impression that he wanted to download the
waypoints to some mapping software.

My garmin 176 and 168 both do that very easily witht he Garmin mapping
software.



--
Public Fishing Forums
Fishing Link Index
www.YumaBassMan.com

webmaster
at
YumaBsssMan
dot
com

Even if it is neither, you can still read off the GPS coordinates and
plot
them on a map.
Bill

That is exactly what I want to do...

-Jay

Hot Spot maps are okay but the thing to remember is that is everybody
has that information the chances that they are not over fished is slim.
As always to have the best spots takes some personal exploration. The
environment changes as well so what was hot one year may not be the
next. That is where your GPS comes in. I have spots marked where I have
caught fish and returning to those waypoints has been productive. I also
mark holes and cuts at low tide in the flats for later opportunities.


I am pretty sure that Fishing Hot Spots is simply the brand name of the map
company that puts them out. I have several "Hot Spots" maps of local lakes
and it shows a good map of the lake, any underwater features that are known
about, and that's it. They don't list actual "fishing" hot spots to my
knowledge.

The best maps of my local lakes that I have are aerial photo maps. The
photos were taken from high alitutude planes, after the timbering, prior to
the lakes' initial floodings. Works great, shows the actual road beads,
railroad beds, holes, places where grass/weeds did grow, where they didn't
grow, and so on.

Any of these maps work in conjunction with a GPS unit, especially when one
uses waypoints to find their way back to their own personal hot spots.

"Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers" wrote in
message ...

"Calif Bill" wrote in message SNIP

Even if it is neither, you can still read off the GPS coordinates and
plot
them on a map.
Bill

This is true, but I got the impression that he wanted to download the
waypoints to some mapping software.
--
Steve @ OutdoorFrontiers
http://www.outdoorfrontiers.com
G & S Guide Service and Custom Rods
http://www.herefishyfishy.com



You can enter them on different mapping programs. My Garmin 45 can
interface to a computer, but I never did it. My Garmin 160 plotter, has the
RS232 I/F built in. On either you can go to the track page and read the lat
/ lon off and use them however you want.
Bill

Good stuff Sim. The best stuff I know of I've found myself, period. GPS is
an incredibleaid to the guy that'll take the time to actually drive his boat
over the lakebottom & pay attention to what he sees. I've never won a
tournament on something that I've seen on a mass-produced contour map,
though I have certainly used them to guide me to some honey holes. The best
stuff are things like rockpiles the size of a car, a sudden break in a
weedline, an uncharted hump, etc... The problem is few guys want to put
their rods down long enough to find these places.

That's especially good for guys like me ;-)

Warren

"SimRacer" wrote in message
om...


Hot Spot maps are okay but the thing to remember is that is everybody
has that information the chances that they are not over fished is slim.
As always to have the best spots takes some personal exploration. The
environment changes as well so what was hot one year may not be the
next. That is where your GPS comes in. I have spots marked where I have
caught fish and returning to those waypoints has been productive. I also
mark holes and cuts at low tide in the flats for later opportunities.


I am pretty sure that Fishing Hot Spots is simply the brand name of the
map
company that puts them out. I have several "Hot Spots" maps of local lakes
and it shows a good map of the lake, any underwater features that are
known
about, and that's it. They don't list actual "fishing" hot spots to my
knowledge.

The best maps of my local lakes that I have are aerial photo maps. The
photos were taken from high alitutude planes, after the timbering, prior
to
the lakes' initial floodings. Works great, shows the actual road beads,
railroad beds, holes, places where grass/weeds did grow, where they didn't
grow, and so on.

Any of these maps work in conjunction with a GPS unit, especially when one
uses waypoints to find their way back to their own personal hot spots.

Exactly !!!

"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
Good stuff Sim. The best stuff I know of I've found myself, period. GPS
is
an incredibleaid to the guy that'll take the time to actually drive his
boat
over the lakebottom & pay attention to what he sees. I've never won a
tournament on something that I've seen on a mass-produced contour map,
though I have certainly used them to guide me to some honey holes. The
best
stuff are things like rockpiles the size of a car, a sudden break in a
weedline, an uncharted hump, etc... The problem is few guys want to put
their rods down long enough to find these places.

That's especially good for guys like me ;-)

Warren

"SimRacer" wrote in message
om...


Hot Spot maps are okay but the thing to remember is that is everybody
has that information the chances that they are not over fished is
slim.
As always to have the best spots takes some personal exploration. The
environment changes as well so what was hot one year may not be the
next. That is where your GPS comes in. I have spots marked where I
have
caught fish and returning to those waypoints has been productive. I
also
mark holes and cuts at low tide in the flats for later opportunities.


I am pretty sure that Fishing Hot Spots is simply the brand name of the
map
company that puts them out. I have several "Hot Spots" maps of local
lakes
and it shows a good map of the lake, any underwater features that are
known
about, and that's it. They don't list actual "fishing" hot spots to my
knowledge.

The best maps of my local lakes that I have are aerial photo maps. The
photos were taken from high alitutude planes, after the timbering, prior
to
the lakes' initial floodings. Works great, shows the actual road beads,
railroad beds, holes, places where grass/weeds did grow, where they
didn't
grow, and so on.

Any of these maps work in conjunction with a GPS unit, especially when
one
uses waypoints to find their way back to their own personal hot spots.

Thank God you let me knowabout that detail scale on the Garmin software
Jerry, that was a huge improvement!

Warren

"Jerry Barton" wrote in message
...
Exactly !!!

"go-bassn" wrote in message
...
Good stuff Sim. The best stuff I know of I've found myself, period.
GPS
is
an incredibleaid to the guy that'll take the time to actually drive his
boat
over the lakebottom & pay attention to what he sees. I've never won a
tournament on something that I've seen on a mass-produced contour map,
though I have certainly used them to guide me to some honey holes. The
best
stuff are things like rockpiles the size of a car, a sudden break in a
weedline, an uncharted hump, etc... The problem is few guys want to put
their rods down long enough to find these places.

That's especially good for guys like me ;-)

Warren

"SimRacer" wrote in message
om...


Hot Spot maps are okay but the thing to remember is that is
everybody
has that information the chances that they are not over fished is
slim.
As always to have the best spots takes some personal exploration.
The
environment changes as well so what was hot one year may not be the
next. That is where your GPS comes in. I have spots marked where I
have
caught fish and returning to those waypoints has been productive. I
also
mark holes and cuts at low tide in the flats for later
opportunities.


I am pretty sure that Fishing Hot Spots is simply the brand name of
the
map
company that puts them out. I have several "Hot Spots" maps of local
lakes
and it shows a good map of the lake, any underwater features that are
known
about, and that's it. They don't list actual "fishing" hot spots to my
knowledge.

The best maps of my local lakes that I have are aerial photo maps. The
photos were taken from high alitutude planes, after the timbering,
prior
to
the lakes' initial floodings. Works great, shows the actual road
beads,
railroad beds, holes, places where grass/weeds did grow, where they
didn't
grow, and so on.

Any of these maps work in conjunction with a GPS unit, especially when
one
uses waypoints to find their way back to their own personal hot spots.

AMEN

Warren

"Jerry Barton" wrote in message
...
I either have, or have had, just about every software for both the Garmin
or
the Lowrance, and I can tell you from personal experience, nothing can
touch
the Garmin software for details. JMHO.

"Joe Z" wrote in message
...
If you have not bought it don't. I am an unsatisfied Magellan 330M
owner.
This group can give you much better recommendations. JMHO. Joe Z.

":-:NeWcS:-:" wrote in message
link.net...
Im getting a Magellan GPS 310. It will hook up to my PC so what
software
should I get? Will it have the lakes I fish one the software???

Thank you for the help

-Jay