map on the bow?

[jiggin]

I recently purchased a new boat and I am thinking of putting a mapping unit/sounder on the bow. My question, if I am vertical jigging, are they accurate enough to show me the specific breakline that I want to fish and keep me over it as well as show me which direction the breakline moves throughout the river?

[lovtotroll]

Depends on which mapping unit you buy. With most units, you have to add additional information to get all of the breaklines on your unit. I have used the Navionics and Navionics Hotspots maps and they are very accurate and detailed. It all depends on what body of water you are fishing and if there are mapping programs for that water. Because river contours change some from year to year, it is difficult to get real detail information.
Another program to look at is the Lake Master program. This program is installed on your computer and if you have a Lowrance or a Garmin mapping unit, you can hook your unit into the comouter and ownload waypoints. You can not download the breaklines but the waypoints are very accurate and easy to put in your unit. These maps are available for WI, MN, ND ans some others.

Good luck,
Scott

[Dave in Mpls]

I would say no. The only way to accurately follow a breakline is with your sonar, particularily in a river, as there may be fluctuations in the breaklines year to year. In addition, most GPSs are not accurate to that degree. If you want a mapping GPS/sonar, put it on the console and put a dedicated sonar on the bow.

Regards

[jwilson]

I have a Global Map 1600 on the front of my Fisher and love the features it provides. If I am fishing a marked structure on my GM1600 and wonder off the structure it is very easy to find my way back by looking a the mapping unit. I have found the mapping software to be accurate enough. I also have a mapping unit on my console, a Raytheon 520 that takes c-maps, on the great lakes where the c-maps do exsist the contour lines match up very well with what my depthfinder is telling me. A mapping unit is a great addition to the bow but I would not use it alone without a depthfinder.

[jiggin]

Thanks for the info so far. I am thinking of running 2 Garmin 168 mapping/sounder units. Do you think there would be any interference from running 2 of the same type units?