GPS and fishfinder

[Friedo35]

I am going to upgrade my portable sonar to a better unit with GPS. I would love it to cover the remote lakes but can’t seem to find anything about most of the lakes. Any input or experience from those of you that have been out there would be appreciated.

Would also consider a handheld gps and a basic sonar if better. I don’t wanna waste money on a unit and mapping card that is useless. Thanks!

SF

[BornToFish]

Greetings,

I invested several years ago in a Humminbird Helix 9 unit that I have set up to be portable. I also purchased a zero-lines SD card. This SD card shows the outlines of the lakes that I fish in NW Ontario (i.e. nearly every body of water in North America), as well most of the islands. The SD card does NOT show depth contours. I find the outline of the lakes to be helpful in safely navigating the lake in low-light conditions or inclement weather. I designate navigational hazards with "skull and crossbone" icons.

I purchased a Navionics Canada card several years ago. I found the lake maps to be rudimentary at very best - pretty much useless. I'm not faulting Navionics, as the data was likely collected decades ago and made into depth contour maps with relatively unsophisticated algorithms.

I spend several weeks each season on the lakes that I now fish. I use the Autochart feature to create my own depth contour maps. I readily admit that it takes time to create such depth contour maps, but I view it as time well-spent as it has taken my fishing and understanding of the lake to new levels.

I would not rely upon a handheld unit given that I am accustomed to the relatively large screen of the Helix 9.

Good fishing and tight lines!!

[eyecatcher1]

My Navionics North Lakes card in my Lowrance Gen 2 touch unit is great on the lakes that I fish in the Sioux Lookout area of NW Ontario. I think it's 8 years old.

[valley366]

I use multiple forms of portable and GPS.


First I always have my handheld GPS on me when in the boat, especially on Canada waters. It is Garmin 60 series. It auto records my track and puts a dot on the screen at whatever interval I have selected. Two ways this benefits me. One obvious is to find my way home again. Just follow the trail of dots. The other is I can see and mark where I caught fish. I usually drop a waypoint whenever we catch a fish. Fishing jigs this allows us to hover over the top of a school. I use the free PC software to consolidate tracks and waypoints between trips.



Second method I use is my tablet or phone with Navionics App. Depending on the lakes the accuracy as far as depths changes. On MN lakes it is very accurate. On canada lakes the depths may not be accurate but usually the outline of the lakes is accurate. Having it on an Android device that has internal GPS is critical for areas with no cell coverage. The app also has the ability lay a track on the screen where you have traveled and save the track. This is nice if you say one day you take the fork in the lake to the left and want to go back there another day.


3rd method is the portable sonar/GPS unit. Started with a lowrance portable. Went with the ice unit and added the boat transducer so is all season. Same as above with laying down a track. This year stepped up and bought the Helix 7 ice unit. Again added the summer ducer to use in the boat. Really looking forward to trying out the autochart on Canada lakes.


Hope all this is helpful. Most units are pretty simple to operate and just have to spend some time with them to get comfortable. Pick a method and try it out.


Good luck.

[h8go4s]

Originally Posted by Friedo35

cover the remote lakes but can’t seem to find anything about most of the lakes.
SF

Canada's kind of a big country, ya know. Whereabouts are you planning to fish? You're not likely to find any mapping of "remote lakes". The most popular tourist lakes will be mapped first and there are years' worth of mapping to be done on them.

The Navionics web app is a good way to check out what's available from them. You can download mapping (for a fee) from Navionics to your phone or tablet, or you can buy a SD card for a sonar/GPS unit. The basic lake features are pretty good, probably because of satellite mapping, so you can avoid getting lost. However, depth contours can't be trusted because the mapping sure looks like 10-foot contours interpolated to 1-foot contours. Lakemaster now has coverage of some Candian areas, but as with Navionics the mapping is a work in progress.

[bigdaddyguns]

Originally Posted by Friedo35

I would love it to cover the remote lakes but can’t seem to find anything about most of the lakes. Any input or experience from those of you that have been out there would be appreciated.

To set expectations, in general the packaged contour maps for Canadian Lake are based on existing MNR maps created in the 60s and 70s. As a result most maps are exactly same on all vendors mapping platforms. Too many lakes to practically survey for high detailed modern contour maps. Given that, there are two alternatives for more accurate and detailed mapping for Canadian Lakes.

One, create your own maps with your own data captured on the water. As BTF noted that is a longer term "work-in-progress" type of activity that you build over time. Each sonar vendor now provides a way to create your own maps. These types of maps will be the most accurate and you can concentrate recording efforts on areas of interest to you.

The second alternative is to leverage the crowd sourced mapping services from Navionics, Humminbird LiveShare, Lowrance CMap/Genesis to acquire better contour maps based on user base recordings and submissions. You will find more popular lakes in Canada having more contour details to supplement any of the older base contour maps. This alternative gives you a head start in the mapping process.

If you wanted enhanced maps available today I'd look into the second alternative for each vendors crowd sourced mapping details for the lakes I want to fish. If one vendor has better maps for the lakes you fish then that may be a significant decision factor for what sonar vendor to select.

If you plan on creating your own maps then all three platforms with mapping feature sets will do the job.

[Mojo-NC]

Some of the newer units come with lake maps already embedded in the unit. You might want to consider that option. I can only speak to Lowrance, but my HDS units came with C-MAP included. You still have the option to purchase a Navionics or another map provider card, but you don't necessarily need to do that.

I will say, even if your lake is not mapped with contour lines, it will likely have the outline of the lake with solid blue representing the water, and it should show islands. You can still mark waypoints for your fishing areas, rocks, hazards, etc. Using a combination of GPS and sonar or downscan on a split screen, it will definitely be much better than sonar or downscan alone. I've been known to mark an outline of a specific depth around my good fishing areas using a string of waypoints.

I will say that the combination of GPS and sonar/downscan has been a serious game changer for my fishing. The lakes I've fished in Canada are contour mapped on Navionics US and Canada, so that has helped a bunch too. One of the lakes I've fished is a fly-in remote lake too, so just because it is remote doesn't mean it isn't mapped. Take a look on the website and see if you can find your lake. Once you see what it looks like, you can decide if purchasing the card is a worthwhile investment. Your other consideration is determining what are you going to use it for and how often will you use it. Only you can determine if the unit is worth the cost for you. If it is only for Canada, maybe you can go in on it with someone else because you only need one per boat.

[prov1800]

My old hds 9 gen 1 which is pretty prehistoric gas been a great buy probably 12 years ago.The chip in it had many lakes missing if i flew in to outpost lakes and even Cliff lake. I was going to vuy a new chip for it but came across a vrwat sale on a hook 7 which came with a new chip for 400 cdn.Great unit and ive made it portable to use in camp boats and i use it for ice fishinv now.Been a good unit for last couple of years.I also bring a garmin inreach (expedition) along as i travell far on some bigger lakes and run out of cell service and could contacta number of people if i needed to. That unit has mapping capability and it can be Bluetoothed to your celk phone which gives you a bigger map and you can text or email from the cell phone.Has been a good item to have have on the flyouts and moose hunts ive been on.