Cod report

[SamRiley]

Lets get the painful part over with first... I got skunked :(
Here is how the morning went:

Arrived at Singing Beach in Manchester around 9:00 am on Sunday. Just as the Marine forecast had promised, wind >10mph and waves >1', perfect for cold water paddling. There was 2-3' surf right at the waters edge but with my spray skirt on and good timing, I got through it dry as a bone. Sitting in the calm water just off the beach I turned on all of my electronics (Fishfinder and new GPS). This morning I was heading for Gales Ledge which is a little less than a mile South of Singing Beach. http://www.webpost.net/sa/samriley/Gales.jpg Based on waypoints that I had programmed at home, my plan was to hit the tops of each of the underwater peaks and jig with the current until I found Cod. I never did. What made the morning though was seeing how well the mapping part of my GPS worked. The finder verified the accuracy of the chart data and the GPS got me to my targets easily. After a couple of hours of probing the ledge it was time to head home of our annual Easter celebration.

I think next time I'll bring clams in addition to my jigs

[Wes]

Very slick post, you're going to have a lot of fun with those gadgets.

[ruge13]

Sam, even if you got skunked I am jealous....

[RIBill]

Sam: veeerrrryyyy slick, indeed. you're frightening!!

[Coof]

Sam,

Could you fill us in on the particulars of your GPS System?

it looks like a winner!

Thanks!

[SamRiley]

It's a Garmin MAP76 http://www.garmin.com/graphics/gpsmap76PIC.jpg Pretty pricey unit but I just turned one of those big round numbers in Feb and my wife wanted to get me something extra nice :) I added on the optional BlueChart cartography http://www.garmin.com/cartography/bluechart/region.jsp?RegionPK=50 and this is where the unit gets the data to map. Main reason I chose this one over others... IT FLOATS

[ruge13]

Sam, I took a look at the BlueChart software from Garmen. I noticed that it actually converts to vector graphics. Have you ever used GIS software? I think the Marine fisheries survey actually has Vector maps made for fish frequencies by species in coastal NEw England waters. With GIS you would be able to download GPS points or series from your garmand unit to a desktop and actually select bottom structure for species frequency when you overlay the Bluechart with the speces frequency maps. Be a sweet little project. Unless someone had already done that, and they probably have, just gotta find it. That would seriously cut down your search for fish by allowing you to target structures with high fish frequencies. I guess you could also just ask in a bait shop where people are getting fish and go from there...probably be alot easier

[ruge13]

I had copied a picture of a map of fisheries habitats but the forum said the file size was too big. Here is the links...its under image gallery.
http://www.ccom-jhc.unh.edu/gallery.html
it would be sweet if you could find maps like this for the blue chart area, and dowload them to the garmand unit. I am not so sure it would let you do this. Mpas in vector format are enormous files. But, this is an exaple, overlay this with your bluechart GPS plots and you could plot a chart to areas of the most dense fish habitat. That would make finding fish easier, but finding the map...not so easy.

[ruge13]

the image I was talking abot is in the bottom row, second one from the right....