GPS is good to have

Wow, an experience I've had that's not an example of what not to do!
Well, sorta....

Yessnoo reminded me of what good fishing maps Google Earth printouts yield. They are great for finding ponds and cuts in the marsh (especially with a GPS!) and a picture is worth at least 1.5k words.



To wit, the picture above is Guano Lake (yes, as in bat shit). It's a lovely little impoundment that's alternately flooded and drained according to a dam and the tide. It was supposed to be chocked full of Redfish, Specked Trout, some Snook, and lots of alligators. I was attempting to fish it just after the annual big drain as it concentrates bait and fish (well, it sounded good at the time ) 
 
This pic is a little better than a mile and a half wide and much of Guano "lake" is marsh that's covered with 4' tall marsh grass and at kayak level, you really can't see much other than the water in front of you.(everything brown in the picture)  At the bottom of the picture is a tall pine grove (green) and at the top is a 10' high embankment of mixed pines and palmettos. Above that is highway A1A and above that is the Atlantic Ocean.  I'd never fished there before but I'd heard that lake "A" on the right side of the picture, was the spot to start.

  The conventional route to "A" is that green line. But I saw a "canal" that looked like it ran straight to the lake to the left just after the launch. It did, but after a couple hundred yards it thinned to 6" deep. I pressed on figuring it'd get deeper towards the lake. It didn't.
I slogged through 3"-4" of water and 4' of mud for the next hour and a half (the red line). Did I mention that this was supposed to be a "quick" trip and I was supposed to done by noon? It was 9:30 before my boat could float again with me in it. (Point "A") Not so bad, so I fished back towards the launch and figured I'd go back up the canal that I was supposed to take in the first place (green line). 
 
 From this god-like perspective its obvious that I missed the canal   So I paddled to point "B", then paddled towards what looked like a break in the trees and "must" be the parking lot. It is. Just the wrong one and it does not have a launch. I turned back and went a little further and went down a canal to point "C" where the water got skinny again and was not taking me to the launch. I paddled back and made that loop de loop and on to point "D" at which point I figured that I was lost and going to have to bushwhack through the pines to get to the road.

(Wait, I thought this was not supposed to be another example of what not to do?)

It is

 After sweating the thought of more slogging though some lovely gator nesting spots for an interminably long 30 or 40 seconds, the light came on. I have a GPS/FF!!! I pushed some buttons, found my track and the canal that I was supposed to be in. (The M56's mapping function constantly surprises me with the level of detail it has in some places and not others  )  I was waaay past where I was supposed to be!  So I turned around and went home. Didn't get back to the launch till about 1 pm, but I still made the 4:30 plane. (don't ask )

Moral of the story? Learn how to use your tools (and don't forget that you have them)

More than once I've been geocaching at night and there is no way I'd have found my way back to the car without the unit.

However, without it, I wouldn't have been out geocaching at night in the first place...

I like to use the fish-Maps with gps coordinates and program my gps to get to a certain fishing spot. And my kids and I like to do the geo-cache thing as well.

Insert standard "I got lost and wish I had a GPS" story here ...

Early on in my kayak fishing career I took a fishing trip out of Davenport, CA.  The girlfriend tagged along in the triple.  We lanched to slightly foggy conditions which appeared to be clearing.  We got out to "the spot" and gfriend starts feeling seasick.   "Can we go in?"   "WHAT?!?"  "I'll head to town and get you an ollalaberry pie and you can go back out and fish some more."  "OK!"  By now the fog was mostly cleared and we made it back to shore just fine.  I headed back out and yes, the fog rolled back in.  I don't remember the fishing being that good and finally I headed in.  Uh, which way is in?  Picked a direction and went.  Finally hit land, but it didn't look too familiar.  Then I started hearing the sounds of the quarry (or is it a cement factory?).  I was about a mile south of the launch.  Good thing I hit that as that is probably the only discernible landmark in that area (other than the launch).  That was the first day I met Bill of NCKA.  He too got lost and ended up taking the same route I did.  Both of us got GPS units soon thereafter.  And VHF radios too!!!

-Allen

I have a hand held marine GPS collecting dust, that I previously used as a backup for sailing trips. Maybe this could be a good thing to get a Ram mount for ocean fishing?

Allen whats an olallaberry? (know where my mind is)

Allen whats an olallaberry? (know where my mind is)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olallieberry

-Allen

Guess I'll add my story. Last November I was doing some blackmouth fishing out in the sound and the previous few days the fog was pretty thick. When I launched there was some fog out there but not so bad. I set out trolling for about three hours and the fishing was good so wasn't paying too much attention to the conditions. I finally looked up and it was all pea soup. My FF was doing fine so fired up the gps and got back on track. I was pretty far from where I thought I was so got back in line and decided to troll back since my battery wasn't too fresh. On the way back two guys in an aluminum boat came putting by and asked "where's the shore". I pointed to my left and they both were totally surprised. Turned out they were going in circles for an hour and a half and hadn't even seen any other boaters! They woulda been toast if they were kayaking.

Z

I've told my story elsewhere on this board, but here's the quick and dirty version:

On Silver Lake in Cowlitz Co. I separated from the group and started meandering around the islands and channels trying to find fish.  The sun started to sink and I had no clue as to where I was- the landscape looked pretty much the same and I was pretty turned around.  Sure of where I was going, I paddled hard and fast until I came across completely new landmarks I hadn't seen earlier that day.  I got lucky and found a father and son in a jon boat who pointed me in the right direction.  It was nearly dark at this point and I was about two miles and quite a few turns away from the launch.  I ended up getting towed to within sight of the launch.  Had I had a GPS, I could have at least saved my pride.  If this happened on the salt or during weather I wasn't prepared for, it could have been much, much worse.  I am now the proud owner of a Garmin GPSmap 60csx.   

Some where way south of you guys...put in by myself, paddled out bout a mile to a little reef that's hard to find with no GPS fished for many hours... I figured I could find my way by the crash of the surf on the rocks... yea right!!! in my head I was just a little south of the launch and out about 1/4 mile some guys I know on a PB cruise up and after swapping fish stories they ask me if I know where i am?  yeah the launch is right over there right?  they sorta laugh and tell me I had drifted about a mile north of where I thought I was and that I should invest in a GPS... what's that saying "God looks after drunks and stupid people"

Mike...