Global Positioning Systems: How important are they when catfishing? Will a GPS help me catch more catfish?

Catfishermen have always found their honey holes prior to the GPS technology. using the ole trial and error plus many days spent on the water is how it was done.
When the GPS was available and affordable to the general public, it defiantly made catfishing less time consuming and more productive.

For me, it is an essential tool that helps me in many ways. As soon as I launch my boat I will turn my depth finder on, which also has GPS capabilities.

I utilize this unit for various situations throughout the day. The GPS and mapping chip installed allows me view, mark and navigate and utilize several aspects of the unit for safe and successful trip.

What would I use a GPS for when fishing for catfish?

1. Mapping – most lakes or impoundments are very well defined in the contour of the bottom, allowing you to locate key spots that could hold catfish, such as under water points, ditches and depression along with old creek channels and more. Rivers however are not as defined in the contour of the bottom but more defined on the navigational channels. This will help pin point where you can safely run and help in locating key spots along the channel that will hold catfish. If you are fishing new water and are not sure of where to run, having real time mapping capability can help. The ability to zoom in on detail and look for contours, shallow water hazards and structure is a huge benefit. Also mapping allows me to mark certain waypoints along the contour or channels when im searching for catfish.

2. Marking locations – I use the GPS to mark certain locations when I’m searching for catfish. I do mark single locations like a brush piles or structure of some sort with a waypoint however I will also mark several locations in an area that intend to drift.

And as i begin to drift fish, I will so to say, connect the dots, drifting from one way point to the next. staying on the channel edge or drop. For an example: on the river I will find the main channel and most of the time it will be well defined with a significant drop of 4 foot or more.

I will then begin to zigzag back and forth over the channel as I work my way up or down river, marking a waypoint about every 100 foot as it drops off in the channel. Soon will have up to 10-15 waypoint marks along the defined channel edge and ill start back at the beginning and drift my waypoints, following my marks and connecting the dots until I’ve reached the end.

3. Navigation – I fish a lot of new water throughout the United States fishing the various catfishing tournament trails and rely on my GPS for navigation. Knowing where to run safely makes me more efficient and gives me a piece of mind that I won’t run up on underwater island or shallow flats and other underwater hazards. The navigational mapping can also be helpful at night or in foggy conditions on new water or filimlar water.

4. Database – My GPS saves all my data that I have input into it, so it also serves as a fishing log. You can name your waypoints on your depth finder as you make them to jog your memory about certain spots when you’re in the area. Download your saved waypoints to your computer and analyze or edit them from your PC. This can help find patterns and make game plans for future trips.

Is GPS something that I need to have to be successful?

No, like I said, anglers have been catching fish for ever without the use of a GPS with just a little basic knowledge of where to look. However the GPS can save some time and take the guess work out of the equation. And when you combine some good basic knowledge with the GPS, this will make you more successful.

Fish finders, Depth finders or Sonar’s. No matter what you want to call them, they are all the same in what they do by helping the angler determine the best place to throw some baits. but in this post we’er going to refer to them as a depth finders.

here is the video that the above picture was extracted from, see the hit in real time

How Depthfinders Works
Depth finders work by sending out an electronic impulse from the unit to the transducer. The transducer converts the impulse into a sound wave that is beamed through the water column. The sound wave will travel downward until it reaches the bottom structure, after which it will bounce back to the transducer. The sound wave will also travel through any objects found between the lake bottom and the surface of the water and (fish or baitfish). When the signal is received, the unit will then make its interpretations, finally showcasing the results on the screen.

Technology has advances in the last five years that gives us more choices and options like the side view and the GPS mapping, just more tools to help us in our search for our targeted species. The GPS is the coolest thing though for marking a mapping path of a deep ledge by making way points every 50-100 foot and then its just a matter of connecting the dots with your boat keeping the baits in the strike zone and you can get right back on that ledge the next time your fishing the area. This saves a lot of searching time.

The new side view is cool because you can see structure up to 150 ft out each side of the boat, making it easier to find structure and potential spots, mark that spot on your GPS and you will be able to set up on it quickly.

There are many different brands and horsepower’s along with prices that will reflect on the amount of gadgets and task they perform. It just depends on where you fish and what you want it to do when choosing a depth finder.

The power of a sonar unit is described in Watts. The term “peak to peak” is used to describe the overall output power of the transmitter. When dealing with depth finders, the higher the wattage, the more efficient and powerful the overall unit will be. The bare minimum peak-to-peak power would be 800 Watts Low wattage will ultimately bring you slow readouts, meaning a delayed reaction for a reading of a spot you have already traveled over, but accurate at keeping you in touch with the bottom.

These low-wattage units will run anywhere from 99.00 to 300.00 and will keep you in touch with the bottom structure and maybe give you a temp reading.
One key point to remember: before you purchase a unit, the shallower the water you fish, the less power you will need.

For those that fish deeper water (such as the big rivers and reservoirs) I would recommend the higher wattage units 3000 plus Watts. these units can run from 499.00 to 2200.00 it’s best to choose the most powerful unit that will do what you want it to do, for what your wallet will allow.