Fly Fishing

jeremy · Location: Portland, Maine

I do a lot of saltwater fly fishing in a small skiff - and a hand held GPS unit has been priceless for me. It amazes me that the service for any GPS is FREE. Anyway, for simplicity sake I got Garmin E-trex. It was cheap and super simple to use and if fog rolled in and visibility went to 10 feet or so, I could rely on this thing to an amazing degree. Another thing I thought was important was that because I use this out in the elements I was only interested in the absolute basic needs of being able to set waypoints, lay down a "bread crumb trail" and return to or get to any spot via the exact same way I came. This device is also good for marking spots on rivers and so on and so forth .. Yes, my cell phone has GPS tracking in it - BUT, that requires cell phone service .. and let's say I am 20 miles off shore or deep int the Maine woods - cell service is non existent. Also, the cheaper units use AA batteries as opposed to an internal rechargable lithium battery. I like this option because I always make a point to cary a full pack of fresh batteries in my dry bag so that I always can rest assured that I will have power.

Anyway - My little Garmin E-trex is 2 years old and perhaps a bit too simple .. I have no maps or any of those things .. I was wondering if anyone else carries a handheld GPS device? If so, are there any new technologies I might want to consider .. do you recommend any particular brand or any particular technologies that are beneficial or useful for fishing?

Also, has anyone used the SPOT GPS MESSENGER? If you click on the link, you will see that they a unique page just for "fishing" applications. Any thoughts on this? Does anyone think that this tool may be a good alternative to a standard e-trex hand held GPS devise?

Ok, thanks. GPS is pretty amazing technology and it amazed me that once you buy the devise, the service is FREE. And, especially is saltwater fly fishing applications where a boat is involved, a hand held GPS one of the most critical tools to carry. Thanks.

greg · Posted: Sat 12/19/09 8:59 am Post subject: Applications

I went to the link provided on Jeremy's post and have decided that the "Spot" and it's applications sound perfect for me. I had a handheld GPS a few years ago but it had nowhere near the functions of this handheld. I know other people who have bought these and just rave about their utility wether on sea, lake or looking for that secret spot in the woods. For those of us that often fish alone in distant places the emergency features could be very important. Thanks for the link.
Greg

gunner · Location: Monmouth, ME & Hudson, FL

Jeremy, you have to understand that a GPS unit is a receiver only -- kind of like a standard AM/FM radio. The satellites above were put there by the government to transmit for use initially by the military and subsequently civilians got into the receiver game. You have already paid for the service, if you pay taxes, to have the satellites put up there, constantly transitting their signals, which the GPS unit them receives and by triangulation, just doess the math interanlly to compute where you are at the moment.

Spot, on the other hand, is both a receiver and a transmitter, hence you have to pay for some service, annually.
Joe