The days of stopping at the local bait shop at a new lake to purchase a paper map, or searching the internet for a DNR map that was done in 1970, have faded away, as anglers now have access to incredible mapping software, both on their marine electronics and smart phones.
Humminbird continues to update and increase the number of lakes that are HD (available in 1’ contours) on their LakeMaster cards. But now anglers can view lake maps, conduct valuable research and save waypoints, all on their smart phones via the Humminbird FishSmart App.
Scott put the Humminbird FishSmart App to use as he was pre-fishing for the TBF National Championship on Bull Shoals, which will be held in early April. Scott has been to this lake before, but was able to hopefully put more pieces of the puzzle together on this scouting trip, than his trip here in 2012.
“The detail of these maps and aerial views are incredible,” stated Scott. “In my opinion, the FishSmart App delivers the best possible mapping option for an angler on their smart phone.”
As tournament anglers travel to different lakes, time is not always on their side to be able to sit down and look over a map of the lake from their home computer and when they drop their boat in the water, they want to go fishing and not spend valuable daylight hours looking at the map on their electronics.
“I was able to zoom in and out of the aerial views to see how boat docks and banks related to the channel swings, which was key for this pre-fishing trip,” stated Scott. “But at the same time, I’m looking ahead to the tournament and seeing where in the back of these creeks bass may move up to spawn, so I can look at the map to see if there are bushes in the back and how much water is/may be on them.”
Doing tasks like this while not on the water, saves times for an angler pre-fishing and expedites the information acquisition process, leaving the angler to go fish while on the water. “Plus it is an extremely easy app to use, which is so important in saving time doing lake research and being able to use the app to its fullest potential.”
The Humminbird FishSmart App works hand-in-hand with the Humminbird HELIX G2N or SOLIX units, along with the LakeMaster Plus cards. You can save a waypoint on your phone and then transfer it via Bluetooth to your Humminbird unit; no more scribbling down GPS coordinates on a cocktail napkin and then needing to enter them into your unit. Or as you relax over a cold drink in the hotel room at night, you can be taking the on the water experiences you had that day and use them to prepare for the next day of pre-fishing, all on your phone.
Just like on the LakeMaster cards when paired with Humminbird units, you can highlight a depth range and adjust the water level offset on the FishSmart App. “Adjusting the water level offset was extremely important to me in practice, as the lake dropped three feet over the first few days.”
The Humminbird FishSmart App is FREE and allows you to purchase high-definition LakeMaster maps that can be transferred wirelessly to any Bluetooth-equipped HELIX or SOLIX unit. Once you have purchased that map, you OWN it and there is no annual subscription fee. You can store the map on an SD care or download the map on to your phone. What the Humminbird FishSmart 2.0 App also allows you to is search for software updates for your Bluetooth equipped HELIX or SOLIX unit, if found, you can download and transfer the file to the internal storage in the control head or send to an SD card.
“This was one of my best practices for a tournament in a long time and I feel that a lot had to do with my use of the FishSmart App,” smiled Bonnema. “Now, hopefully I can find these bass when I go back for the tournament.”
