Fishing
Put your hitch ball on TV
When hooking up to your boat trailer, how many times do you have to get out of your tow vehicle and walk back to check on the stormy relationship between its hitch ball and the trailer’s coupler?[…]
Marine Electronics
Fishing
Phone-in boat control
There seems to be no end to the number of ways smartphones and tablets can help us. Just about the time I thought I couldn’t be surprised by another smart-electronics revelation, I discovered that they can now operate a bow-mounted trolling motor.[…]
Fishing
Understanding Navspeak
Looking through an owner’s manual for a new GPS navigation unit, I was surprised at how much the manual assumed I already knew. Some of the terminology was so poorly explained I don’t know how a newcomer to GPS navigation would figure it all out.[…]
Fishing
Garmin’s GPS/sonar combo units create custom maps
Garmin bills its new echoMAP CHIRP models as a series of “entry-level” combination sonar/GPS units with built-in CHIRP sonar technology, but I think the term “affordable” fits better.[…]
Fishing
Sometimes bigger and better are separate improvements – Big-screen GPS units allow for greater fishing flexibility
Back when big-screen LCD fish finders started appearing on professional tournament anglers’ boats I discussed them with walleye pros Scott and Marty Glorvigen.[…]
Fishing
‘Marine-grade’ means more than you might think
Owning a boat long enough to pay it off has a dark side. I usually own a fishing boat about 15 years — long enough to get it set up just right for me and, unfortunately, long enough to see electrical problems develop.[…]
Fishing
High-tech developments haven’t changed sonar basics
Current-generation sonar units show the underwater world with a level of realism fishermen could only dream of 30 or 40 years ago.[…]
Fishing
New trolling motors solve old boat-handling problems
One of fishing’s truths is that more casts mean more fish in the boat. And anything that eliminates distractions and saves time helps you make more casts and lets you pay more attention to your fishing.[…]
Fishing
What is Meosar?
Delving into the COSPAS-SARSAT system can quickly have you drowning in alphabet soup.[…]
Fishing
Simrad’s new Halo radar solves problems
Some things about radar that used to be considered common knowledge are no longer valid — and some, of course, never were.[…]
Fishing
Smart battery charging 101
Fishermen learn the easy way or the hard way that how long a trolling motor battery lasts depends on how competently they charge it. I’d go so far as to say that proper charging can be more important than how well the battery is built and how much you paid for it.[…]
Fishing
Portable power
The last time you were miles from anywhere, turned your boat’s ignition key and heard nothing, what did you do?[…]
Fishing
Almost live TV
One of the most-difficult aspects of teaching fishermen and boaters to interpret conventional sonar screens has been getting them to understand how a screen picture is made.[…]
Fishing
New high-tech night-fishing light
Crossing a bridge over a southern reservoir on a summer night can treat you to a light show that really makes you want to wet a line. When the bite is on and the word is out, the flooded timber can be dotted with enough lights to look like a field of stars.[…]
Fishing
One size doesn’t fit all
Every now and then, as I poke along through life, I’m hit with small blasts of clarity. Usually, it isn’t over anything new, just a clarification of a fuzzy thought that’s been lurking in the back of my mind.[…]
Fishing
Power where you need it
Most boats come equipped with fuse blocks bearing just enough fuses to power their factory-installed 12-volt equipment, and you are on your own if you want to add accessories.[…]