Ways a depthfinder enhances a fishing map:

1. Knowing a precise location- Your depthfinder agrees with your fishidy.com map.

2. Updating your fishing map- Navigating with a fishing map and a depthfinder tells the angler if his map is accurate.

3. Finding specific locations and structure- A depthfinder is necessary to confirm that exact location

4. Visualizing a 3-D image- Projects enough data for an angler to create a mental view of the subsurface environment.

5. Staying on edges with fish- Weed edges and breaklines are outstanding places to catch fish and an angler must have a depthfinder to stay on top of them.

6. Estimating distance- Depthfinders display speed and distance traveled on screen.

7. Locating Fish- A depthfinder will tell you whether fish are present or to motor on to the next predetermined area to fish.

Depthfinders have become an integral part of every angler’s tools over the past decade or so. The term depthfinder refers to a device utilizing sonar. Sonar emits high frequency sound waves that are inaudible to fish and humans. These impulses strike an object and reflect back to a receiver. The receiver measures the time it took for the impulses to return and continually calculates the distance between it and the object. Screens, graphs, or calibrated flashes display distance. The data you obtain from a depthfinder screen, in part, includes: bottom composition, bottom terrain, depth, structure type and configuration, presence of fish, size of fish, and submerged weeds and wood. With the bank of information a depthfinder furnishes, savvy anglers can create a complete representation of the fish’s world—a picture that will allow them to catch more fish.

A map will help you find all three important fish zones: sanctuaries, travel routes, and feeding areas that are influenced by:

- Light
- Weather
- Feeding Influences

Fish spend most of their time in sanctuaries holed up where they are safe and comfortable (adequate oxygen and acceptable temperature). In most cases, fish sanctuaries are the deepest pockets in a defined area that includes access to food. All species of fish move from their sanctuaries to areas where they actively feed as hunger triggers movement. Once their stomachs are full, they return to their sanctuaries. A theory states that weather and light activate fish movement. Low pressure storm fronts stimulate fish to move and feed. When the front passes and the weather clears, fish are less active and are found tight to cover. A principle of fish behavior is all movement takes place along defined routes. Fish orient themselves with certain features of their underwater environment and travel set pathways between feeding areas and holding areas. Game fish will often move from deep water into feeding grounds in search of minnows or forage. When looking for game fish, an area with shallow weedbeds or fish attractors will hold minnows or forage. At the edge of the flat the water drops sharply, eventually to a hole known as a sanctuary and an angler will be able to intercept game fish as they move from their sanctuaries into feeding areas in low light conditions. Top-of-the-line fishing maps on Fishidy.com include a section of proven tips and techniques to enhance your fishing success. Angling experts put together a list of hot baits and techniques that are helpful in getting you started on the lake or reservoir. Fishidy maps put you ahead of users of a plain contour map.

When looking for that ideal spot for spawning fish, there is no better location to start than near structure. Keep in mind that fish relate to measurable current, wind action, and shallow contours when spawning. An easy way to find these successful fishing locations is to use an accurate map with marked legends. The lake maps on Fishidy.com, like above, may illustrate stumps or timber in the shallows, two channels labeled in red, and fish attractors in the deeper water with a great break lines. The current will push food to the fish and the variance of water will allow fish to suspend deeper or shallower depending on sunlight conditions. These underwater features are magnets for fish. Study a fishing map to find areas likely to hold the preferred food of the species you seek. The more you study a map, the more fish you will have the opportunity to meet on the end of your line and you will no longer be fishing blind.

Fishing maps are critical to helping anglers understand fish behavior. Fish have three basic needs:

•Habitat (appropriate light, oxygen levels, cover)
•Food (a steady supply of it)
•Reproduction (existence)
As an angler comes to understand the habits and behavior of fish, they can more easily locate fish and catch them. Environment and instinct dictate the behavior patterns of fish. The cold-blooded fish seek comfort zones, preferring to locate in a temperature layer that also provides safety. For example, a smallmouth bass blends well with rocks and shelves, providing it with natural camouflage/cover. Rocks are also home to a smallie’s favorite food, crayfish. Not all rocky areas hold smallies, however, a savvy smallmouth angler looks at a fishing map and finds underwater rocks, then fishes those suitable areas.

The contour maps will designate which rock piles will have the ideal water temperature and oxygen levels. Thus, allowing the angler to focus on key spots and eliminate the searching. This is just one example of how understanding fish behaviors in conjunction with a good fishing map will help you eliminate unsuccessful time on the water. Once you’ve located your “hot spots”, mark them on Fishidy.com so you can reference them again and again.

Fishing maps tell me where the marina or boat launch is, which I select after identifying the best hot spots on the map (so I can get to the action much faster!). Maps also tell me what to pack in my tackle box. For example, if the map shows a lot of flooded timber, then I know I need to bring a medium to heavy-duty rod and reel, and some tough line so I don’t easily break off fish or lose lures in the heavy cover.

I also pay careful attention to water depth. If I’m targeting smallmouth bass on my home lake of Lake Mendota, I know fish can be caught from very shallow water (4-5 feet) up to big drops-offs (40 feet). That means I need to pack to some lightweight or top water lures as well as heavier jigs, plastics and deeper crankbaits. If I’m fishing a mostly shallow body of water, like Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, I would pack the typical crankbaits, plastic lizards and short worms.

Having a plan of attack and understanding the entire body of water is crucial. I like to relate it to football. Each week a team prepares a game plan — fishing should be no different. Having a solid understanding of planned fishing spots, launch locations and the gear needed to catch fish at those locations will lead to a greater likelihood of success. And like football, it’s great to have some “audibles”, in case your well-known spots just aren’t producing. In order to have audibles on a fishing trip, you must have a solid understanding of the entire body of water.

Make it easy on yourself to study up on your favorite waterway maps at Fishidy.com. Connect with me, Brian Jensen, and I’ll share the tips and tricks I’ve got up my sleeve!

Written by Brian Jensen, Courtesy of Fishing with Maps by Fishing Hot Spots

Over the last 30 years, maps made specifically for anglers have become synonymous with catching fish. You no longer need to spend time learning a new body of water the way the old-timers did, through sheer expense and effort. Expert fisherman used to spend 10 to 20 seasons trying to discover the peculiarities of one lake so they could catch fish consistently. Today, for the same cost of a good crankbait you can obtain professionally made, highly accurate maps that WILL help you catch more fish.

Fishing maps are displayed proportionally or scaled to real world settings. Good fishing maps should provide GPS coordinates and a legend. Maps have limited space, so symbols represent a variety of features. The map legend defines those symbols. A few map symbol examples include weeds, fish attractors and flooded timber.

Fishidy.com maps include structures and vegetation, access points, contours and navigational points and even Fishing Hot Spots proven, marked areas. Visit Fishidy.com to learn more.

Written by Brian Jensen, courtesy of Fishing with Maps by Fishing Hot Spots

Through our partnership with Fishing Hot Spots® (FHS), we’ve added detailed contour and navigational mapping for three Great Lakes (Michigan, Superior and Huron). The new mapping provides full coverage of these three lakes and supplements our existing mapping for Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. That means Fishidy.com now provides full coverage of all five Great Lakes. Earlier this year, Fishidy added hundreds of thousands of square miles of saltwater fishing maps, thus providing almost 100% coverage of the continental United States. This added to our already impressive collection of fishing maps, which includes 4,000+ inland fishing maps, hundreds of existing saltwater fishing maps and now full coverage of the Great Lakes.

“The FHS research staff has spent countless hours collecting, processing and mapping over 78,000 square miles of water to finish the Great Lakes mapping now available on Fishidy.com,” says Brandt Brown, Director of Research of Development for FHS.

Well done guys! We’re happy to continue to provide the most comprehensive fishing maps for all types of anglers. Fishidy.com is also pleased to announce new layers available on our fishing maps that give users even more customization options for their personal fishing maps stored on Fishidy.com. The layers include the Fishidy basic mapping features: access points, contours and navigation, general features, 8 different weather layers, buddies’ catches, your own catches and your bookmarks. Our Premium users get access to three additional layers, Fishing Hot Spots marked areas, structures and vegetation and sea surface temperatures.

Customizing your maps on Fishidy.com helps anglers plan their time on the water, track and report on their fishing adventures and catch more fish!

Fishidy.com is working hard to expand and improve our website on a daily basis. We love hearing recommendations and feedback frorm our community so please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Check out the new Great Lakes data and mapping features now at www.fishidy.com.

You know how fun it is to show off a great catch right? Well, we’d like to offer you the chance to show it off, but in an even more exciting way. Fishidy is collecting your best fishing photos to be featured right on Fishidy.com! If chosen, your photo will be used as an example of great fishing to anglers across the country. And that’s not all – chosen anglers will also get a free year-long Premium Membership on Fishidy.com along with a cool Fishidy t-shirt to wear on your next outing. Look how much this guy likes his!

It’s really simple to send us your photo. Just go to our Facebook page to enter. Enter your name, email, species in the photo, the waterway you snagged it on and then upload your photo. It’s as simple as that.

Don’t forget – being a Premium Member on Fishidy.com means you have access to hundreds of thousands of marked fishing spots powered by Fishing Hot Spots (a long-time trusted name in the industry) on thousands of waterways across the country. Premium members can also print out any of our fishing maps. There are lots of benefits to joining Fishidy.com – like catching more fish!

Share your photos with us today. We’ll contact you if you’ve been chosen to prepare you for the impending fame you’ll face.

Tight lines!

Trout are curious creatures. Their main diet consists of other fish, a variety of flies, other insects and some types of worms. Trout longer than 12 inches tend to hone in on “smaller” fish that can be up to 1/3 of their size.

Since they eat such a wide variety of meals, I believe it can be hard to go to a stream with ONLY a fly rod or ONLY a spinning combo and consistently be on fish. This is because both fly and spinning set-ups have their strengths and weaknesses. Now, again, my knowledge on this area is far from an expert, but from fishing streams for the last couple weeks I’ve made a few basic observations. With my good friend, Brian Thiel, using his fly rod and wielding spinning gear myself, I’ve come up with this basic list of pros and cons.

Spinning Rod

Pros:

+ Ability to throw fast moving baits such as in-line spinnerbaits and small crankbaits

+ Can fish with live bait such as night crawlers, minnows, cut bait and smaller worms

+ Fish from shore with ease

+ Low initial cost to everyday fisherman

+ Drag systems on reels

+ Creates reaction strikes

Cons:

- Less accurate casting

- Cost of spinnerbaits > cost of flies

- Cannot cast light-weight flies/lures very well

- Lure entry can create an eruptive splash

- Short periods of time where lure is in strike zones

Fly Rod

Pros:

+ Extreme casting accuracy (if you’re good!)

+ Ability to cast super, light-weight flies long distances

+ Flies are CHEAP!

+ Quiet lure entry

+ Ability to “match the hatch” with flies

+ Flies can be floated in high percentage areas longer

Cons:

- Casting requires a ton of skill and practice!

- Tougher to get deep fish to bite

- More room is needed to cast (this means being in the water most times and an increased chance at spooking fish)

- More “moving parts” such as tippet, reels without drag systems, etc.

- Much more expensive! – $40-50 dollar line, rod, reel, backing, leaders, tippets, strike indicators, waders, net — the list goes on!

Again, I’m not an expert (yet) on this trout fishing stuff, but I feel like between fishing with spinning tackle and watching Brian on the fly rod I’ve gained a ton of knowledge very quickly! We’ve had days where he’s out fished me 2-1 on the flies, and there have been days where I’ve out fished him 5-0 with spinning gear.

It’s become very clear to me that there are better times and places for each, but being able to recognize that is the key to continuously staying on active fish. So far, the spinning tackle has definitely been able to find bigger fish, but there is no doubt in my mind there are many big keepers to be had on the fly rod!

In no time I’ll be one of those newbies with a fly rod, but until then I’ll continue fishing along side my fly rod companion and giving these predators of the stream a run for their money!

Oh and of course, I’m marking all my fly fishing catches on Fishidy.com. Join today and connect with me!

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to go along with a couple of friends to a public trout stream west of Madison, WI. Since it’s been a tough winter and spring for me to swallow — with game species seasons still closed to anglers – I’ve been trying to find ways to get around not being able to fish for bass.

For me, catching potato chip-sized gills and shore fishing for walleyes can only suffice for so long. I needed to branch out and try something different. That’s where my buddy, and Fishidy.com member, Brian Thiel, comes in handy! We’ve talked for ages about going trout fishing in the area.

So we grabbed our waders, he grabbed his fly rod, I tied a #1 Panther Martin’s on a spinning rod, and we were off! The conditions were ideal for fishing this time of year, 65 degrees and overcast with some drizzle from time to time. I couldn’t have asked for better on my first venture out to the streams.

The action wasn’t all that bad either! I managed to land two small trout, lost a few including one that would’ve been legal size when the season opens on the 5th of May in Wisconsin. I realize the couple I caught were just shy of the legal 9” mark, but I was so ecstatic about just being able to catch them on my first attempt at this whole trout fishing ordeal. There were many other hits and misses I should’ve capitalized on, but that’s what happens when you do something for the first time. To be honest, I haven’t been this fired up about fishing since safe ice this past winter!

When fishing becomes a true passion in your life, like it has for me over the last 10 years, you begin to branch out and try new techniques and pursue different species. I’ve realized in the past couple years that it’s not all about being able to continuously do what you’re good at, but to keep trying new things and setting new goals each year.

That’s how we, as anglers, grow and learn how to react to different situations and changes in how fish think and act. Technology, such as the interactive maps on Fishidy.com, can be a great resource to learn about new waterways, species and techniques to successfully get on quality fish each time out, but it’s the guys and gals that know how to react to the surroundings that produce day after day on the water.

Keep learning, keep researching the maps on Fishidy and go get ‘em!