Winter 2019
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70
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Since he runs mapping cards in his Lowrance units, the Navionics app serves more as a research and planning tool before he visits a lake for a fishing trip or tournament.
“I use Navionics more to prepare for my trips, and the good thing is you can easily do it while you are in front of the TV, at work, or wherever,” he shared.
While not necessarily a mobile app, Elam shared that he also uses the Google Earth desktop program to see historical pictures when lakes were lower to prepare for a tournament.
“I use this for just about every body of water I fish,” he stated. “I use the historical imagery feature and find the picture where the lake was at its lowest point and also look for the clearest picture I can find.
“If you can find a picture of when the lake was 20-feet low, you can see roadbeds, ledges, deeper docks, rockpiles and so much more information that you can use to help you locate fish when you arrive.”
It is also possible to convert saved locations from Google Earth to waypoints that he places into his Lowrance units. The process does require some technical savvy and conversion to the proper format, but thankfully many how-to sources can be quickly found with an internet search.
TIDAL APP
When fishing in tidal waters, Elam looks closely at the NOAA Buoy and Tide Data app. “The tide is crucial and many times we are fishing far from towns and this app
has data on many different tide stations; so, it is much more accurate to where I am actually fishing,” he said.
ANGLR
The ANGLR app has many different features that help bass anglers, and Elam says it serves as a great way to store information about his trips. He utilizes the app along with two other products they make to gather even more data.
“I start my trip, open the app and can put the phone
away,” he explained. “Once the app is running it will
track my day, and with the ANGLR Bullseye, I can
mark waypoints with the touch of a button. The
Bullseye is a device that he wears around his neck,
but it can you can also affix it to the brim of your
hat.
The other way he tracks his day is with the
ANGLR Tracker that is mounted to his rod. “ It
measures every cast I make and fish I catch,” he
said. “All of that data is stored and includes the
time, barometric pressure and other trends I can
use to develop patterns. The cool thing is that 15
years from now I will have all of the data stored
from my trips.”
With so many mobile apps available, it makes
sense to use them for your advantage and prepare
for your fishing trips. There are countless good
apps on the market that fishermen are using for
researching and collecting data.
As Elam says, “if you are not using them to your advantage, you are missing out.” •