Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

    i got a new roof for the house.  oh well.  hopefully with the brownie
    points i've been accruing, i can get another 80 as a belated Christmas 
    present!

I got three big Gibbs swimmers for BIG bass (stripers of course) and a huge
Rapala mackeral with tuna hooks on it.

The 26' sport fisherman wasn't in the driveway, but the boat show isn't until
February.

Gordon
 

    Had a few crankbaits in the stocking.  
    
    Wasn't a big tackle year for me, unless you count the pull out CD
    player that I'll be able to swap in and out of the boat & truck 8^).
    
    In the clothing dept my wife and I got each other Ranger sweatshirts and 
    we gave my 5 year old son a Ranger jacket.  Didn't have his name put on 
    it, so he'll be able to pass it on to his little brother.
    
    -donmac

    I got a "Wide One" by Hummingbird!!! The problem is I have never heard
    of it. It's not in the Bass Pro catalog either. It must be a new line
    they carry. 
    
    Has anyone heard of this??? I wanted the Supra I.D. portable for ice
    fishing but never asked for it. I never thought she would get it!!!
    
    Who wants to complicate ice fishing anyways..........
    Bob M� who is waiting for Febuary 4th to win the Winni Ice Fishng Derby

	I saw an ad for a "Wide One" just a day or two ago.  I think it
was in the Gander Mtn catalog.  I can dig it out if you would like.
	It looked like a real trick outfit.  Wanna swap??  :^)


	Jim

    I got my Penn 750ss reel.

    Jim......
    
    Swap for what�?�? I'm still trying to figure out why in fact it's
    called the wide one. It doesn't seem to have a wide screen.....The
    transducer shoots a 16 degree cone..... It's definately sleek in
    design but why is it called the Wide One????????
    
    Maybe I'll take it in the bath tub with me and see what it does :^O
    
    Bob M�
    

	My wife and I gave each other a Penn Slammer 7' light action
	Spinning Rod with a Penn 704Z reel.  Santa gave us lot's of Striper/Blue
	lures and some snap swivel's,sinkers and 17# test line for our rod's.  

	Interesting how Santa knew we each got a rod/reel ;^)

	Best part of all was my son drove down from Concord, NH and gave me a
	Penn 610 Spinning Reel with a 8' Penn rod to match.  It's awesome
	I thought 8' was a tad long for a boat rod but it looks great.
	The 610 holds more line then the 704Z although the 610 is a smaller
	reel.  The rod is medium action so I loaded it up with 20# line
	I loaded the 704Z's with 17# on the Penn Slammer light action rods.

	I spent a lot of time last week during vacation doing maintenance
	on all our equipment preparing for a target launch in late March ;^)

	Now for the Fishing show's/sale's ;^)

	-< Tuna Tail >-

	

    Hummingbird must believe we all fell off the turnip truck. The only
    reason that it's wider is because all the controls are mounted on
    the side. An article by eagle shows that the screen on the Hummingbird
    is not wider at all in fact it is a good 3/8 of an inch shorter than
    the Eagle. Just another marketing gimmick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    
    regards
    
    Don B,

    I'm finally getting the wife trained properly ;-) I chalked up a
    Plano 797 tackle box and a 150$ bass pro gift certificate! What a
    woman...she even convinced my mom that she should give me a bass pro
    gift certificate. 200.00 should about get me a loran with a few dollars
    extra thrown in ...or I could throw in 800.00 and get that
    new hummingbird gps with all the nav charts for the US built in :-)
    
    Has anyone got their 94 catalog yet??? 

RE: .10 >>Has anyone got their 94 catalog yet???

	I spent the winter storm "vacation day" calling all the 800 #'s
	listed in the Saltwater Fisherman's catalog ordering all the
	free one's listed.

	Some said a 1-2 wk wait.
	One was from Hummingbird and that unit sure looked nice in the
	Saltwater Fisherman's catalog.

	I'm thinkin of getting some kinda unit for the FishTeaser this
	spring and don't have any clue as to what kind I should get.
	I did go out 15 miles offshore and would sure like to have known
	where I was in more detail then navigational plotting by comp"ass"
	if you know what I mean ;^)

	Any suggestions for a 19' SeaNymph center console Alum 70hp Johnson
	used mostly in Merrimack R. or off Cape Cod.  I want to take her
	to Nantucket but only on a great day but would like a unit that
	will go the distance.

	-< Tuna Tail >-

    Dick
    
    I may have missed it in your note, but are you looking for a loran or a
    fishfinder?  If a loran, I'ld highly recommend a raytheon (or an
    apelco) or the lowend sitex.  

Joe,
	Already have Lowrance fishfinder so looking for lost...finder.

	I'm not sure what all the diff is between loran, GPS whateva
	and all those waypoint(s) and stuff?

	I did like the one that has the charts on the screen
	but assume those are in the biggo buck class ;^)

	I'd like it to navigate and fix a position instead of worrying about
	wind/tide/surf action on the FishTeaser as she plow's over the sea's.
	;^)

	-< Tuna Tail >-

    Yup, the chart plotters are > $1k, but would be nice to have. 
    Depending on what you have to spend you can find some good
    lost...finders:)  GPS is good but doesn't have the repeatable accuracy
    that the loran has.  Lorans have come way down in price and way up in
    features.  I had a micorlogic for 6 years.  It was easy to use, but
    would drop the signal occasionally.  When I upgraded (thanks to the
    tuna gods), I went with a raytheon.  I became very impressed by them
    one day on Bruce Sweet's boat.  On the way out the antenna fell down,
    but it didn't lose the signal.  My micrologic would drop the signal if
    someone bumped into the antenna.  The apelco should be just about as
    good as the raytheon because i think they're made by the same co.  

I was under the impression that the newer GPS models were much more accurate
than the Loran units.  Yes?  No?  At least I've been lead to believe that 
they can get you much closer to a given waypoint than a Loran unit can.  In
some cases, I've heard of accuracy of within 50' or less.  Doing it on a 
"repeatable" basis may be the issue, but I've got no experience.

I've also heard/read that some GPS units are accurate to within a few yards,
but I also believe those units and the satellite frequencies used are
restricted to government & military use only.

-Joe-

    Yup, the gps is more accurate.  DGPS (differential) will eliminate the
    inaccuracy due to sa (selective availability) in the areas its used. 
    From talking to marine elec shops, the loran still is better with
    repeatablity.  An interesting sidenote wrt gps.  In some cases its more
    accurate than the charts you may be using.

	Loran vs GPS/DGPS?
	Ratheon, Mocrologic, Apelco and others?
	Gizmo's you want it to have/do?
	price $$$ you can afford?

	Will it be best to gather up all this then check them out at	
	the (not soon enough) upcoming boat/fishing show's?

	-< Tuna Tail >-

The problem with GPS repeatability is the government turns
the selective availability on and off without letting you
know.  Therefore, the error factor is unknown.  This is
what our tax $ are being used for.  I understand their
objection to the average citizen having access to any
position on the globe withing a few yards any time they
want.  I also don't want to imagine the impact this might
have on the fish population.  On more than one occasion,
we've caught fish on "the bump next door" due to loran
not being that accurate, so it can be beneficial.

Boy, I can't wait until spring!
Tim

    Go with loran C, it's not going anywhere for another 10-20yrs.
    I have an APelco that I bought in 86 and its still going strong.
    The repeatalbity is the key, some of the structure we fish is less
    than 100 ft and in a sea it tough to find and stay on top off.
    You can get a good loran for under $500 now.
    
    Bruce

While at Owens open house yesterday, I chatted with a rep from Lowrance.  I 
specifically asked him about GPS accuracy and selective availability.  He 
said that although selective availability is the key to repeatable 
accuracy, selective availability is almost always turned on now.

There was some concern following the use of GPS during the Desert Storm 
operation as to whether or not the government should leave it enabled.  
Apparently it was left on as the Japanese have since launched GPS 
satellites where it is always on.  Disabling selective availability on our 
GPS statellites would accomplish very little as GPS systems could use the 
Jap frequencies.

Also, the rep stated that all new Lowrance GPS systems are coming with a 
differential-ready GPS (DGPS) unit.  Input from a differential beacon 
receiver allows the unit to display differentially corrected GPS 
information received from land-based radio beacons.  DGPS is supposed to 
provide position accuracy as close as 5-10 meters.  The rep also said, 
however, that current Lowrance GPS systems are providing even better 
accuracy now that selective availability is turned on.

Most of the Lowrance GPS units provide a wealth of information and are real
easy to use.  The top models offer 200 pixels of vertical resolution are
are easy to see.  In any event, I was pretty impressed with the new line
of Lowrance and Eagle GPS and LCR units.  Geez...some of the better models
even do WINDOWS! 

-Joe-

    RE: .20
    
    Joe,
    	Your info matches everything I've read about it.  All I would add
    is the fact that a differential "ready" GPS means that you can buy and
    install the differential module.  Then they whack you for a few more
    hundred $$$s for the module.
    					B.C.

>>      Your info matches everything I've read about it.  All I would add
>>    is the fact that a differential "ready" GPS means that you can buy and
>>    install the differential module.  Then they whack you for a few more
>>    hundred $$$s for the module.                                       


 B.C.

The impression I got from the Lowrance rep is that the DGPS module may 
not be necessary to achieve repeatable accuracy as selective availability is
almost always on now.  But you're right.  They'll nail you for DGPS module.

In any event, they've come a long way with the technology.  I wouldn't be
surprised to see a mini-GPS system built into a watch within a few years,
along with the tide charts, moon phases and LCR display. 

-HSJ-

The problem is you *never know* when SA is on or off.
That's the whole point.

Your tax $ and mine going to something we can almost use.

Tim