Always learning and always using every tool on my boat to my advantage. Being able to self educate yourself on how to read contour lines and use them in comparison with your sonar and down / side scan is awesome.I have recently been targeting areas in SC for cobia, bull reds, sharks, etc… and have been focusing hard on areas I have done sonar logs on with my Platinum+ Cards. It really tightens everything up for me and gives me a more accurate area that I should be focusing on. 90% of the fish live in 10% of the water, right? Better be getting that 10% dialed in. I have been focusing in on the tight contour lines that represent steep drops and rises that funnel into holes or humps. Paying off for sure!
What Else Do You All Like To Look For When Reading Charts?
I am heavy on the colors since my eye sight has gotten worse to understand the depth. My Navionics app is what I use mostly since I dont have the SD card with the mapping detail.
The pink birds / dots notate marine sanctuaries and such. If they bother you and, IF you have an option on your plotter/bottom machine to turn off restricted areas, the pink birds will go away. Hope this helps.
But shouldn’t Navionics plot the pink bird(s) where marine sanctury really exisit? Have 'em here in Wildwood, NJ as well as Georgetown offshore with no ryhme & reason where they show up on your display & zoom level.
Fishing the beaches, Bays & Ocean of Wildwood/Cape May, NJ
Soon a resident of Georgetown, SC
Last year I marked some areas in inlet where I caught flounder. I had Navionics Platinum but didn’t have the sonar charts last year. Signed up for freshest data before this season, and upgraded my card. I was out this past Saturday and the one flounder I caught was exactly at a contour point, so I would def pay attention to points.
