Im setting up for this year as my first dedicated offshore season. Messed around a bunch this year on limited trolling and a fair amount of bottom fishing but really want to target pelagics this spring/ summer. For those fishing out of SC, do you find it worthwhile to subscribe to one of the SST services? I have xm weather but use it for real time weather safety while out on the water. The xm sst and currents data seems pretty lame.I tried a Roffs report one time this year and liked the layout but it wasn’t that helpful. The run is far for us so if I can limit searching around aimlessly for the break, I think I would be interested. Any experiences to share?
They all get the same satellite shots. Roffs gives you more of an explanation and exact coordinates. I have compared them and if you do a little work you can get the same information from any of them. Remember this is just another tool to help you find fish. Things change quickly out there. Use these tools and make a plan and if the plan is not working move.
Fishing out of Beaufort I’ve gotten 3 Roff’s forcasts. They were all basically the same. Once you get the numbers for ledges etc. it’s a lot of working out from there looking for temp breaks, weed lines, life (birds, bait, flyers etc) and good color water. There is a lot of deep blue lifeless water out there. I haven’t found anything in that kind of water.
I have used terrafin sst the last three years, they have been very accurate about temp breaks.
I also have sirius satelite weather which by the way has excellent sst maps on the fishing mode that correlate with my temp sensor about 95 percent of time
I decide where to head by terrafin then adjust as i get closer based on sirius sst temp readings
great for fishing ledges for wahoo in winter but you got to work a little if looking for rips and weedlines but it does put you in the area which is great for us out of hilton head since we leave and arrive in the dark to have our lines in at at sun up or sooner
I used Roffs last season in the early trolling season for the first time and found it helpful. I did not subscribe but just bought individual reports. Seems like everytime I check the free SST charts there are always clouds and at least Roffs usually has data. One day in particular I fished an eddy they marked and caught fish there all day, with nothing hitting anywhere else. The warm water was just where the map said it would be. Other days it has been less helpful but at least gives you a direction to head to start looking. I will use again this year in the early spring until the water warms up for sure.
I have tried all of them as well and have found that
Hiltons Realtime Navigator works great, its user friendly, has several useful tools/info, and video tutue for all functions. Its price point is on point.
I have to disclose that they are a sponsor for our tournament, that being said I have used the service for long time and think its worth taking a look at. I have a direct link on our main page scwahooseries.com if you talk to Tom Hilton tell him where you saw his ad.
Rip charts has the most value dollar for dollar if you understand the way the ocean works. Roff’s will break it down to 1st grade level, although I have seen a first grader be able to understand the difference between a wahoo and AJ’s on the sonar…
Never used Hiltons, and Skinneescope was pulled off the market I heard. Something about potentially causing more fishing closures by the NMFS…
Still undecided.I had a nice conversation with Tom Hilton today and will be trialing his service. Ive used Roffs one time in the past so very small sample size but I didn’t really gain much useful data from it over the online free services. Had a good look at terrafin and Im not sure I can put all the data together yet and probably need a little longer with the training wheels before making my own maps of multiple data sets.Very cost effective though.Thanks for all the experienced opinions.
