LOTW Canadian side gps bottom contour?

[Mad Mulcher]

Does anyone know where to find a CD ROM with LOTW Canadian side bottom contours?

[Hemlock]

I'm not sure if there is one....I just got my Navionics chip in my Lowrance H20 I Finder and have been impressed. It's got all the contour you need. It looks much like the navigational paper charts that have been around forever.

[Scoot]

It should, the maps from Navionics are based from the navagational charts that have been around forever. Supposedly Lakemaster is going to have the Canadian side of LOW done next year or the year after in 1' contours. I love my Navionics chip, but that'll really be the cat's meow! We'll see- dealing with any government doesn't usually go very quickly or smoothly.

[Hemlock]

How does Lakemaster do that? Are they going to go out and resurvey Lake of the Woods? How did they do the MN side? My understanding would be that they just "fill in the blanks" of the existing maps to make it look like 1' contours. Somebody enlighten me.

[Gissert]

They actually resurvey the lake. They did Ottertail into 3 foot contours last year, and the accuracy is scary.

The 1 foot contour of the US side of LOW is simply amazing.

[Wild Thing]

Maps with any more detail than the Navionics chip should be outlawed. They might as well mark the individual fish! I thought i had "secret'' reefs not marked on the paper maps on the Ontario side of LOW, and there they were on my Lowrance 332C! If you need better maps than that to catch fish, take up golf...

[Hemlock]

I'm with you Wild Thing. I find it amazing to watch my GPS, throttle back, look at my graph, and I'm on "my reef"

I'm having a hard time with re-surveying LOTW to the foot. Any more contour than what my Navionics chip, seems like overkill.

[Northlander]

I really like my Navionics. I cant believe how accurate they are. If Lakemaster ever makes a chip for LOW Canadian or the St.Louis River I may have to heck it out. 1' contours would be incredible on LOW.

[Mad Mulcher]

Thanks for the input guys, especially Hemlock with his trademark speedy replies! Next question is this: I see on the Navionics HSOforum they have the Hotmaps premium, gold and classic. Is this exactly what you guys have and which series?

[Hemlock]

Speedy? I didn't realize. I spend a little too much time on this site, I admit. Besides today is rainy and they're doing demolition next door to me and all the pictures are hanging crooked on my walls.

Anyways, it took me three chips before I finally got the right one. If you have a black and white gps then don't bother getting the gold, cuz all that is, is for color units. Then I got the hotmaps one....wrong again.

The one that works best for me is NE/CA182S This is the one that works for me. It's just like the paper charts and all of the buoys are correct. I haven't found any discrepencies yet. The hotmaps were all messed up.

Good investment.

[Pherris]

I was speaking to the Lakemaster folks at a show this year and the said Canada will not let the LOTW be surveyed or any Canadian lake for that matter. I do not know if this is true or not. I have the Both the Navonics and Lakmaster chip the Navonics does have the navigational maps that are the same as the current paper maps. I would love to get a 1' contour of the Canadian side so hopefully someday. As far as the chips go I prefer my Lakmaster and have that in the bow mount because you can zoom much better then the Navonics. Both are good. Hey Hemlock do you fish in the bassin for bucks tourney?

[Hemlock]

I've decided to stay out of tourneys. If I worked shift work or even a "regular" job, I would get into it. Being envolved witha family business keeps me off of the competitive side of things.

Do you go in it?

[Hemlock]

Would 1 foot countours help you catch more fish? I still wonder how that would help. However the only Lakemaster stuff I've seen in person was on a computer, and I haven't used it while fishing, so maybe I'm not giving it a fair chance.

[Northlander]

I just cant get Lakemaster for the places I fish around Duluth yet. I hope they make some up soon.

[Pherris]

Hem,

I will be fishing it this year, I also fished it last year we finished 17th overall. We did get in some pre-fishing time last year and was planing on getting up there this year too but things did not work out so we will be fishing similar to last year and hope we can figure out a pattern quickly. Either way it is the most beautiful land in the world as far as I am concerned so winning is fun but the enjoyment of being in such a nice area and on such a beautiful body of water is the real reward. We were able to find a few largies last year that really helped. I have been looking at the map for lobstick because there have been posts about it being good for largies so I can only hope my studying pays off because I have never fished lobstick. Do you know what the water temp has been at lately? Thanks John

[fishanytime]

Fished Whitefish bay today,water temperture 65.

[Hemlock]

Looks like the water temp question was answered.

Lobstick is renowned for more largies, yes. I used to spend way more time fishing smallies around my place in Whitefish. Spent 30 minutes a couple weekends ago trolling around our island (don't fish there, or my mother will shoot you with her fisherman's cannon Kidding, but we do enjoy our privacy out there....anyways, My son and I boated 10 smallies in that half hour. One went over 3 lbs. Went out the next weekend and caught two 1/4 pounders. Things had cooled down quite a bit, temp wise.

However, it doesn't matter how many you catch, it's poundage. In the KBI a couple weeks ago, the boys from Paynseville, MN and the second place team that I know only caught I think 5 or 6 fish that day. That blows me away. They strictly target the piggies and put all their efforts/hopes in catching those few fish. Pays off though.

The boys from MN that won it had a huge fish at the final weigh in...6.3 lbs.

Good luck in Sioux Narrows and enjoy your time on the water.

[Mad Mulcher]

Hemlock,

Just to double check in the interest of being savvy consumer, you are saying that with the Navionics 182s chip your favorite reef in Whitefish Bay is actually where the chip says it is?

[Wild Thing]

I've got the Navionics Gold (not sure the of the code number) for Minnesota which includes all of Lake of the Woods, even the Canadian side (unlike old ones) and it has reefs that aren't marked as reefs on the navigation charts. They are dead on. The main boating routes also are dead on. The only difference was a couple of buoys that were on the map apparently had been pulled out of the lake, but otherwise dead on.

[Mad Mulcher]

Hemlock,

I just wanted to follow up and thank you for the recommendation on the 182s chip. All my secret coords. on Miles bay, Whitefish, etc. show up right where the should be so I'm sure scouting out new spots will be a cinch. Also, you were of course dead on right in the fact that the hotmaps are messed up! I bought that primarily for the 1' bottom contour of Mille Lacs though.

[Hemlock]

MM, glad I could help. I was getting a little frustrated changing out the chip, and nobody seemed to know what I needed (Including me). I finally spoke to someone who has the chip and told me exactly which one. Anyways, no more secret spots, that's right. There's no "new" information however on the chip, it all came right off of the LOTW charts. I absolutely love it for getting up on the humps in no time. Looking forward to ice fishing with it.

[Mad Mulcher]

Hemlock,

I am so pumped for ice fishing I can't wait. Let's keep the 182s chip a secret. Nobody else has to know!

[Hemlock]

Well, we're safe from most people up here. Generally speaking, the "locals" here don't use that high tech stuff. There are a few, but most people I've shown around here look at it like it comes from another plantet. Same with my LX3.

I get excited about fall fishing, then it's time to get the hard water excitement.