Naming Waypoints on a GPS?

[MuskieJunkie]

Does anyone have a good system for naming waypoints in their GPS? I have been just plugging in a waypoint on mine and going with the numeric order it assigns. That was fine when I only had 20 points in there, but after 3 years of that you end up with 001 through 0136 and they don't have any meaning. If it is a point or island that has a name I use that, but the random structure that is not named, what do you do? I am thinking I will change all of them to the lake name and then a number. Ex. Leech1, Leech2...., Mille Lacs1, Mille Lacs2...... Thanks for any input or ideas.

[Fishin4Life]

Well on mine I usually name them by the fish I caught. Then when I go fishing I just have the GPS show me the waypoints order by closest to my current location. This isn't the best, but its better then numbers. I also have a "memo" spot on mine I can make little notes if I choose. I think next year I may upgrade to a different GPS for fishing and just use the one I have now for driving (it has a chip for turn by turn directions)

I was talking with Sly, he can organize his on his computer by lake, then by fish caught, even by time of the year. Sly do you have any input on this...

[randallt]

I have the same deal as you MuskieJunkie. I just go to a lake and then pull up the closest waypoints. My points are not even in numeric order by lake. I usually save a few on each trip to various lakes, so mine are not even grouped in order.

[so haaad]

I will also put lake depth.

[BobT]

I use the lake name with a number such as OSAKIS1, OSAKIS2, etc. This way, when I'm on a lake and list nearest waypoints or list them by alphanumeric order, the first ones on my list are the ones related to the lake I'm on.

I can also associate notes to the waypoints so I can record pertinent data such as 'walleye hot spot'.

Bob

[Hookmaster]

I use several different ways to name waypoints. On some lakes that have only a few pieces of structure, I'll just use whatever number is assigned by the GPS. On Mille Lacs, I'll use the name or abbreviation of the structure and then the part of the structure like tip, so for south, neck for neckdown etc. whatever you want that you remember. Some spots I name them by the nicknames I or my buddy have made up.

[Finlander]

I rename them as OS1MILE, MLGAREEF. But the best way is make a log of all the watpoints and shorten the waypint list like O1, O2, ML1, ML2, etc. So all the lettering doesn't crowd the screen.

[zelek]

Because I fish numerous lakes in this area and I can't have a waypoint's name be duplicated, I've found that I needed to label my waypoints by: lake name (abbrev), type of structure and then be able distinguish between them.

So...for instance, sunken islands on Big Cormorant would look like: BC H1, BC H2, BC H3 & BC H4...(H is for hump). Or the edge of a bar would be BC B1, BC B2. But then I realized the numbers would get pretty high so I assigned letters to the waypoint to distinguish between the bars or humps or whatever.....ex. BC B1A, BC B2A....and another bar at a different location would be...BC B1B, BC B2B..you get the idea.

I track all eyes over 25" with the waypoint BC NF1, BC NF2 etc. (NF for nice fish). Works for me.

[Slyster]

I have over 800 waypoints for White Bear Lake alone... so I just download the set to the computer and save it as WBL.GPS.. so every time I go to a different lake.. I just upload THAT lake. Works well. I have 'spots'... I start at the A-Spot (A01, A02, A03..) and after reaching Z01... I go back and do AA01, AA02 etc... and I have made MANY custom symbols for great spots to anchor.. species.. bars, gravel, T-zones, deep weed edges, inside weed edges... etc...