Fishing in the Digital Age

With all of the technological gizmos and gadgets, cellular phone and data technology has greatly enhanced the resources of today’s recreational fisherman.

No longer do we have to solely rely on the “repeating monotones” of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s weather broadcast or the paper-based current charts. We have applications aka “Apps”, and lots of them available.

Tides and Marine Weather Apps

The amount of information available at your finger tips with a sliBde of a finger or push of a button is astounding. Tides and marine weather dictate most recreational, headboat and charter angler’s fishing adventures and popular Apps like: Tides Near Me, TideApp, Bouyweather, and Windfinder show valuable information to the angler. Tide, current, weather, wind, and even lunar cycles are available and show up-to-date intel for an angler’s GPS specific location.

RELATED: 4 Fishing Apps You Need to Download

Fishing Apps

In addition to marine weather and tide information, fisherman apps like ProAngler, Fish Rules, and iSolunar help anglers with regulatory information for the specific GPS location and predict the best fishing times based on weather and sun-lunar information. Some applications even link a network of anglers with GPS locations and information on how they are doing. So be careful if fishing in your favorite “honey-hole” or secret spot.

Just Google It

Google Earth provides current satellite photographs for any location worldwide and is periodically updated with more recent satellite fly-bys. The images are great and can be zoomed in or out. Although I wouldn’t recommend it for navigational use, it is extremely valuable in looking for new or hard to find fishing spots. I have used these to find hard-to-find spots from both land and boat.

Radar Safety

Most smartphones have the ability to load and run marine weather radar applications or weather radar website which can greatly assist the boating or beach fishing angler. They are generally not used for navigation purposes, but more for the ability to “see” approaching weather. These are vital, especially if fishing in areas where safe harbor may be far away from quick moving storms. Obviously, you have to be within a certain distance from cell phone towers, so these are limited to a certain distance from shore depending on your location.

Trust me, it is easier to fight it and stick to the ways of less change and status quo. But if you are willing to learn and embrace some of this new technology, you will probably find yourself becoming a better angler in the long term.

Photo credit: Youtube