Johnson Outdoors : Humminbird CoastMaster – Taking Coastal Cartography To a New Level

As the old saying goes, details are everything. So, after 30 years of guiding professionally and hosting TV shows, Panama City Beach, FL native Captain Justin Leake felt confident in his understanding of his home waters throughout Florida's Panhandle.

That was until he met his map - so to speak. Built with both fishing and navigation in mind, Humminbird's CoastMaster cartography has emerged as a go to cartography with features and functions like depth contours, spot-soundings, navigational aids, and points of interest.

Predictive tide and current information provide details about the speed and direction of currents and tides along with the height and direction. Navigational aids and points of interest round out some of the most used features and functions. But it's the accuracy and the detail of the 1-foot depth contours that make CoastMaster a preferred chart for inshore anglers. These advancements are fueling savvy captains to find altogether new areas and new bites and enabling them to fish totally new methods for increased catches.

Captain Leake shares, "Just running the chart for a short time, I found multiple places of live bottom I never knew were there. I spotted areas where the contours got tight and then I would go over them for a closer look. We have a lot of sand in our waters, which the current sweeps around the hard limestone bottoms, so with the CoastMaster showing 1-foot contours, these places really stood out."

In For A closer Look

"After pulling up on these areas of interest, I'd run by it on my Humminbird MEGA Side Imaging to see how big the area was, and to get a feel for the relative shape. Then I'd go over it again with my Down Imaging for the details. It wasn't long before I had a handful of new spots that I'd never seen anyone fish before. So now they're mine…OK at least for a while until other boats see me set up on these spots catching fish. But this all starts on knowing where to go. And now I've got a whole new set of places for my clients."

Form, Function, And Flexibility

While there are certain 'baked-in', general features and functions to every chart, CoastMaster really stands apart from the others with its unique adjustments. "As tides rise and fall, certain areas in shallow water become more or less passable with some shallow areas becoming downright dangerous under certain conditions, so I absolutelyhaveto know what the depths are for the safety of myself and my clients." I've seen too many boats run aground and if they only had accurate charts, shares the seasoned captain.

Humminbird's CoastMaster has a patented "Water-Level Off-Set" feature that adjusts the chart, so that it shows the exact and correct depth, regardless of tide levels. When the adjustment is made, the entire chart is instantly recalculated, and redrawn applying the change to the entire area to reflect the new data. When a foot or two difference matters in shallow water navigation (e.g., passing under low-clearance bridges), an accurate chart makes all the difference between safe passage and calamity.

"Like I said, these areas can be truly dangerous in changing tides, so knowing that the water levels are accurate, users can make an additional "Shallow-Water Highlight" adjustment, which highlights the selected shallow water depth range. The resulting chart dynamically shows areas to avoid in bright red," comments Captain Leake.

Fish Freeways

"Depth contours along our beaches create troughs that redfish often use as highways," explains Captain Leake. "And this is where I put it all together with the CoastMaster chart, my Humminbird and Minn Kota. They're all integrated into a single network. My Humminbird SOLIX is networked to my Minn Kota Ulterra, so they talk to each other and share data. So, I simply select a depth contour on the CoastMaster chart and the Ulterra keeps the boat on that one-foot contour while I 'drive' hands-free at my selected speed! I thought it was awesome when my trolling motor stowed and deployed itself, so I would never again have to climb down to stow or deploy my motor. But this is a whole new level. I'm able to run the boat as automatically with the same precision as I would if I were actually driving it myself."

Hands-Free Fishing

Working the troughs along the beaches has really opened some great patterns for tarpon. Captain Leake shares another new tactic. "The tarpon cruise these troughs and I can stay on them with my AutoPilot feature by Minn Kota. I've been able to simply set the motor in the direction that the school is headed. Staying in the strike zone longer is part of the power of the One-Boat Network. I spend a lot of time up in the tower-especially when I'm tarpon fishing. This is where my One-Boat Network really stands out. I'm able to steer my Minn Kota Ulterra and locate fish right from the tower. Not only can I stow and deploy my motor from my Humminbird unit in the tower, but I can also steer the boat right through my Minn Kota Ulterra. I thought I had it good before, but this is a captain's dream turned into reality. Having my Humminbird and Minn Kota talk to each other gives me some huge advantages when I'm fishing and guiding."

Humminbird's CoastMaster and the benefits brought by the One-Boat Network are perfect examples of innovative technology, which has been a fundamental value of Johnson Outdoors and our family of brands since our founding. To learn more about how innovation plays a key role for the rest of our family of brands, jump over to the newOutdoor Adventure Blog.